Carowinds parent company faces $1.6B net loss. New CEO has a turnaround plan
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is focused on improving Carowinds and other amusement parks heading into the new season as the Charlotte-based company faces financial and attendance struggles.
Six Flags reported a challenging 2025, posting a net loss of $1.6 billion.
Six Flags’ new CEO and president, John Reilly, introduced a plan focused on operational improvements during the fourth quarter and full-year earnings call Thursday. Reilly replaced Richard Zimmerman, who stepped down amid significant revenue losses and a slump in attendance at its amusement parks.
Reilly, who started his career in the regional theme park business and previously held executive roles at two of the world’s largest regional amusement park companies, said he believes the core demand for the parks is intact.
“What I’ve seen reinforces two things: the underlying demand is there, and the biggest value creation opportunity is through better execution,” he said.
Six Flags’ earnings report comes just three weeks before Carowinds opens for its 53rd season on March 14. The 400-acre amusement park that straddles the North Carolina and South Carolina border in Charlotte and Fort Mill, S.C.
This will be Carowinds second season under Six Flags ownership following the 2024 $8 billion merger of Cedar Fair and Six Flags.
Looking at each individual park
Reilly has spent recent weeks visiting parks since joining the company in December. At Carowinds, for example, he said, he observed executive chef Eraj Haparagamu Ralalage showcasing innovations in food and beverage operations, including more efficient preparation and monitored holding times to ensure guest quality. The best ideas, Reilly said, will come from park staff, including ride operators, maintenance, food and retail leaders. Six Flags has already created a formal feedback channel, receiving over 300 proposals from park workers alone.
Because there is a stark difference in each park performance, Six Flags CFO Brian Witherow said, it reinforces the notion that some profitability challenges faced last year were episodic and execution related, rather than structural or systemic.
The company did not provide statistics for individual amusement parks.
“The key for us is to approach these parks issue by issue,” Reilly said. Six Flags Mexico, for example, could add more operating days because of the great weather, Reilly told analysts after the earnings call.
Six Flags financial and attendance highlights
Here’s what happened in the fourth quarter and overall last year for Six Flags:
- Net revenues: $3.1 billion for the year.
- Net loss: $1.6 billion.
- Total attendance: 47.4 million guests.
- Fourth quarter net revenue: $650 million, down $37 million or 5% from the fourth quarter of 2024.
- Fourth quarter net loss: $92 million compared to 2024.
- Four quarter attendance: fell 13% by 1.4 million visitors to 9.3 million visitors compared to the prior year.
- Operating days: Total operating days for last year were 5,738. In the fourth quarter, operating days fell by 11% to 779, a decline attributed to weather-related closures and the decision to eliminate winter holiday events at four parks. “In hindsight, that decision did not optimize profits at every park the way we needed it to,” Witherow said. Six Flags lost 425,000 visits due to the cancellation of winter holiday events, more weather-driven closed days, and a smaller active season pass base in 2025 compared to 2024.
Six Flag’s strategy for revenue growth in 2026
Reilly is optimistic, saying spending by visitors remained solid, suggesting the “revenue engine is intact,” Reilly said. “They are spending when they visit our parks.”
Also, ticket sales over the past few weeks are ticking up. “Sales trends of season passes and memberships have accelerated,” Witherow said.
Reilly detailed three key areas of focus this year:
- Marketing and pricing: Moving away from a broad-brush approach to tailor marketing strategies to specific parks. The company plans to simplify its pricing structure, including ticket types, passes and add-ons with fewer, stronger offers.
- Consistency of execution: Focusing on operational excellence, ensuring parks open on time, are clean and rides operate consistently. A critical focus will be on “throughput” — how efficiently visitors move through all touchpoints, which affects satisfaction and cost efficiency.
- Return on investment: Prioritize projects that attract visitors and generate measurable returns. For example, “rethink the winter holiday strategy” market-by-market.
“We don’t think this is a consumer problem,” Reilly said. “We think we can address this through improving our execution and through addressing some missteps and learning from what was done last year.”
Six Flags new CEO has decades of experience
Reilly joined Six Flags on Dec. 8 with more than 30 years of experience in the amusement and recreation industry. He previously served as CEO of Palace Entertainment U.S., COO of international Parques Reunidos in Madrid and interim CEO of SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, based in Orlando, Florida.
“I started out in the regional theme park business many years ago, selling popcorn as a teenager, before working my way up to executive positions in two of the world’s largest regional amusement park companies, one based here in the U.S. and the other based in Europe,” Reilly said during his first earnings call with Six Flags. “Theme parks are in my blood.”
Reilly joins the company at a critical time following the merger of Six Flags and Cedar Fair, Marilyn Spiegel, chair-elect of the Six Flags Board, said in a December statement.
Six Flags since the merger
In July 2024, Cedar Fair and Six Flags Entertainment Corp. merger brought the Six Flags company headquarters to 8701 Red Oak Blvd., about 5 miles northeast of Carowinds, in Charlotte.
At the time, Cedar Fair, based in Sandusky, Ohio, had about 4,400 full-time employees and 48,800 seasonal ones. Six Flags, based in Arlington, Texas, has about 1,450 full-time employees and 41,000 seasonal employees.
Carowinds laid off an undisclosed number of workers ahead of opening for the season last year, as Six Flags cut jobs at other parks including Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia.
In August, Zimmerman announced he was stepping down by the end of the year amid significant revenue losses and a slump in attendance at its amusement parks. Zimmerman has been CEO of Six Flags since its $8-billion merger last year with Carowinds’ longtime owner, Cedar Fair. Zimmerman was Cedar Fair’s CEO at the time.
In October, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce joined investors to push for changes at the financially struggling Charlotte-based amusement park company Six Flags Entertainment Corp. New York City-based JANA Partners and the Super Bowl champion, along with consumer executive Glenn Murphy and technology executive Dave Habiger, collectively own a 9% stake in the company.
Combined, they are one of the largest Six Flags shareholders.
In November, Six Flags America in Maryland closed due to it not being a “strategic fit.” Six Flags also plans to close California’s Great America in Santa Clara after the 2027 season.
Six Flags has 26 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties across 16 states in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Six Flags makes changes at Carowinds
Six Flags said last year that it would invest more than $1 billion over two years at its over 40 theme parks on upgrades, including new restaurants and menus.
At Carowinds, Six Flags removed legacy rides at its parks, including Nighthawk, Drop Tower and Scream Weaver.
Carowinds added two rides, Snoopy’s Racing Railway and Charlie Brown’s River Raft Blast. The park also added its first adults-only attraction, Paul Metto’s Boathouse Bar featuring a 3,577-square-foot pool with a swim-up bar.
The park also added celebrations, Summerbration and Viva La Festa, plus the returns of SCarowinds, Oktoberfest and WinterFest.
A new water ride was expected to open this year at Carowinds, with Carolina Harbor Waterpark scheduled to debut May 23.
The park also is in the process of hiring over 2,500 seasonal jobs. Hourly pay ranges up to $16, depending on experience and the position, according to Carowinds.
Six Flags has about 155 at the Charlotte office and Carowinds will have around 2,700 total employees at peak season, with the majority of those jobs being seasonal, a company spokesperson said Thursday.
This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Carowinds parent company faces $1.6B net loss. New CEO has a turnaround plan."
