Six Flags Entertainment (SIX) in Bid to Acquire Cedar Fair L.P. (FUN) - Reuters

[LintemuthStudios]

THANK GOD!

[IndyGuy4KI]

What a sigh of relief, and I think they made the right decision. Sometimes enthusiasts give Cedar Fair parks a hard time, but I think the support and loyalty for Cedar Fair in this ordeal shows how much we cherish our FUN parks.

[Snowball]

Wow! That news instantly made my day better! We can all rest easy now! I definitely think they made a good decision.

[Outdoor Man]

maybe someone mentioned (didn't look through posts)- note the use of words:

Not a "thanks, but no thanks" but used terms like "inadequate" -   and Cedar Fair responded that Six Flags’ bid was too low,  (Reuters)

Something tells me this isn't over yet.

 

[Benjamin22]

Just now, Outdoor Man said:

maybe someone mentioned (didn't look through posts)- note the use of words:

Not a "thanks, but no thanks" but used terms like "inadequate" -   and Cedar Fair responded that Six Flags’ bid was too low,  (Reuters)

Something tells me this isn't over yet.

 

Thankfully it said that Six Flags likely wasn’t going to return to the table with a new offer.
 

[ThrillKingsFitzy]

Oh ok! I got scared for a second!

[FUN&ONLY!]

This whole potential buyout made me realize how lucky we all are to have Cedar Fair as the owner of Kings Island! I could never imagine having Six Flags running Kings Island!

[IndyGuy4KI]

Here is John's story.

https://www.wcpo.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/report-kings-island-will-not-become-a-six-flags-park

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

22 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Here is John's story.

https://www.wcpo.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/report-kings-island-will-not-become-a-six-flags-park

I was wondering when John Matarese would report on this subject. 

[sixohdieselrage]

7 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

I was wondering when John Matarese would report on this subject. 

I'm surprised he didnt mention you. 

[Cedar Fair Fanboy]

Six Flags: "We are going to buy you for less money!"

Cedar Fair: "Do you want to go bankrupt?"

Six Flags: "No"

Cedar Fair: "Do you want our parks"

Six Flags: "HECK YES!"

Cedar Fair: "Do you have theme"

Six Flags for the last fricking time:

Cedar Fair and Everybody: "No you can't not forever!"

[fyrfyter]

So now the billion dollar question, what is the value Cedar Fair believes its company to be worth? Obviously more than 4, but just for fun throw your ideas and reasoning out there.

 

Current market cap is $3.38B. Revenue was $1.349B. Net income is $127M for the year. It looks like they run 3-6% on the annual return when things are on the upswing.

 

A little riskier but better than any bank around here!

 

I don’t think the $650M difference was enough to turn heads. SF must be shouldering some massive debt, because even though they are worth more than CF they are hardly making any more money on the year than CF is. Their cash on hand is really low as well.

 

My guess is that offer would have to increase dramatically, like $6-8B, before any interest is attracted.

[bjcolglazier]

40 minutes ago, fyrfyter said:

So now the billion dollar question, what is the value Cedar Fair believes its company to be worth? Obviously more than 4, but just for fun throw your ideas and reasoning out there.

I think it's irrelevant at this point. How the hell do you merge and instantly run ~40 parks WELL overnight?? You don't. And I think Cedar Fair Execs know this. Far as I can tell Cedar Fair actually enjoy what they are doing, and want to continue doing it. I understand why Six Flags wants their personnel. And honestly I really think that's what this deal is about. SIX needs someone to lead, and do it right. How do you put a price on that?

And if SIX overpays and makes a deal hanging by a thread and then a significant recession comes...WE are all screwed. If you look at the numbers these companies---both of them---are highly volatile. Tons of debt, and heavily---and I mean ONLY---dependent on people coming in the doors.

[Imperial79]

Could Six Flags get a loan or something to help push another offer up,  if they really wanted too (I hope not)?   Would any bank be willing to give them,  that much money?  

