Six Flags Asks Investors to Reject Snyder
Six Flags Inc. urged its shareholders to reject an effort by Washington Redskin owner Dan Snyder to take control of the theme park company.
Six Flags Chief Executive Kieran E. Burke said in a letter sent to shareholders Friday that he believed Snyder’s effort to obtain consent for his nominees to the company board was an attempt to thwart a successful sale of the Oklahoma City-based company.
“We believe he wants our sale process to fail so that he can take effective control of Six Flags without paying full value for all of your shares,” Burke wrote.
Six Flags also said it had received bids “from a number of capable strategic and financial buyers” and would unveil a recommendation to shareholders next month.
Snyder said in a statement that his Red Zone investment management firm was “very skeptical that Six Flags, carrying $2.4 billion in debt and unable to even produce enough cash flow to cover its fixed charges, will attract a bidder at a price stockholders would support.”
Red Zone wants to dump Burke and the company’s other top officers and replace them with its own slate of nominees. Snyder wants to bring aboard ESPN programmer Mark Shapiro as the company’s CEO, get rid of some properties and rework the company’s advertising and marketing strategies.
Six Flags shares rose 7 cents to $7.32.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
