Six Flags, Inc., the nation's second largest owner of amusement parks, has put itself up for sale Thursday. The company already has an interested buyer in Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. Although the company says it welcomes bids by Snyder, who already controls more than 10 percent of Six Flags, it has urged him to stay within the process set up by the company when it announced the sale.
Snyder announced that he was seeking to oust the present chairman and chief executive and raise his ownership stake to 34.9 percent. His company, which seeks to purchase Six Flags, is called Red Zone.
Stocks of the theme park operator rose roughly 10 percent on the New York Stock Exchange when the announcement was made.
Six Flags released a statement saying, 'If Red Zone commences a consent solicitation, the board urges Six Flags stockholders not to sign any consent form they may receive from red Zone and will request that stockholders revoke any consent they may give.'
Six Flags runs 30 amusement parks, but its properties do not have hotels such as Disneyland and Disney World. The chain's revenue and profit have lagged behind in recent years -- it posted a profit in the most recent quarter, but has reported annual losses since 1999.
Snyder has said that if he is successful in buying Six Flags, he would replace Chairman and Chief Executive Kieran Burke and appoint Mark Shapiro, an executive at Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN unit, as chief executive. Snyder would also appoint himself as chairman.
