On Tuesday, Jana Partners, an activist investor, announced they’re joining up with Travis Kelce to take an ownership stake in Six Flags, the amusement park company. Jana managing partner Scott Ostfeld unveiled the position at a conference Tuesday afternoon, which The Wall Street Journal originally reported.
The group, which also includes former Gap CEO Glenn Murphy and Reddit chair Dave Habiger, now holds about 9% of the company, equating to around $200 million in Six Flags shares.
The company’s stock price had been down 50% year-to-date before Kelce and Jana’s announcement brought them up 18%. The company now has a market valuation of around $2.6 billion.
Kelce shared a video on Instagram of him enjoying rides as a child at Cedar Point, a Six Flags park. For Kelce, this isn’t just a business move. “I am a lifelong Six Flags fan and grew up going to these parks with my family and friends,” Kelce said Tuesday in a statement. “The chance to help make Six Flags special for the next generation is one I couldn’t pass up.”
The company had been dealing with drops in attendance and weather events hampering business. Attendance at the parks has yet to achieve pre-COVID numbers. In 2023, Six Flags had a high-profile merger with Cedar Fair, another struggling theme park brand that owns Knott’s Berry Farm in California, among others.
Kelce’s investment group isn’t the only example of activist investors eyeing Six Flags in the last few months. Earlier this month Six Flags added an executive from activist hedge fund Sachem Head Capital Management to its board. Real estate activist Land & Buildings pushed for Six Flags to sell its real estate into an investment trust last month.
Six Flags’ future is still cloudy. Spending at theme parks was down 5% this summer compared to the same season last year, according to Forbes. Plus, Six Flags still hasn’t announced a replacement for CEO Richard Zimmerman, who will exit at the end of the year.
Six Flag’s latest SEC filing discuss how the amusement park sought to grow the business through capital investments and acquisitions that year. But the filings warned investors that “investments may not grow revenues at the rate expected or at all.”
Ben Butler
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