Six Flags may want to buy SeaWorld
SeaWorld Entertainment is making a splash with investors following a report that Six Flags Entertainment might be interested in acquiring the Orlando-based theme-park company.
Shares of SeaWorld jumped 3.4 percent on Tuesday following a report in the Orlando Sentinel that said Six Flags is eyeing a deal to acquire all or some of of SeaWorld's parks, which include SeaWorld Orlando, the Aquatica Orlando water park and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
A SeaWorld spokeperson said the company doesn't comment on speculation, while Six Flags did not immediately return a request for comment.
The reported talks come just over a year after Bloomberg News reported that Merlin Entertainment, owner of the Legoland theme parks -- was weighing a bid for SeaWorld.
SeaWorld, which sports a market value of more than $2 billion, on Monday reported solid third-quarter financial results as the company works to come back from years of falling attendance. An interim CEO has led the company since its previous leader, Joel Manby, left in February.
SeaWorld and another former CEO, James Atchison, in September agreed to pay more than $5 million for misleading investors about the damage to its business from "Blackfish," a 2013 documentary that accused the theme park of mistreating its killer whales.
Six Flags is the world's largest regional theme park company and the largest operator of waterparks in North America, with $1.4 billion in revenue and 25 parks across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