I like how Cedar Fair is run a lot better then Six Flags,  and how SF does ride announcements just seems cheap to me,  announcing everything all together in a video online.....  Screams cheap! 

[super7]

Thank goodness this didn’t happen.  It would have been worse than Paramount.    Six flags parks are dirty, poorly operated, poor customer relations, poorly landscaped and little live entertainment or theming other than cheesy superheroes.  

Cedar Fair is currently doing an amazing job with the Taft parks.   I would not have renewed my pass if Six Flags was the owner. 

[homestar92]

While I GREATLY prefer Cedar Fair parks, and I love the way they manage Kings Island, now that the imminent threat is gone and I can think more rationally, I don't think Six Flags would be the death knell of Kings Island if a theoretical merger happened. I certainly don't WANT Six Flags Kings Island to ever be a thing, but realistically, the park would survive. They have at least one park that is very Kings Island-y in Six Flags Great America, and I actually love that park (it's my second favorite right after KI, in fact). I think they could actually manage KI fine and the things that they would change for the worse are fairly minor things in the grand scheme. Almost every other park in the chain, I think they could do fine. In fact, I think many of the smaller FUN parks would see far increased capex if they were to get "flagged". Heck, Worlds of Fun in particular has an extremely Six Flags vibe to it in my opinion already. 

Cedar Point, however, would definitely suffer under Six Flags ownership. Mostly because it's so incredibly different from any other seasonal park out there. Six Flags certainly has no experience running a park like that. Especially not when you consider the beach and all the activities available there, the two hotels, the campground and cabins, etc. That's the one that I don't ever want to see fall into Six Flags's hands. Especially because "Six Flags Cedar Point" sounds icky and wrong. There's always the possibility it wouldn't get rebranded, but it's generally only the very small parks that don't, like Great Escape and La Ronde.

In my perfect world, The chains would merge, Six Flags would relocate Whizzer onto Vortex's plot of land for some reason, and then somehow the merge would be undone and everything would go back to how it was before, but with Whizzer now located only 20 minutes from my home. This is my favorite timeline (other than Vortex remaining where it sits, naturally).

[westcoaster]

Omg its great news, of the news that never happened..

[b.k35]

I think the employees are starting to have fun with this. Yesterday as I was leaving the station on Diamondback, the dispatcher said "Enjoy your ride on Diamondback, at Kings Island owned and operated by Cedar Fair" haha.

[Hampshire24]

Cramer's thoughts on the merger:

 

 

[Gordon Bombay]

SIX in that mid-credits scene after talks broke down...



...they'll be back. Oh, they'll be back.

[DeviousMrMatt]

4 minutes ago, Gordon Bombay said:

SIX in that mid-credits scene after talks broke down...



...they'll be back. Oh, they'll be back.

Yep, short term we're safe.

 

Long term? It aint over yet

[SonofBaconator]

If you want to see why people prefer CF over Six Flags, look at the pictures below. Both are B&M Floorless coasters built outside the main parts of their respective parks. The difference? Dominator actually had grass planted underneath it where as Scream! was just placed there. Also, KD is a mid tier CF park where as Scream! is at one of the top tier SF parks which goes to show you the quality CF wants to deliver that SF doesn't. If these two coasters don't contrast the two companies, I don't know what does.

http://www.thecoasterguy.com/2015/03/17/six-flags-magic-mountain-trip-report-for-15-mar-2015/

 

[KI FANATIC 37]

Side note, I love Dominator. I'd love for a ride like that to replace Vortex eventually. 

[SonofBaconator]

1 hour ago, KI FANATIC 37 said:

Side note, I love Dominator. I'd love for a ride like that to replace Vortex eventually. 

I agree, I like how compact it is compared to others

[rlentless]

The points brought up in this video I could say I agree with . . definitely the one about coaster naming.  I think Six Flags should keep their DC naming in the kiddie sections.  But I am guessing they pay alot for naming rights so they are going to use them.

 

 

[Hueney020]

20 minutes ago, rlentless said:

The points brought up in this video I could say I agree with . . definitely the one about coaster naming.  I think Six Flags should keep their DC naming in the kiddie sections.  But I am guessing they pay alot for naming rights so they are going to use them.

