Jump to content

Six Flags and Cedar Fair Merge


Recommended Posts

That doesnt surprise me one bit at that joint, they would charge you to breathe beach air if they could.  Of course it wouldnt come as a HUGE surprise to see it go chainwide, it stands to reason they would put it in play first there at Disneyworld Jr.

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, brenthodge said:

I’ve been banging that drum from day 1. They kept the 6 name for brand recognition, oblivious to the fact that it was NOT a good impression. 

Exactly. 

I think I previously somewhere on here shared the story of my wife's reaction to the news on day 1: "Isn't that the cheap, discount theme park chain? Why would Kings Island go with them?"

I'll maintain my stance that this merger was a terrible idea from the start, and shouldn't have happened. At the very least, they should have tossed the SIX brand and stuck with Cedar Fair, which until recently was a reputable brand that the general public equated to parks of quality. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, RollerColt said:

 At the very least, they should have tossed the SIX brand and stuck with Cedar Fair, which until recently was a reputable brand that the general public equated to parks of quality. 

Agreed, we got a bad taste in our mouths just of the idea of KI being a SIX park during the rumor stages. They should have rebranded as "Cedar Fair, the company that runs Cedar Point and Kings Island."

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Agreed, we got a bad taste in our mouths just of the idea of KI being a SIX park during the rumor stages. They should have rebranded as "Cedar Fair, the company that runs Cedar Point and Kings Island."

“C6 entertainment properties”  was my vote. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, RollerColt said:

I'll maintain my stance that this merger was a terrible idea from the start, and shouldn't have happened.

Starting there, but if it was a “survival strategy” I think it COULD work with a lot of very public, very big changes. Tons of honestly - like saying outright “ both of our companies have a lot of of obligations (to our vendors and financial partners) but our main obligation is to YOU, our loyal guests. We invite you to join us on a transformative journey as we redefine the regional theme park industry. We’ll be honest, there will be some changes that, for the short term we all might not love, but together we can build a company that gives you places to create a lifetime of memories from coast to coast. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

“It’s going to be fine, Cedar Fair will be running it” said many when the merger was announced. 

Those people didn't realize that Selim Bassoul is chairman of the board which technically has the most power. I would honestly feel a lot better if Selim was ousted and a legacy CF exec was placed as chairman of the board. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, DonHelbig said:

“It’s going to be fine, Cedar Fair will be running it” said many when the merger was announced. 

I'm curious—and maybe this is a future Tower Topics show—but do you consider the present to be the lowest point in Kings Island history?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Those people didn't realize that Selim Bassoul is chairman of the board which technically has the most power. I would honestly feel a lot better if Selim was ousted and a legacy CF exec was placed as chairman of the board. 

Maybe we'll get Richard Zimmerman for new Chairman of the Board and someone passionate about the parks like Jeffrey Siebert for CEO (just kidding!). Replacing both of them with an outsider and a former Cedar Fair-er (you choose who gets what) might help the company in the shorter-term a little as well. They'd still have to make some of the same terrible decisions as Zimmerman/Bassoul have, but I think we'd see the smarter choices being made each time. 

I'm still shocked (IDK why though) that we haven't seen anything in terms of the new websites/mobile apps that were supposed to come out in July. You'd think that would've been hired out to be completed on a schedule. The 2024 Cedar Fair app/map refreshes were done by an external company, and I'm sure the 2025 Great Adventure map was also done by that same company considering the fact that it looks exactly like the Cedar Fair ones. 

Playing into the "transformative journey of regional amusement/theme park industry" would probably do them some good, but I think we'd have to see them begin to deliver on their promises for the good to actually stay. They should start that journey by finding a new name for the company and by replacing the CEO and Chairman. Having the people who got Cedar Fair/Six Flags into this at the top is probably a smart thing to do for the transition between companies. Keeping them there is probably a bad idea considering they're the top hombres who got their former companies into this mess.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also remember that 4 board seats have already changed out with people from outside of either legacy chain, so we are not too many more seats removed from the majority not being from CF or SIX legacy...the next round of board replacements (whenever that happens) will be telling as to the direction.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, disco2000 said:

I had to look up these up and the only thing that might fit (at least in my mind, which could be 100% wrong) is them changing their planned ride installs that was already announced in previous calls? If you invested based on those already announced installs to investors, (then reverse course later) some may have sold or made different decisions with their investments. Could that be a thing? It sure would be nice to have Terp's opinion on this.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

I had to look up these up and the only thing that might fit (at least in my mind, which could be 100% wrong) is them changing their planned ride installs that was already announced in previous calls? If you invested based on those already announced installs to investors, (then reverse course later) some may have sold or made different decisions with their investments. Could that be a thing? It sure would e nice to have Terp's opinion on this.

Yeah, Terpy would be having a field day with this merger!

I think the only way that would be a violation would be if that was their intent all along to not do these improvements and they mentioned it to deceive investors.

I think they could make the argument that company performance failed to meet expectations and proceeding with these improvements and taking on more debt would be more detrimental to the shareholders than delaying the improvements.

But I am not a lawyer and blah blah blah lol

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It will be interesting to see how the investigation for fraud plays out. I don't personally think much or any intentional fraud has been committed by Six Flags, but the blatant mismanagement and lack of proper announcements — combined with the high amount of euphemizing — could be considered fraud in some sense. I'm curious as to what any other legal experts might think about that.

 

Is that Banner article just talking about how Wild One will close at the end of the season? Or is it about something else? My normal methods of avoiding signing up for free articles didn't seem to work so I can't read much of what was said.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I think SF management may be able to pinned with a certain amount of financial and operational incompetence, it seems pretty far fetched to believe that there’s any intentional fraud there. Every single bit of “guidance” they’ve ever published has been accompanied by the standard “forward looking statement” safe harbor provision that every public company includes when talking about the future…

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was shocked to read, although it's not new news, the enterprise valuation of the company on 7-1-2024 was approximately 9.1 billion dollars.

At the close of market today, the valuation of the company is approximately 5.2 billion dollars.

But of course it's the challenging weather in key markets...which the merger was touted as a way to temper weather issues across the portfolio.

If were an investment group for, say, one of the teachers retirement funds that owns this stock, I would not be happy, nor would retirees who's retirement checks could be at risk in some form.

Will it recover?  Probably over time. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

Was shocked to read, although it's not new news, the enterprise valuation of the company on 7-1-2024 was approximately 9.1 billion dollars.

At the close of market today, the valuation of the company is approximately 5.2 billion dollars.

But of course it's the challenging weather in key markets...which the merger was touted as a way to temper weather issues across the portfolio.

If were an investment group for, say, one of the teachers retirement funds that owns this stock, I would not be happy, nor would retirees who's retirement checks could be at risk in some form.

Will it recover?  Probably over time. 

When the numbers miss the park, they blame it on weather. When the numbers are good, they say it’s attributed to their strategy. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

At the close of market today, the valuation of the company is approximately 5.2 billion dollars.

The market cap is low enough that it could be scooped up by a deep-pocketed buyer.

Considering the Paramount Parks were bought for about $2 billion dollars in today's money, ($1.24 billion in 2006 dollars) $5.2 billion is incredibly low. It just goes to show how bad off they are financially.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...