Bassoul stepping down from Six Flags board

How strange. There are actually consequences for failed executives.

Don’t let the doorknob hit you in the ass on the way out.

But there aren’t consequences. They pocketed millions of dollars from the merger.

I don’t think it matters who runs the sinking ship at this point. They don’t have the cash for the short-term losses that are required to improve the guest experience.

Bassoul will go down as the worst hire in the history of the industry. No one has destroyed as much value and goodwill as he has.

Where does Six go from here? It’s a clean slate come January 1.

Worth pointing out: Marilyn, the new chairman has experience with REITs and land lease agreements from her casino and hospitality background. Feels inevitable at point.

super7*:

But there aren’t consequences. They pocketed millions of dollars from the merger.

This exactly. Executives hop company to company, extracting as much wealth as possible for themselves. Do a merger, sell assets, call it a win, take a hefty bonus or golden parachute, rinse and repeat. They are a plague on business and society.

Having worked with some pretty terrible executives, I can tell you definitively, it's not always about money. Don't get me wrong, I have interacted and even worked with leaders that are money driven, but they are weirdly in the minority. The majority of them seek internal power (control over others) or external fame/impact.

Bassoul likely doesn't need money. Getting another million or even $10 million won't fundamentally change his life. But he may have a lot of feelings about being seen as a failure. He may have a lot of feelings not overseeing yet another company. Sometimes losing those things are worse than losing money.

Glad to see him go!

FUN ended the stock trading day at $20.06 though the entire market is down and we now have newly announced 100% tariffs on China as of this afternoon which doesn't help.

Spiegel has impressive experience in the leisure/hospitality industry. Being in the "people" side of the business, I think there is hope she, leading the board soon, can right the ship as far as having the right leaders in the right positions. The personnel cuts made will probably stay for the time being but Ms. Spiegel has the experience to know it is the PEOPLE who make all the difference and hopefully will approve adding back positions where desperately needed at some point.

It is my understanding that there has been some interest in a few of the lower volume parks. I suspect in the year ahead we will see additional asset divestitures, unfortunately. I still believe the next few years really should focus on maximizing what already exists in the parks vs. spending tens-of-millions on new products. Disney is a perfect example of taking classic attractions down for a year or more, updating them with new technologies/theming, and marketing it as "new" to draw crowds successfully. Rapids rides have been around since the 80's but haven't had any updates....new waterfalls, new water features, new story overlays, etc. could refresh the excitement in them again. Same for coasters with new tunnels, lighting effects, audio effects, new trains, etc. (I for one can't fit into the old Arrow Mine Train cars with single position lapbars and would appreciate updated trains!) Of course a ride rotation program could be beneficial, I am thinking Scream at MM finding a better home as one example.

KI's reinventing the Phantom Theatre for 2026 instead of something new is a good example.

[edited: this is not financial advice, consult your own financial advisor]

Folks if I owned shares, and hadn’t sold at this point, I’d wait for the announcement of the sale/leaseback. At that point sell, then short the living eff out of this stock.

Enjoy 2026 at your local park, because after that there are no guarantees. This stock and the company is doomed.

Bassoul getting fired > *

Fun:

Worth pointing out: Marilyn, the new chairman has experience with REITs and land lease agreements from her casino and hospitality background. Feels inevitable at point.

I was afraid of that as soon as I saw her background. A lot of the Vegas casinos have sold the land underneath them and now lease it back.

CreditWh0re:

Folks if you own shares, and haven’t sold at this point, wait for the announcement of the sale/leaseback. At that point sell, then short the living eff out of this stock.

fEnjoy 2026 at your local park, because after that there are no guarantees. This stock and the company is doomed.

Damn that's some doom and gloom! But very real. My local park, walking distance away, (CGA) is already on its way out. I bought a boatload more of the stock when I felt it hit rock bottom a few years ago (oops), and bought again right before the merger (oops again), and it's been steady downhill from there. That's actually good advice about how to handle the stock at this point... minimize current losses and then gain it back from shorts. Depressing but true

Jephry:

Bassoul likely doesn't need money. Getting another million or even $10 million won't fundamentally change his life. But he may have a lot of feelings about being seen as a failure. He may have a lot of feelings not overseeing yet another company. Sometimes losing those things are worse than losing money.

He already had another position lined up. So he's not going to suffer

52 week low today (intra-day).

Current dividend yield of just below 6% might look tempting, but you can find that in other stocks that don’t have such existential risk.

Yeah, that 6% yield is probably low relative to the risk.

Ouimet on the FUN board:

For years before the merger, it wasn’t clear to me that the Six Flags board members felt ownership in the results that were produced. Cycling through CEO’s, producing overly optimistic projections and overseeing rapid value destruction while maintaining their seats were obvious clues. Post-merger it appears the historical pattern continues.

Now the same players plus some who served previously for FUN are charged with hiring a new CEO. The recently elected chairperson is a legacy SIX board member; activists hold two seats and there are two other new additions. Even under the best of circumstances, it is unlikely that this board would function productively.

Rapids rides have been around since the 80's but haven't had any updates....new waterfalls, new water features, new story overlays, etc.

Under Matt, Knott's did this with Calico River Rapids… It also revamped the Log Ride and Mine Train just before. Sadly just having been at Knott’s this past Sunday. Im not sure anyone senior at SF understands fully why Knotts makes the money it does. Yes being smack in the middle of LA means the population and weather are great year round. But the history and charm and live e and food, really elevate a pretty middling ride assortment. Legacy CF realized this with CW, but the cool thing is CW never lost its flats, and has a mountain instead of a tower, thus when you smartly add new rides, hey presto.

Hell even Kinzel realized Ghostrider should proceed as the Knotts planned. Now if they lose GhostTown alive, and the Monte debacle is still a joke next year, and they don’t paint Silver Bullet soon, and the locker revolt really bites them. They will start to lose some sparkle, but with DL increasing pricing again, I really don’t think many people will jump back to MM, cause it has been scarred by the SF Circus. The number of people who I heard still mention Knotts was separate from CF was crazy, let alone now part of SF.

I think Matts posting on LinkedIn making the amusement press, will certainly increase eyeballs on the CEO hunt. That being said with Zimmerman and Bassoul both gone, and Witherow and one Ex Disney guy in the room, I do expect a decent rebalancing of power. That plus Disney and Universal seeming immune to Trumpenomics, and Herschend taking on growth potential parks, growing the resort side, and jettisoning the rest. (Two more FECs closed today) I expect SF to have a killer fall with the weather we have had, and the lengthening of Halloween season, and the pricing increase for houses.

The doom and gloom would have been more pressing if the merger didn’t happen. They are nowhere near Spirit as far as life support. Judging by the recent ride surveys it seems they know where to put the SFA rides (mostly Dorney & GrAdv) reshuffle the other investments, and the Nighttime show and Stunt show additions, plus multiple Family Launch coasters, and dark ride concepts means the CF planning & design dept still has some juice, and all of Matts thinking has not ben lost. The question is if they can agree to hire another strong willed Ex-Disney Parks person to be CEO and not another Hospitality - Financial hack.