closer speculation in the news?

[that L do pig]

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200801/597/
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[longtimefan]

Hmmmm... Could it really be that the park which was held up as an example of what SF parks should be is now on the chopping block?
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Thanks for the good times, 68-05!

[adrian de santiago]

wow...six flags is not doing good right now...they're just messing things up...geez.

[ArizonaGuy]

All that article is is pure speculation. The only thing they are going off of is the fact that Six Flags said they may consider selling off 3 parks if the price is right. They have several parks that have additional land that possible investors are interested in.

Anyways...I personally don't think they would be investing if they're planning on selling.

Just my 2 cents
*plink plink*
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[Mike Robinson]

It is pure speculation, but we all know it is a real possibility as we have lived through it.

Six Flags invested a bunch of capital on Astroworld right before it closed.

I am not saying it will happen, but I will never say it can't. We all know better.

[Markieb]

At this time anything is possible.
SF's is really in a hole now trying anything to dig upward.

This is the fourth time I have seen Fiesta in the mix of parks speculated to sell. IMO there is not much of a market for used theme parks right now and they might be considering anything for sale, simply because some properties probably won't sell right now. Poor attendance and larger parks with larger overhead would be harder to sell right now. This fact could lead one to conclude smaller properties will go first.

Some asked why move Batman if they want to sell. It could simply be they need to salvage it from NO, the closest place they can put it the cheaper the transporatation cost.

I truly doubt anyone at SF's wants to sell FT, but I also doubt anyone at SF's would say no to any buyer that makes a fair offer on any of their properties right now. They are obviously in the sell mind set.

ANYthing can happen!

[wiyoh20]

Six Flags is $2+ billion in the hole thanks to Premier parks who ran the company in the ground from day one when they took over Six Flags back in 1998.

I do hope that if Fiesta Texas is SOLD, that the same mistake with Astroworld would not be repeated, and that the park would be sold to another investment group and continue to run, just under new management.

I honestly do not think the selloff is going to help anything in my opinion, the parks that are and were sold were parks Six owned, parks such as SFOT, SFOG, and SFNO would be a different story, being that Six does not own the parks, they just run it.

I think Six wants to keep the big money makers (obviously) and they may be better streamlining its parks to the bare minimum of parks, One in the Northeast, Georgia, one in Texas, and California, selling LaRonde and the Mexico city sites, unless they are under some type of contract such as the case in Dallas, ATL and NO.
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If Astroworld can't make you happy, you can't get happy!

[nholt]

[wiyoh20]

If you want my honest opinion, the company needs to just file for the "B" word and be done with it.

Even if every park were sold, I seriously doubt it would make $2billion

I do hold the shareholders responsible for the crisis the company is in, and has been in for 10 years now, instead of demanding change in 2005 with the Astroworld ordeal it should have been demanded no later than 3 years after Premier took over the company. SIX FLAGS LOST MONEY EVERY YEAR STARTING IN 1998!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (thanks to Priemier)

The shareholder revolt came way too late in my opinion.

It has been said that Walt Disney himself wouldn't be able to pull Six out of this black hole, or red hole if you are talking in terms of money.
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If Astroworld can't make you happy, you can't get happy!

[wiyoh20]

If you want my honest opinion, the company needs to just file for the "B" word and be done with it. Then another investment company or theme park company could buy Six Flags and its parks at a GREAT DISCOUNTED BANKRUPTED PRICE similar to how Six bought the Former Jazzland property in New Orleans for $25mill for a $125+mil park.

Even if every park were sold, I seriously doubt it would make $2billion

I do hold the shareholders responsible for the crisis the company is in, and has been in for 10 years now, instead of demanding change in 2005 with the Astroworld ordeal it should have been demanded no later than 3 years after Premier took over the company. SIX FLAGS LOST MONEY EVERY YEAR STARTING IN 1998!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (thanks to Priemier)

The shareholder revolt came way too late in my opinion.

It has been said that Walt Disney himself wouldn't be able to pull Six out of this black hole, or red hole if you are talking in terms of money.
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If Astroworld can't make you happy, you can't get happy!

[wiyoh20]

Remember Six Flags spent $14 million by firing Burke and replacing him with Sharpio.

$9Million went to Burke as a severance and $5 million as a sign on bonus for Sharpio, YES lets F the company even more!


With all these cuts that are proposed, do you think Sharpio is going to see a cut in pay?


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/18/AR2007041802408.html
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If Astroworld can't make you happy, you can't get happy!

[ThatTh*ngGirl]

Dan Snyder is who got the shareholder revolt started. If it weren't for him, it's very possible Burke and Co. would still be calling the shots.

If you trace it back to the start of the Time Warner/Premier Parks exchange, blame runs UP the line to the limited partnership that owns SFOT and SFOG. The limited partnership is....a group of stockholders.

Those are the folks who were unhappy with TW and shopped around for new management. The original offer was for SFOT and SFOG; TW upped the ante, Premier backed off in defeat, but later showed back up with a 1.3 billion-dollar (if my memory is right) offer for not just OT and OG, but for every park in the Six Flags system at that time, which I believe was only 12 parks counting the water parks. Insert the proverbial SOLD! here.

Of course, Premier had their own parks to run at the time. Maybe if they had just left things the way they were--Six Flags parks and Premier parks, no name changes or anything, no new parks--and they didn't believe overspending was necessary to get more almighty dollars in their pockets, we wouldn't even be talking about this.

Which is why during the Snyder proxy battle of 2005, I found it curiously strange that the partnership remained quiet. They're not to blame for Premier's actions of course, but they are the ones who got Premier involved in the first place. And NOW look: one of the parks that was Premier's at the time of the SF buyout is now gone: Geauga Lake, which at one time, had the almighty Six Flags name attached to it.

[Mike Robinson]

Good Point. The limited partnership that owns SFOT should be ashamed...lol


But if I had to pick a point when the parks went downhill, it was the day Time Warner bought Six Flags. That is when things really started going down hill. The premier folks just made a bad situation worse.

As far as selling parks, it could be a viable solution. The Astroworld fiasco is nothing to judge these deals by. If Cedar Fair had purchased the park, Six Flags would have made more money and the park would be open.

The entire Astroworld sale was flawed as it was based on very bad information (That land would never be worth the 100 plus million they were after) and then ego's got involved.

Fact is, and we have been preaching this for years on this board, is Six Flags needs to get a handle on the debt to succeed. This won't be accomplished by paying too much for an under performing park (Jazzland) A wildlife park (Sea World) major expansion elsewhere. It needs to be done by carefully evaluating assets.

I would not be surprised to see a park sold somewhere to developers and closed down in the near future, but I would hope it would be done with a little bit of intelligence. The Closure of Astroworld did NOTHING to solve the debt. The recent sale of a few parks helped a little. Maybe they can get it right and stop the bleeding next time.

[Daffy]

Best Say Mike. I just wonder if Houston will get a new park? I know that Houston is losing $$$ the ZOO is going down hill there is not much to see @ the zoo. has anyone been to the zoo this year?? and I made a post to saved the dome I just wonder if anyone seen it? and here is the web site I hope you will sign it @ well
here is the WEB site
http://ghpa.org/astrodome/
and you can read what everyone had say about it and I had seen lots of everyone talking about AstroWorld
I just wonder if we get a new Theme park in Houston.....

[ArizonaGuy]