Beginnings
The name “Six Flags” refers to the flags of the six different nations that have governed
Texas: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas,
the United States of America, and the Confederate States of America. The
original park was (and still is) split into separate regions, such as the Spain and Mexico
The Six Flags chain park originated in 1959 with the
creation of The Great Southwest Corporation by Angus G. Wynne and
other investors. Construction of "Six Flags Over Texas" started in
1960, and the park was opened the next year for a short (45-day) season. The
first park initially featured a Native American village, a gondola ride,
a railroad, some Wild West shows, a stagecoach ride,
and "Skull Island
Growth and Acquisitions
The original park, in Arlington (between Dallas and Fort
Worth) was sold in 1966 to a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was actively
pursuing non-railroad investments in an effort to diversify its sources of
income. (In 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company merged with the New York Central Railroad Company and
then formed the Penn Central Corporation.) With the new owners came a
more abundant supply of capital for geographic expansion and park additions.
Six Flags opened Six Flags Over Georgiain 1967 and Six Flags Over Mid-America in 1971, which
would, along with Six Flags Over Texas, be the only three parks that would be
constructed by the company.
The company continued to grow by acquiring independent
parks. Six Flags purchased AstroWorld in Houston, Texas in
1975, Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jerseyin 1977 and Magic Mountain in Valencia, California in 1979. These purchases
were followed by Penn Central selling assets to Bally Manufacturing in 1982.
In 1984, the Great America theme park in Gurnee, Illinois was
acquired from the Marriott hotel chain.
Also in 1984, as a result of its acquisition of Great
America, Six Flags acquired the rights to Time Warner/Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes animated
characters for use in Six Flags properties. Bally surrendered the control of Wesray Capital Corporation through leveraged
buyout in 1987. Time Warner quickly began to gain more leverage in the
company, gaining a 19.5% stake in Six Flags in 1990 and then 50% in 1991, with
the remaining shares of the company being split by Blackstone Group and
Wertheim Schroder & Company. Time Warner purchased the remaining stake in
Six Flags in 1993, changing the company's name from Six Flags Corp. to Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc.
In 1996, Six Flags acquired the Fiesta Texas theme park in San Antonio, Texas.
History of Premier Parks
Premier Parks originally operated as the Tierco Group, Inc., an
Oklahoma-based real estate company. The company purchased the Frontier City theme
park in Oklahoma City Frontier City Oklahoma Frontier City Frontier City
In 1988, Tierco shifted its strategic direction to
amusement parks. It sold much of its property in the late 1980s, generating
capital to reinvest in Frontier
City
Tierco acquired the financially-troubled Wild World
in Largo, Maryland, in 1992 and later changed that
park's name to Adventure World. With a $500,000 investment, Tierco expanded
Wild World's kiddie section and remodeled its buildings to give the park a
tropical look and feel. Story was promoted to executive vice president after
the purchase of Wild World. In 1994, he was promoted again to president and
chief operating officer (COO). More flat rides and two roller coasters were
added to that park.
Since Tierco was on its way to becoming a
"premier" regional theme park operator, in 1994 it changed its name
to Premier Parks, Inc. Kieran E. Burke, chairman and chief executive officer
(CEO), noted that the new name signified the beginning of a new era for the
company. When 1994 ended, Premier Parks agreed to manage Elitch Gardens,
which had moved from a Denver suburb
to within the city.
In the second half of the 1990s, Premier picked up speed.
In 1995, the company acquired these Funtime Parks, Inc. properties: Geauga Lake near Cleveland, Ohio,Wyandot Lake in Columbus, Ohio, Darien Lake,
near Buffalo, New York, and Lake Compounce,
in Bristol, Connecticut. In 1996, Premier added to
its portfolio, buying Elitch Gardens outright, the Waterworld USA water parks
in Sacramento and Concord, California, Riverside Park, near
Springfield, Massachusetts, and Great Escape and Splashwater Kingdom at Lake George, New York. Premier immediately
sold the Lake Compounce
park to Kennywood in
Pennsylvania
Premier went public in 1996 and raised nearly $70 million
through an initial offering at $18 per share. The company planned to use the
money to expand its ten parks and acquire others. In 1997, Premier
purchased Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, and Marine World, near San Francisco Kentucky
Kingdom
Acquisition of Six Flags by Premier Parks
Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. was purchased in whole on
April 1, 1998 from Time Warner by Premier Parks for $1.86 billion. Premier
began to apply the Six Flags name to several smaller parks that the company had
already owned: Darien Lake , Elitch
Gardens , Kentucky Kingdom,
and Adventure World.
In 2000, Premier Parks assumed the Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. name and
continued re-branding its parks, including the Geauga Lake park into Six Flags Ohio.
Six Flags began a vigorous expansion, attempting to branch out internationally,
acquiring numerous properties across the USA, plus the Walibi chain,
and the historic Belgian park Bellewaerde in
Europe, La Ronde in Canada, and Reino Aventura in
Mexico. Three of those parks were re-branded as Six Flags parks: Walibi Flevo
became Six Flags Holland, Walibi Wavre became Six Flags Belgium,
and Reino Aventura became Six Flags Mexico.
