Update: SIX Flagging was originally published on City Desk on Jun. 13, 2009, at 10:40 a.m.
In the end, the news is less surprising than Brett Favre coming out of retirement or Adam Lambert just plain coming out: Dan Snyder’s theme park chain, Six Flags, is bankrupt.
Snyder’s company filed for Chapter 11 earlier today. Who knew bankruptcy courts are open on weekends?
Snyder took over Six Flags more than three years ago through an ugly stockholder coup. Looking back, the funniest part of the takeover came on Oct. 24, 2005, when Snyder sent a letter to investors saying the stock price was being stifled by the then-chairman of the board, and told stockholders they’d “have been better off hiding their money under a mattress” than investing in the company.
Snyder, who according to SEC filings got Redskins Park employees -- including Vinny Cerrato and Karl Swanson -- to go in with him on the theme park investment, controlled 10,921,300 shares of Six Flags stock at the time of his mattress comments. Stock in the company hit $11.93 a share shortly after the takeover, according to the database of MSN Money.
That puts Snyder and his Redskins Park posse’s Six Flags holdings at $130,291,109.
With the bankruptcy filing, common stock in Six Flags is likely worthless. That $130,291,109 is gone.
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Looks like Vinny and Karl would have been better off hiding their money under a mattress than trusting the boss.
Keep the dial right here for all the breaking news in Dan Snyder’s Six Flags soap opera.
