The Interpreter Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 NEW YORK, April 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Six Flags, Inc. (NYSE: SIX - News) announced today that it has been notified that the Company's common stock and Preferred Income Equity Redeemable Shares ("PIERS") are being suspended from trading on the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") because the Company failed to meet the NYSE's quantitative listing criteria. The Company has been informed that trading will be suspended prior to the market opening on Monday, April 20, 2009. The Company expects that its common stock and the PIERS will be traded on the over-the-counter market and quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board upon delisting from the NYSE.... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Statement-Re...s-14895121.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast1979 Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 One part of the ship after another, Titanic continues to sink...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Long time coming. Next up bankruptcy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 Or a sale....I can't see this lasting much longer...at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 In this market I doubt a sale is possible. Bankruptcy and restructuring is more likely. Just my humble opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flightoffear1996 Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 This economy is just plain crappy right now. I think the US and the rest of the world are in for a ride. The US has just high living standards and things just kept going up and people kept expecting and wanting more for less and buying things they can't afford. Its mostly the banks fault by giving someone a $300,000 dollar loan that makes 20k a year. Great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 In this market I doubt a sale is possible. Bankruptcy and restructuring is more likely. Just my humble opinion. Just as Hard Rock Park found a buyer from, largely, Russia, I suspect SIX will find itself an overseas buyer as well....as may InBev's Busch Entertainment theme park division. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 You could be right about that, but then again I could also see Six continuing to opperate but only with a few parks, SFOT, SFGAd, SFMM, and SFOG. Only time will tell what truely happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 It is important to remember the company does not fully own the "partnership parks," which are Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Over Texas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Good point, which is one reasson I think those 2 parks have always been a different experience from other Six parks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigellinus Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 In this market I doubt a sale is possible. Bankruptcy and restructuring is more likely. Just my humble opinion. Again I ask...why can't "nephew" "Tigellinus Synder" who just received a few billion from "Uncle Synder" buy Six Flags from Red Zone for a song, and at this rate, with only one chorus and verse!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 As long as we are engaging in fantasy, major investor Bill Gates could bail out the company with his coffee fund for Tuesdays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigellinus Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 ^^Exactly!! I mean, many "pundits" seem to think SF is actually run as a decent company now! I still don't understand why investor Bill Gates couldn't do something like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 I am stunned that he hasn't bailed on the company, if he hasn't already....perhaps he sees it as a small way to give kids the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Maybe its the 10,210,600 shares that Cascade Investment own and Mr. Gates still has hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Picard Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I think the reason no one steps in with cash is that it's a better investment to put that cash in a savings account. If there is investers out there wanting parks they can just wait because there is going to be some they can get for less later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast1979 Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 So, let's say SIX goes into bankruptcy let's say on Monday. What happens at the parks? Do they close them at the end of the season to possibly not open next spring? Do some of them close for good? If they were to find a buyer, how long would it take? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 It depends. They most likely would try to file Chapter 11, and re-organize, but one or more of the creditors might object to current management proceeding. At that point, there could be an auction, a court directed change of management or a white knight might come in with a bid....or the court could even direct a liquidation. Creditors hate uncertainty though, and a bankruptcy in and of itself devalues the assets (see the controversy surrounding GM...would customers go to a bankrupt park chain?). For all these reasons, I still think a sale is the most likely outcome, with a refinancing a distant second. But Chapter 11 is still a distinct possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIfan1980 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I'm not an expert on corporate finance or bankruptcy law, but I'm not understanding the benefit of a sale (from the buyers perspective) at this time. Wouldn't any buyer have to assume the massive debt and therefore face the same issue as current ownership? While Bankruptcy may seem like a worse option for current ownership, it seems as though this is the best option for a potential buyer (Hard Rock new owners don't have to pay the several hundred million of debt, they only had to finance $25 million to purchase). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 And we are yet to see what effect the bankruptcy and that transaction will have on the future of the park. It is yet to be seen what benefits the new buyer will derive...they may only be truly interested in liquidating the assets they acquired. Stranger things have happened...some would say in Northeastern Ohio, even. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 So, today SIX closed down 6.1 cents (or 22 percent), to close at 20.1 cents (preliminary closing quote, subject to minor adjustment). Volume was exceptionally heavy, at more than 6.7 million shares. See also: Plagued by Debt, Six Flags Faces Its Own Wild Ride: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...9041202152.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Six stock is currently trading at $.19 and slidding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Market Cap for the entire company is now just $19.5M. Wow Just think--the worth of the entire SF corporation on the open market...$6M less than what HRP sold for in a bankruptcy fire sale...95% less than what Paramount Communications paid for KECO in 1992...$125M less than what CF paid for Geauga Lake alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 So what did the current management team concern themselves with of late? A new compensation package. Recent 8-K filed thereon. http://investors.sixflags.com/phoenix.zhtm...1hCUkw9MQ%3d%3d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 SF delays $7M debt payment due today... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Six-Flags-de...f-14932400.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Bloomberg has a great article on the future of Six Flags and the negotiated 'Success Bonus' Success Bonus, absolutely a laughable idea. Pay the CEO and other excecutives a bonus if the company goes bankrupt or restructures its debt out of court. Either way Shapiro is getting paid $3M for the sinking of Six. That is awesome that even in failure he will make a killing. Best quote of all. Stockholders are likely to be wiped out in a bankruptcy, Fitch Ratings analyst Mike Simonton wrote in an e-mail yesterday. Unsecured bondholders, who have no collateral backing their claims, may recover less than 10 percent, “and likely as little as zero,” he said Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 Say what you will, but blaming Shapiro and even Snyder for the failure of Six Flags is a little like blaming the firemen for not saving a house that was fully engulfed before the alarm was sounded. The chain was a deathbed case when Snyder took it over from Story & Co. It was before Snyder and Shapiro arrived that the seeds of virtually inevitable destruction were planted...from overexpansion to too much debt to laying off too much middle management to cutting expenses too drastically in order to afford new thrill ride after new thrill ride after new thrill ride to not paying enough attention to the overall customer experience to overemphasizing the underspending teen market to the virtual exclusion of families. It worries me how many of these same things I now see happening at another fair chain...one that in the past had not believed in debt, did not believe in over-expansion, and had perhaps the best operations of any seasonal park operator in North America... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 While I agree about the fate of SIX was sealed before Snyder and Shapiro acquired it, my main issue right now is the rewarding of Shapiro and other executives for either going bankrupt or restructuring the debt, which we know is not likely to happen. This is an absurd idea and shows that companies have not learned anything from the financial issues the country is having right now or from the public lambasting AIG took. What does it take for companies and CEO's to wake up and realize things must change. Your comment about Cedar Fair, while I agree with some parts, would be a non arguement had the market not collapsed like it has. I also think we can agree the parks like KI have greatly benefited under CF opperations and ownership, which was clearly not the case for parks acquired under the SIX banner. They usually went down hill in all aspects, see SFWOA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 ^ I'm just still amazed that Chapter 11 bankruptcy would really meet any one's definition of "success." SIX has not been profitable in ten years...wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.