Six Flags declares bankruptcy

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/06/ ... 40525.html

NEW YORK -- The amusement park company Six Flags filed for bankruptcy Saturday.

The operator of 20 theme parks in the U.S., Mexico and Canada says the filing in a federal court in Delaware is part of its plan to reorganize and shed $1.8 billion worth of debt.

Company CEO Mark Shapiro says the move won't affect the day-to-day operations of the parks.

Six Flags ( SIX - news - people ) says it actually had a great year in 2008. It saw 25 million visitors and posted record revenues. But the company says it needed to do something about its crushing debt load.

An earlier plan to work out an out-of-court deal with creditors wasn't successful.

I won't worry about it really, the government's going to bail them out if they can't pay off their debts anyway. Besides, Shapiro said Six Flags will last.

"I assure you that all planned improvements are on schedule at our parks and that our ambitious plans for 2010 and our 50th anniversary celebration in 2011 remain intact,"

So this is just them admitting.......or...i mean....declaring that they are in trouble more than ever?...I mean who's not in debt these days...just as long SFMM doesn't disappear...then I'm good

Frankly as long as the few good rides from the three Six Flags near me would get relocated, I wouldn't even care if they all shut down. [:p]

Or if the parks were just bought out by another company, even though it won't happen, because Six Flags isn't going out of buisness.

[jayman]

Originally posted by coasterpimp

I won't worry about it really, the government's going to bail them out if they can't pay off their debts anyway.

great "Obamaland" amusement park !

Jay: !

nooooooooo i love six flags if it go's ill be pist

but it's unlikely

Originally posted by jedwards07

nooooooooo i love six flags if it go's ill be pist

Gee, I hate to see what's gonna happen if you actually get "pissed", vice just being "pist".

And stop double posting.

Six Flags isn't going away anytime soon, in fact, they have been having financial troubles for some time now, so this news is nothing new to me. All I really care is that Bizzaro, formerly Superman Ride of Steel, doesn't go away, as it's the best coaster on the planet!

you explain "Bizzaro, formerly Super Ride of Steel" as if no one on this site knows that.
its a coaster site, were pretty up to date with that stuff, lol.

sorry if that seemed a bit too sarcastic.
just stating.

Grr... my shares of the company fell almost 40% in value yesterday because of this news. There goes 50 bucks...

As Ive said before, this is not a bad thing. Its not going to hurt them. They needed this and it was pretty inevitable when you inherit that much debt. Theres not enough restructuring OR enough expendable income in the whole US to salvage what had happened.

Give them another 5-10 years, theyll return to being a powerhouse once they rekindle and redesign the way they do things there.

I give them 4 years before they're back in buisness.

omg if their having issues get red of the tons of employees they dont need. at my six flags, they had an employee sitting in the crane game where you bick up the huge water containers and try to win a wii

^dude,
1:bringing back old topics
2:you do know that he's there for security reason's, right?

[SauronHimself]

The problem is that the parks introduce new concepts every year and don't stick with anything, so they waste a lot of money. Plus, Great Adventure really ticked off season pass holders when they changed the Rise N' Scream coaster mornings from every weekday(2007) to only three Saturdays during the season (2008), and no season pass holder likes going on the weekends when it's insanely busy. I still find it hard to believe that they lost so much money when tickets were $60, parking was $15, and food was through the roof.

Bankruptcy hardly the carries the ominous nature the concept used to. Even the Chicago Cubs are supposedly going to declare bankruptcy in order to facilitate an easier and faster sale of the team. It seems that bankruptcy is just buying time to restructure. Whether restructuring means closing parks or rides that aren't productive I guess remains to be seen. But as long as the investor's think the concept of the business has potential people are still going to buy and hold onto the stock.