So might it be now between amusement park fans and Six Flags. The chain appears to be going bankrupt, and fans do not want to be left in the lurch.
But theme park fans aren't helped themselves by pre-emptively "dumping" Six Flags and choosing to stay at home while the corporation fights for its financial life. If Six Flags' parks are to have any future after bankruptcy, potential buyers and investors need to see signs of life. Right now.
The more people who go to Six Flags parks this spring and summer, and the more those visitors spend there, the more likely that a financially healthy investor will want to take a chance and buy into these parks, keeping them alive for years to come. If fans stay home now, that apathy will ensure the company's failure, and the permanent closure of many of its parks.
I have no interest in saving Daniel Snyder's investment. He's a rich guy, who will remain a rich guy whether Six Flags dies or not. He doesn't need our help. But many of us don't want to lose our local amusement park. And many of us don't want to see thousands of good, hard-working managers and employees, who've done much in the past two years to turn this chain around, lose their jobs in this industry.
A business doesn't always close when it goes bankrupt. There are two main types of corporate bankruptcy in the United States. "Chapter 11" bankruptcy, while Six Flags is talking about filing, allows a company to stay open while a court oversees the company's assets and efforts to negotiate a deal with the folks to which it owes money. If the company can't make a deal, then it goes to the other type of bankruptcy - liquidation. At that point, the company does close forever, and its remaining assets are sold. That's what happened earlier this year to Hard Rock Park.
I've argued that Six Flags ought to be liquidated. Rather than slowly bleed the company to save money to pay off creditors, customers would be better served by selling the parks right away, while they still have loyal fans and value. We've been covering Six FLags' financial troubles for a long time, long before Dan Snyder and his crew came upon the scene. (In fact, we broke the story of the company's financial troubles, way back in 2002.) Debt from the former Premier Parks' spending spree has been crippling Six Flags for years. The company simply cannot survive under that burden any longer.
But many of its theme parks remain profitable, and are cleaner, more friendly and more enjoyable than they have been in years. What a shame it would be to lose that momentum, after what Six Flags' fans have had to endure over the past decade.
So... let's not lose it. Don't quit yet. If you like the direction your local Six Flags park is heading, keep going. Heck, make an extra visit and buy an extra churro or two.
If you are among those who don't like your local park's direction, by all means, stay away. Break it off. Don't throw your good money after Dan Snyder's bad. But if you haven't been in the past two years, give it another try.
Six Flags' corporate fate need not be the fate of all its parks. But fans will help determine those parks' fate by how they respond during the next few months.
Maybe some Six Flags ads on the sidebars would help draw attention ... is there a way to control that?
I would support my local Six Flags if it was local. The closest one is in Montreal, and unless you're spending a few days in the city it's really not worth a visit.
Six Flags is at 0.19 per share. I could buy a lot of shares right now for next to nothing. I'm not totally wild about their product right now and their financial situation is horrible, but that's pretty cheap, and not a big loss if they do go down. If they hang in there and make things happen, money stands to be made. I'm telling you...unless they throw up the white flag, it's not over for them.
Oh, and Scottland, if you need help in anyway about SFA, just ask, and I can plan your day if you like and if you tell me your group and/or likings. Ok? I have your back! eheheeh.... anyway, please also write a trip report when you get back!!!
Businesses are run by people, and most often by folks who are not particularly smart and are too lazy to really think about their business and how to make it fly. As I've gotten older I've come to respect the truly good companies the hire smart from top down and keep their heart in the game, and I've come to sneer even more at those who pursue greed first and only think about what they can get from our pockets and little about how they deliver value.
It is sad, but failure is what happens at the end of a long chain of stupid business behavior more befitting the upper echelons of the now-bereft Wall Street investment banks than places that deliver fun and deliver us from our lives for day or two. This means a LOT of business will die in the next couple of years, big and small, many because of their former greed and most as victims of their failing brethren.
I hope Six Flags will survive...it will not look the same...but if they find their heart again and work on providing a great experience that delivers real value then folks will return and the coffers will fill once more. I also hope the investors...all of us and other as owners of equity by shares or through mutual funds and whatnot...will tell the managers "grow the business and make it sustainable over the long term, and stop trying to make me happy with gobs of cash today with the threat of empty pockets tomorrow."
One good place to start is by treating guests like guests and not captive pockets of money. The next thing is to make sure the employees are proud to work in your park...it's a fun and unique place to be and that should contribute to the fun the guests have each and every day...and that it's about the magic and not the money.
Finally, I am tired of lazy-thinking executives. To them I say: sometimes you need to read something even if it takes you more than 30 seconds, and you really need to think your way through problems instead of throwing stupid, cheap answers at the real challenges you face. Businesses can be a challenge to run well, and that's part of the fun of business. You should not expect a park to be a cash cow that will boost your bonus, but a welcoming and fun place that will naturally attract people from around the world.
Bugger...another long diatribe...stopping now.
Let's hope someone with deep pockets can save the grand-daddy park in Arlington, but if not -- oh, well.
If we lose our SF parks, we will also lose the great thrill roller coasters that Disney does not offer. We have our Disney trips planned also for summer. But they just don't offer the really good roller coasters that SF offers.
Respectfully
JoAnn Kinaln
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I will still be going to SFGA and reporting on all the new things going on there! They actually read our stuff on here!