Six Flags execs not out yet
Posted
Since making his way on to the board of directors, Dan Snyder is hoping to become Six Flags' chairman and wants to replace its chief executive, Kieran Burke, with Mark Shapiro and oust Chief Financial Officer James Dannhauser. That will depend on their ability to sway the vote of at least one other member of the seven-person board.
Read more from Reuters.
That should make for some awkward board meetings until this all shakes out. Love to be a fly on the wall for those sessions.
So why all the press releases yesterday stating Burke and Dannhauser are out, if in fact it hasn't yet happened?
They are out only as Board Members, but since Snyder only has 3 of the 7 Board Member slots locked up one more Board Member must vote to remove Burke & Dannhauser as CEO & CFO. Maybe they're waiting to officially retire Mr. Six as Snyder has said he wants to do.
Remember that they hold more than one position. It's common to be both the CEO and be on the board, but one doesn't necessarily mean the other. The Red Zone deal just pushed them off of the board. The board may can them if they so desire, and that of course can only happen if one of the other board members agree with the Red Zone cats.
That makes sense although it does raise more questions. If Snyder had 57% of the stockholder vote, why didn't he try to replace 4 members of the board instead of just 3? That would have placed the majority of the board under his influence. Does he already have an existing board member that will swing his way? Or was he afraid the stockholders would not agree to handing over the majority of the board?
Didn't what Snyder did have something to do with the bylaws of the Six Flags board? My guess would be that the bylaws state something like 3 off/ 3 on so that you don't have a majority coming on and instantly making radical changes.
I also think the board adopted a number of bylaws in an attempt to thwart a takeover of the company. Some of the provisions force the new owners to pay off the debt immediately. I don't remember what it was exactly that triggered the debt repayment.
Now perhaps 4 people on the board won't agree to Snyder's proposal of who will run the company, and they can eventually come up with someone better that can run the company.
What ever happened to Michael Eisner again? ;)
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