 

Yeah but it’s one thing to name one ride Batman and Superman. The problem Six Flags has they have different rides named different things. It is not so bad when it is the roller coasters but when it is the flat rides too it just ends up being a little ridiculous. They also need to branch out and use the whole DC brand. There are so many villains and hero’s they need to expand the brand like they did this year with poison ivy. 

[Dan]

When CBS owned the Paramount Parks they had no interest in running any theme parks and every action they made was to sell the parks. Cedar Fair tearing down Firehawk, building Orion, and tearing down Vortex makes me think of CBS. I'll put money on Kings Island being sold within three years.

[Hueney020]

8 hours ago, Dan said:

When CBS owned the Paramount Parks they had no interest in running any theme parks and every action they made was to sell the parks. Cedar Fair tearing down Firehawk, building Orion, and tearing down Vortex makes me think of CBS. I'll put money on Kings Island being sold within three years.

I am sorry but that is the craziest thing I have ever heard. First, I loved Firehawk but it was a maintenance nightmare and half the time you went to KI it was down. Orion is a giga coaster I don’t care what anyone else says. The drop is suppose to be 85 degrees and the KI engineers say it could hit 93 mph instead of the listed 91 mph. Spending over 30 million for a coaster like that does not show me they are wanting to sell the park. Let’s not even get into the fact of selling the park to a competitor and building it up to be better than CP they would not want that to happen. As far as Vortex it was a very loved roller coaster. We all see that now but just because it was loved didn’t mean the GP was riding the ride like they use to. We all know the reason for that too becuase it was rough. Do you think Kings Island wanted Vortex to go out like it did I doubt it. I at least want to believe they had no choice but to shut it down. Again though that does not mean they want to sell the park. 

[McSalsa]

12 minutes ago, Hueney020 said:

I am sorry but that is the craziest thing I have ever heard. First, I loved Firehawk but it was a maintenance nightmare and half the time you went to KI it was down. Orion is a giga coaster I don’t care what anyone else says. The drop is suppose to be 85 degrees and the KI engineers say it could hit 93 mph instead of the listed 91 mph. Spending over 30 million for a coaster like that does not show me they are wanting to sell the park. Let’s not even get into the fact of selling the park to a competitor and building it up to be better than CP they would not want that to happen. As far as Vortex it was a very loved roller coaster. We all see that now but just because it was loved didn’t mean the GP was riding the ride like they use to. We all know the reason for that too becuase it was rough. Do you think Kings Island wanted Vortex to go out like it did I doubt it. I at least want to believe they had no choice but to shut it down. Again though that does not mean they want to sell the park. 

To add to this: CBS didn't even own the park very long. March 2005 (the CBS Viacom Split) to June/July 2006. Italian Job Stunt Track- a small coaster but still a coaster- was pretty much a Viacom addition, and I'd imagine at that point in 2005 it was pretty much done with construction and ready for testing. The main thing CBS did was jack up lots of prices around the park, to increase profits and make it look better to potential buyers. The only actual additions the park made under CBS ownership came in 2006, when Hanna-Barbera Land became Nickelodeon Universe. A few kids rides were removed- including Scooby's Ghoster Coaster- and a few were added, but nothing major was removed under CBS (Viacom was the one who got rid of the Antique Cars and sent the Flying Eagles to Carowinds) and they very likely did not spend $30 million on the replacement rides that went into the then-new Nick U. (And this does not factor in the Antique Cars, I-Street Renovations, Switch from Reds to Brewhouse, Blue Racer Trackwork or Glockenspiel Fixes of 2019 that surely cost money)

[SonofBaconator]

Not to create another thread but I wonder how Cedar Fair would run a Six Flags park if they acquired one. (I wouldn't count Geauga Lake)

They'd have to remove all the IPs from their rides and replace them with temporary ones like "Flight Deck" "The Bat" etc to start. I'd assume they'd take the same approach that they did with the Paramount parks.