The park’s Vice President and General Manager Mike Koontz retired on June 1.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
While the corporation did not release an exact number of jobs cut, Six Flags said it planned to let go 10% of its total workforce in the near future. The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification report with the state of California, detailing plans to cut 140 jobs across three parks within the state. The report states those layoffs will go into effect by July 21.
This comes one year after the $8 billion merger between Six Flags and Cedar Fair, which created the largest amusement and water park chain in North America. The company now operates under the name the Six Flags Entertainment Corporation.
The layoffs followed a first quarter loss of $220 million reported by Six Flags in the spring, which CEO Richard Zimmerman attributed to “calendar timing shifts, weather variability and near-term economic uncertainty.”
The company said it aims to achieve $120 million in cost synergies as a result of the merger from 2023 to the end of 2025.
Six Flags detailed the plans at an Investor Day event May 20.
“For 2025, we’ve targeted a net reduction in our operating costs and expenses of 3%, that equates to about a $60 million net reduction in cost compared to the combined spend of the two companies in 2024,” said Six Flags Chief Financial Officer Brian Witherow. “In 2026, we are looking to generate another $60 million of gross cost savings. We believe those cost savings, a lot of which will be the continuation of initiatives we activate here in 2025, some labor related, some non labor related, will offset the pressures from inflation, and other growth in organic, topline influence variable cost”
Veterans of the theme park industry, such as former Cedar Fair CEO Matt Ouimet, saw these layoffs as an inevitable consequence of the merger.
“I recognized that I wasn’t up to watching talented colleagues being asked to exit in order to achieve the cost synergies that were promised to investors,” said Outimet, who left the chain’s board of directors before the merger was finalized. “It isn’t because the business or the individuals were performing poorly. This is purely math. It’s also not a surprise. This die was cast when the merger agreement was signed. ”
Don Helbig, a journalist and popular figure in the theme park community who worked at Kings Island from 2007 through 2023, said he foresaw the cost-saving measures.
“Anytime there’s mergers between two companies, there’s going to be layoffs,” said Helbig. “You hate to see those people leaving, not because of performance but because of what was promised to the investors.”
In the past several months the company closed a number of high-maintenance attractions across the chain. This includes King Da Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure, Superman: Escape from Krypton at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Nighthawk at Carowinds.
That led to ride enthusiasts commenting online with speculation of other ride closures. The company has stayed silent on whether anything else might close or be removed from any of its parks.
“Sometimes, they’ll say ‘that ride’s not going, its too popular,’ and I don’t think that has anything to do with it,” said Helbig. “It’s, you know, what’s the age of the ride, how hard it is it to maintain, what’s the reliability of the ride? All those things are going to factor into it.”
Credit: Greg Lynch
Credit: Greg Lynch
Six Flag also announced Washington DC-area park Six Flags America will close this November, with more potentially shutting down in the future.
“Further optimization of the portfolio is certainly a focus for us, but it’s not a priority to get leverage back...it will only help accelerate the achievement of those goals, and at a modest level when looking at the properties that are on our radar,” said Witherow during the aforementioned Investor Day event. No properties were mentioned by name.
This optimization strategy also includes selling unused land, such as a plot nearby Kings Dominion in Doswell, Va.
Helbig remains hopeful for the company’s future.
“It’s going to be a tough couple of years,” said Helbig. “But by the time we get to 2028, and if they’re able to accomplish what they want to with all these synergies, then they’ll be ready for the reset, and things can start looking up for the future.”
The Dayton Daily News reached out to Six Flags for comment, but did not get a response.
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