Six Flags CEO Zimmerman out

No more banker's, please......

There’s a guy who made appliances with former CEO experience at the ready…

Surprised this happened this quick, but my previous comments about age, came true, plus I am sure Zimmerman doesn’t have a lot of friends anymore on the park side of things or the industry. The interesting thing is Witherow is the last Kinzel CF guy still standing… and is an accountant not an MBA, and it shows.

I'm going to come to the defense of Brian Witherow for a minute. Accountant/MBA...moot points in my mind. He knows his stuff and has been considered a valued asset by many leaders he has worked with. I doubt the problem is with him and if he is still around through whatever happens next, I will consider that a plus.

I'm looking forward to Matt Ouimet's next LinkedIn post.

Yeah, I agree normally, he just sounded very Boussel SF, in this call. I was hoping that calling out how ****ed up the SF parks did meant Boussel was off the board, or at least Chairman but alas…

My guess (maybe hope) is they go with Michael Colglazier. He just joined the Six Flags/FUN board in June. Current CEO of Virgin Galactic. Former President of Disney Parks International. Prior to that, was President of Disneyland Resort and prior to that Vice President of Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Plus he's only 58 years old so would have a 7-8 year run if he wanted it.

Similar to the Matt Ouimet hire back in 2011. Maybe they can strike magic twice with former Disneyland presidents.

Similar to the Matt Ouimet hire back in 2011. Maybe they can strike magic twice with former Disneyland presidents

One can only hope. Im also curious how many senior imagineering people angry at Chapek and not appeased by Iger could be brought into revitalize Planning & Design and add some real out of the box thinking. Especially since the DC stuff could be wayyy better, and the water parks. Im sure the same could be said for Ex-Disney Hotel people, there are only so many rungs on the Disney ladder.

Not from the release:

"It was reported that Zimmerman was screaming, 'But the shows! It was the shows!' as security drug him off of the premises."

Well, that's unexpected!

Man, if Six Flags goes belly-up, removal of the shows being the cause will be the greatest CBuzz meme yet.

You all can joke about the shows but what else is a whole family attraction that will be popular and within the cost parameters (both as a new build and maintenance) that would be acceptable to SIX. They can’t keep Sally dark rides running properly, so I highly doubt they would ever build a Disney/Universal caliber dark ride. Animals are expensive and political, so doubt we will see more zoo additions. Name me another choice besides shows that will be a four quadrant ride.

To add insult to injury, Disneys domestic parks posted a 22% increase in profit, and WDW posted record quarterly revenue! Ive seen vids of the parks recently and they were not even that full?!?

So I wish Disney broke down the resorts, from DVC, and from the parks separate but never happening.

Despite that Disney was down ~4% today. FUN being down must have brought DIS down a bit with it. Although I suspect the DIS drop will be short lived.

PS: removal of the shows > Rip Ride Rocket

They spent a mint on NFL and WWE…

And the studio side was not great, But the parks being immune to Trumpenomics is interesting so far.

Disney’s stock price has absolutely nothing to do with FUN’s.

Disney’s results were solid. Disney Experiences posted record results. But their stock ticked down because of continued revenue losses in linear + lower margins due to significantly increased NBA + SEC/B12 rights.

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

Matt Ouimet just posted on LinkedIn...

(in part)

"I one will remain discontented until additional leadership changes are made.

My former colleagues (at least the ones still there) deserve an impressive leader and whether that is an internal or external candidate I can’t with good conscience endorse the role under the current board of directors' makeup. If the board doesn’t see the issue themselves, that is a problem."

Comments followed by former Cedar Fair executives and park GMs... including "reactions" from FUN's Wall Street analysts, current FUN employees, etc.

It's clear Selim Bassoul remains the problem (which has continued since the legacy SIX days). I connected with 3 former VP/director level folks there during the Kinzel and Ouimet eras. What they're hearing is - Bassoul is calling the shots (from the Middle East, where he moved back to - per SEC filings). It wasn't Zimmerman or Fisher. This includes the elimination of all park general managers and taking an axe to full-time staffing at legacy Cedar Fair parks. The depth of experience, leadership and expertise that Bassoul showed the door over the past 3 months - is simply staggering; and a number of them were brought on by Ouimet. Not to mention, Bassoul's total comp in 2024 being $20.3M... Zimmerman's at $9.1M... Fisher's at $3.8M...Witherow's at $3.1M. It's clear who is running the company.

It's says a lot when Ouimet is willing to publicly state he can't endorse the CEO role with the current board structure (especially given the mess he was willing to walk into in 2011). For the sake of the legacy Cedar Fair parks - my hope would be Colglazier agrees to take the role and pushes Bassoul out.

I would encourage current FUN shareholders, the legacy Cedar Fair unit holders, the unjustifiably fired employees, the enthusiast community, and anyone else who cares about the future of their local parks to become very vocal that Selim Bassoul must go. Let board members know how you feel, they are responsible for the interests of investors and today was the disaster everyone knew was coming. Pressure has an effect. What Bassoul has done by pillaging a solid company, Cedar Fair, with his orchestrated merger that has unjustly paid him MILLIONS while screwing everyone else is, in my opinion, borderline criminal. And he’s not even in the country now? All the proof we need to get vocal.

Chicago07, that unfortunately is not going to happen.

What will happen is:

• Selim will convince the board that he is the best suited person to aggressively fix these problems. Remember, most of the board left in the past year and has been replaced - he’s the “experienced” one in their minds. He’ll be the next CEO, perhaps on an interim basis. His compensation will increase.
• Tim Fisher will leave around the same time Zimmerman leaves.
• Peanuts contract will not be renewed. No perceived value in that partnership to Selim. Legacy Cedar Fair will be de-themed this off season, with a half-assed effort (at most parks).
• Maintenance costs continue to climb despite rides being taken out. More removals coming for 2026.
• The legacy Six Flags stand alone waterparks will be the first to be jettisoned. United Parks will make a play to buy an amusement park or two.
• There will be at least one other park sunsetting that has more land value than asset value.

The assumption that Peanuts are gone seems premature to me. There would ve significant expense in de-theming the legacy CF parks. And Six Flags could practically name their price - who would they be bidding against? Offer the Peanuts team a percentage of merch and in the short term it’s no cash out of pocket, compared to the cost of removing a lot of hardware.