Six Flags announces CEO succession plan

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation today announced that Richard A. Zimmerman, president and chief executive officer and member of the Six Flags Board of Directors, will step down as the Company’s president and CEO by the end of 2025.

To ensure leadership continuity and a smooth transition, Zimmerman will continue to serve as president and CEO until the Board has appointed a successor. He will also continue to serve as a director on the Company’s Board. The Six Flags Board of Directors has initiated a process to identify the Company’s next CEO with the assistance of a leading global executive search firm, and both internal and external candidates will be considered.

https://pointbuzz.com/News/Story/3418

Is this good, bad or likely just more of the same?

Matt Ouimet, as he has done thoughtfully and regularly, shared some comments on LinkedIn. It appears that he puts most blame on those currently serving on the Board of Directors. I have to wonder if he is making reference to Selim Bassoul and the legacy Six Flags representation on the Board.

https://www.linkedin.com/po...icNoCeYtmA

He goes out of his way to mention his professional respect for Richard Zimmerman and then makes note that he would never be able to get involved with the current group unless there were leadership changes. I'd say he is 100% referring to Selim in that post.

I do not have high hopes for Selim Bassoul.

Considering Selim Bassoul was CEO of Middleby Corporation. Middleby manufactured McDonald's always broken ice cream machines.

Under Bassoul's tenure Middleby purchased the Viking corporation. Between 2008 and 2014, Viking received 170 incident reports of ranges that had turned on spontaneously and could not be turned off using the control knobs, resulting in extreme surface temperatures that posed a burn hazard to consumers. The reported incidents included two consumers who were unable to turn off the range using the controls and were burned while attempting to disconnect the power source.

Viking knew of this information, but failed to notify Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) immediately of the defect or risk posed by the ranges, as required by federal law.

In April 2017, the CPSC provisionally accepted a settlement under which Viking agreed to pay $4.6 million in civil penalties to settle charges that "Viking failed to immediately report to CPSC that its gas ranges contained a defect that could create a substantial product hazard or that the ranges created an unreasonable risk of serious injury.

Bassoul was also CEO of Spirit Airlines. After he departed, Spirit filed for bankruptcy on November 10th 2024. Spirit listed assets and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion. The company blamed mounting losses, failed merger agreements (Frontier and JetBlue) increasing debt, and high competition.

https://finance.yahoo.com/n...00589.html

And now Selim Bassoul and Dan Hanrahan are out.

Can we please get Ouimet back!

Is it possible some parks will just go independent? Or have I been watching too many vTubers?

I'm actually kind of surprised at how Zimmerman and Bassoul jumping ship seems to have intensified the Gloom Despair and Agony instead of attenuating it. I'm guessing people are choosing to interpret the executive departures as the whole rats-leaving-the-sinking-ship before the company declares bankruptcy or otherwise collapses, which, yeah, I guess it's a possibility, but I feel like it's hard to say until we see more decisions about who's taking over.

That being said, part of me almost feels like Six Flags falling apart already might be more disruptive in the short term but better in the long term, as you're in theory avoiding a prolonged period of parks being left to rot or sold off bit-by-bit (though that's obviously contingent on whoever picks up the pieces in this hypothetical).

I see the word bankruptcy thrown out a lot with this company. How can a company that basically prints money be in that situation?

Their costs to operate the parks is pretty high and has increased significantly since COVID both in labor and supplies needed for upkeep and their revenue probably has not increased enough to keep pace. Couple that with being in debt up to their eyeballs due to overpaying for previous acquisitions and surviving COVID, refinancing the debt likely being more expensive now than it was the last time, and you have a company teetering on the brink. Tack on know it all execs that pushed through this merger to line their own pockets while firing local and market specific personnel, leading to actual declining attendance and revenue in some markets. It isn't pretty. Some of it was out of their control due to COVID and macro-economic factors, but I can't help but think that more competent management at the top could have weathered the storm. Instead of holding firm on pricing after COVID in an inflationary environment, they went with the bargain strategy and it isn't working. CP may be packed these last couple weekends, but what does that really mean in terms of revenue when everyone is using their cheap season pass for the 10th time?

HalloWeekends being busy (especially Columbus Day weekend) at Cedar Point pre-dated the $99 passes.

There is a tendency for the people on sites like this to think everyone goes to Cedar Point (or amusement parks in general) as often as people on this site. But I do not think that is the case. Average pass holder isn't going to the park (and most passholders will only go to their home park even with passes that now allow 40+ different parks) 10x a season. Average is about 5 from what I understand. Meaning a lot of people are going 1-2x with a pass.

That Crazy Dan:

Zimmerman and Bassoul jumping ship...

They aren't jumping ship, I'm sure they were asked to leave.

Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead.

Bring in Bill Spehn. As employees, he was our unofficial mascot back in the early 2000’s.

Bill is enjoying his retirement very much. I doubt you could get him to come back. lol