Updates on Six Flags + SeaWorld's Past and Present Investor Legal Troubles

© SeaWorld Entertainment

SeaWorld Entertainment has finally seen a resolution to the investor lawsuit that alleged the company covered up the real effects of the Blackfish documentary for much longer than they should have, which caused investors to lose money as the company's stock price plummeted.

The company issued notice that they have agreed to pay $65 million to settle the dispute, which is still subject to final approvals.  The lawsuit had been going on for so long that a jury trial was finally set to start in a week's time, so instead of that route it looks like all parties decided the $65 million figure was sufficient.

The agreement means that SeaWorld has to admit no wrongdoing, and also luckily for them they had insurance for this type of situation, as most companies do, which will cover $45.5 million of the settlement.

Considering the company is run by totally different individuals at this point that had nothing to do with the Blackfish era, it's nice to see the books closed on that debacle.

© Six Flags Entertainment

Six Flags however is just at the start of a new investor lawsuit which claims they did not tell the whole truth about the shaky footing that Riverside Investment Group, which was to build up to 11 Six Flags branded park in China, was actually on.

Riverside Investment Group has since forced Six Flags to send out notice that the Chinese parks are in grave jeopardy with a good chance of never opening.

The lawsuit claims that Six Flags made false or inflated statements about the abilities of Riverside to get through tough economic times in China, which cause inflated stock prices.  However they do note that Six Flags did release some information on the partnership with Riverside, and each time they did the stock price dropped at least 10% - but their sticking point seems to be the sunny-side representation of the future of the Chinese parks while Riverside was falling apart.

I'm not a lawyer so the fact that Six Flags did give updates makes me think they were being up front, but I guess not upfront enough to accurately reflect how bad the situation was?

Either way it's more not so good news for Six Flags, who's stock price is about half of what it was not long ago.  It certainly seems their grand international licensing expansion idea has ended before it ever really began.