Article: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050825/six_flags_sale.html?.v=5 Well, this is big news. No matter the way this goes, there is no denying it will have huge impacts on the industry worldwide. Basically, the issue is with the huge debt the company has - $2.6 billion. Most of the parks are profitable - but only on a park level. On the corporate level however the debt incurred largely from purchasing these parks is what has been putting the park in the red year after year. A new owner needs to be able to service this debt ($200 million interest per year) while at the same time putting extensive capital into redeveloping many aspects of their theme park operations.

Is this bad?

Yes it's bad, they bought-out too many parks so quickly that they put this debt on themselves. I say if Bill Gates is still a shareholder he should be the one to take the company under his wing like a silent investor (not having anything to do with the board).

Yes it's bad, they bought-out too many parks so quickly that they put this debt on themselves. I say if Bill Gates is still a shareholder he should be the one to take the company under his wing like a silent investor (not having anything to do with the board).

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You know that's actually a damn good idea, I couldn't see America without Six Flags parks, it'd be terrible! But really, they brought on on themselves, buying so many damn parks in such a rapid time. Also, purchasing roller-coasters and attractions willy nilly for theme parks that didn't nessecarily need them (did Magic Mountain really need Deja Vu? Did Great Adventure really need Kingda Ka?) Perhaps they should have seeked to sell each of the parks seperately(like they did with Geauga Lake I beleive). Surely Magic Mountain and Great Adventure would fetch huge sums of money...maybe not ~2 billion, but it'd be a much more attractive offer to potential buyers to buy single parks then buying all of the parks and being forced to own and run them all.