In 2001, Six Flags acquired the former SeaWorld Ohio from Anheuser-Busch, merged it with the
adjacent Six Flags Ohio and re-branded the combined park as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure. The
park was positioned to compete against northern Ohio
Asset Sales and Shareholder Revolt
In 2004, Six Flags began to close and sell properties in
an effort to help alleviate the company's growing debt. On March 10, Six Flags
sold its European parks, with the exception of the Movie World park in Madrid, Spain,
to Star Parks Group. The Madrid
In 2005, Six Flags endured even more turmoil. Some of the
company's largest investors, notably Bill Gates's
Cascade Investments (which then owned about 11% of Six Flags) and Daniel Snyder's
Red Zone, LLC (which owned 12%), demanded change. On August 17, 2005, Red Zone
began a proxy battle to gain control of Six Flags' board of
directors. On August 29, Six Flags New Orleans was severely damaged
by Hurricane Katrina.
On September 12, Six Flags Chief Executive Officer Kieran
Burke announced that Six Flags AstroWorld would be closed and
demolished at the end of the 2005 season. The company cited issues such as the
park's performance, and parking issues involving the Houston Texans football
team, Reliant Stadium, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, leveraged
with the estimated value of the property which included the park. Company
executives were expecting to receive upwards of $150 million for the real
estate, but ended up receiving $77 million when the bare property (which
cost $20 million to clear) was sold to a development corporation in 2006.[9]
On November 22, Red Zone announced it had gained control
of the board. Kieran Burke was removed on December 14 and replaced by Mark Shapiro,
former Executive Vice President of Programming at ESPN. Six Flags then named
former Representative Jack Kemp,
entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein, and Michael Kassan, the
former president of the Interpublic Group of Companies
Incorporated, to their newly revamped board of directors.
Even with the new management team, the sell-off would
continue into 2006. On January 27, Six Flags announced the sale of Frontier City
and White Water Bay Oklahoma City , moving
its headquarters to New York City Six Flags Magic
Mountain
Bankruptcy
The company's cash flow had decreased by over
120 million dollars annually during the Shapiro years and in October 2008,
Six Flags was warned its stock value had fallen below the required minimums to
remain listed on the New York Stock Exchange. With the 2008–2009
global financial crisis weighing both on consumer spending and the ability to
access credit facilities, Six Flags was believed to be unable to make a payment
to preferred stockholders due in August 2009. Management saw the business as a
sound one, noting that attendance across the company's parks increased slightly
in 2008 compared to 2007. Six Flags’ CEO Mark Shapiro said that the
company's problem was the declining attendance and cash flow created by his new
management initiatives. If not resolved, the company warned in its 2008
annual report that the situation might require a Chapter 11 bankruptcy
filing, with Six Flags already retaining counsel should that occur. The company
stated at the time that it expected business to continue as normal in the event
of such a filing. Although one analyst believed attendance at the
company's parks would decrease by six percent, suggesting parents would be
leery of letting their children ride a roller coaster operated by a bankrupt
company. In April 2009, the New York Stock Exchange announced it would delist Six
Flags' stock on April 20, a decision that the company did not intend to
appeal. On June 1, 2009, Six Flags announced they would delay their
$15 million debt payment further using a 30-day grace period. Less than
two weeks later, on June 13, the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but
issued a statement that the parks would continue to operate normally while the
company restructured. On August 21, 2009, Six Flags' Chapter 11 restructuring
plan was announced in which lenders would control 92% of the company in exchange
for cancelling $1.13 billion in debt. The approval of this plan is pending
per the decision of the presiding U.S. Bankruptcy Judge.
One component of the restructuring was negotiating a new
lease agreement with the Kentucky State Fair Board, which owned
much of the land and attractions for Six Flags Kentucky
Kingdom. Six Flags had asked to forgo rent payments for the
remaining nine years of its current lease agreement in exchange for
profit-sharing from the park's operations. When it appeared that the offer had
been rejected, Six Flags announced in February 2010 that it would not re-open
the park. However, the Kentucky State Fair Board stated at the time that
they were still open to negotiating a revised lease agreement.
On April 28, 2010, the company's bondholders reached an
agreement on a reorganization plan. Junior note holders, including hedge funds Stark
Investments and Pentwater Capital Management, assumed control of the
company, while senior note holders were paid in cash. Despite objections from
some parties who stood to gain nothing, the bankruptcy judge approved the plan
on April 30, 2010. As part of the settlement, Chairman of the Board Dan
Snyder was removed, while Chief Executive Officer Mark Shapiro briefly remained
in his post.
Emergence From Bankruptcy
Six Flags officially emerged from bankruptcy protection
as Six Flags Entertainment Corp. on May 3, 2010, and announced plans to issue
new stock on the New York Stock Exchange. Amid
suspected disagreements regarding the future of the company with the board,
Shapiro left the company and Al Weber, Jr. was
brought in as interim President and CEO. The
company announced their corporate headquarters would move from New
York City to Grand Prairie, Texas.
2010 and Beyond
Six Flags announced that Jim Reid-Anderson would
replace Weber and become Chairman, President and CEO on August 13, 2010. As of
October 1, 2012, Al Weber, Jr. has retired as Chief Operating Officer, the
position is currently vacant.
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