Longtime theme park fans shaking at the notion of a Cedar Fair-Six Flags merger can take some solace that Cedar Fair will be handling operations even if the Six Flags name is about to be slapped on every park in the expanded theme park chain.
Knott’s Berry Farm owner Cedar Fair and Magic Mountain owner Six Flags agreed on Thursday, Nov. 2 to an $8 billion merger of equals that will combine the two companies into a North American amusement park juggernaut.
The combined company will be known as Six Flags once the deal is done.
That’s right. You’re going to have to get used to saying Six Flags Knott’s Berry Farm. Or Six Flags Berry Farm. Or Knott’s Berry Farm presented by Six Flags. Or some other mouthful of a name involving Six Flags branding. The Six Flags national name recognition is one of the key things Cedar Fair gets out of the deal.
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Together, Cedar Fair and Six Flags will have a portfolio of 27 amusement parks and 15 water parks in the United States, Canada and Mexico that attracted 48 million visitors in the past year.
The expanded footprint of the Cedar Fair-Six Flags union will only have overlapping parks in two key markets: Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The good news for Knott’s and Magic Mountain? The year-round parks in Buena Park and Valencia are expected to reduce the seasonal impact that contributes to earnings volatility, according to the Cedar Fair-Six Flags announcement.
The overlap in Northern California will be relatively short lived. Cedar Fair has sold California’s Great America and the park will cease operating within a decade or less — which would eventually leave only Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in the Bay Area market.
Cedar Fair CEO Richard Zimmerman said on a call with investors that there are no plans to close any of the parks following the merger.
“These are irreplaceable assets,” Zimmerman said on the call. “How…
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