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SeaWorld Entertainment Inc.
Company typePublic
NYSE: SEAS
IndustryTheme park operator
Founded1959; 65 years ago (1959)
HeadquartersOrlando, Florida, United States
Area served
Orlando, Florida; San Antonio, Texas; San Diego, California; Chula Vista, California; Tampa, Florida; Williamsburg, Virginia; Langhorne, Pennsylvania
Key people
John Reilly, acting CEO[1]
ProductsTheme park attractions, rides, and games
RevenueUSD$1.377 billion (2014)[2]
USD$160.59 million (2014)[2]
USD$49.9 million (2014)[2]
Total assetsUSD$2.44 billion (2014)[2]
Total equityUSD$579.5 million(2014)[2]
Number of employees
22,100[3]
WebsiteOfficial website

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc., formerly Busch Entertainment Corporation and SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, LLC, is a family entertainment, amusement park, and attraction company headquartered in Orlando, Florida.[4] It operates nine theme parks inlcuding five water parks in the United States.

The sale was completed on December 1, 2009 and with it came a new company name, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. It became a publicly traded company in 2012.

History

Busch Entertainment

Anheuser-Busch started its Busch Gardens parks with its Tampa, Florida location in 1959, which is consider the begins of its Busch Entertainment unit.[5] Tampa and Busch Gardens Williamsburg were located adjacent to breweries, and the parks included tours of the facilities and even free samples of the products made there.

In September 1989, Busch Entertainment purchased Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Park Group which including Boardwalk and Baseball, Cypress Gardens and SeaWorld. The Boardwalk and Baseball theme park was closed on January 17, 1990 a few hours early. The Baseball City Stadium would continue its operations, while the park and stadium were up for sale.[6]

Busch Entertainment promoted a number of SeaWorld Orlando executives to corporate ending with the promotion of Orlando executive vice president and general manager Jim Atchison to Busch president and chief operating officer and chairman and president Keith M. Kasen to Busch chairman and chief executive officer on December 1, 2007. With so many executive promoted and staying in Orlando, Anheuser-Busch Cos moved the entertainment unit's headquarters to Orlando in 2008. By this time, SeaWorld Orlando was seen as the company's flagship theme park.[4]

In 2008, Anheuser-Busch was acquired by Brazilian-Belgian brewer InBev. Based on its previous acquisitions, it was widely expected that InBev would later sell off non-core assets in order to pay down the debt created by its purchase of Anheuser-Busch; the theme-park division was considered one of the most likely assets to be sold.[7] In early 2009, InBev began soliciting bids for those assets in advance of an anticipated sale.[8] As part of the plans to shed the division, Busch Entertainment ended the free beer-sampling programs at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and at nine other theme parks which have Anheuser-Busch BrewMaster’s Clubs.[9] Similarly, Busch Entertainment broke from its parent company and terminated a benefit where employees of legal age received two free cases of Anheuser-Busch beer per month, a benefit that continued for the rest of the company.[9][10] At the time, InBev was thought to be considering selling the parks to the highest bidder, or spinning off Busch Entertainment as an independent company.[8] It was suggested at one point that NBC Universal was interested in purchasing Busch Entertainment, and folding it into the Universal Studios Theme Parks chain, but no official bid for the company surfaced.[11] However, other asset sales, such as the sale of Tsingtao Brewery, and an issuance of $3 billion in new long-term debt in May 2009, raised over $11 billion since the start of 2009, temporarily reducing the need to sell Busch Entertainment.[12] Other cited reasons for an apparent reluctance to sell off the company included still-volatile credit markets and receipt of initial bids that were lower than expected.[12]

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment

In late 2009, the Blackstone Group reportedly entered into negotiations to acquire Busch Entertainment.[13] The Blackstone Group already owned a partnership in Universal Orlando Resort, and a significant interest in Merlin Entertainments, which operates attractions and theme parks such as Madame Tussauds and Legoland.[13] Previous estimates have valued Busch Entertainment at somewhere between USD $2.5-3.0 billion.[13]

On October 7, 2009, the discussions came to fruition as Anheuser-Busch InBev announced plans to sell Busch Entertainment Corporation to the Blackstone Group in a deal worth approximately US$2.7 billion.[14].[15]

As part of the deal, Blackstone will maintain the current management team from Busch Entertainment and operate it as a separate entity.[14] Further, Anheuser-Busch will sign a sponsorship agreement with the company, thus allowing the two Busch Gardens parks to keep their current names and promotions, including the "Here's to the Heroes" military appreciation program.[14] In announcing the deal, Busch Entertainment President Jim Atchison said that Blackstone's acquisition brings "an awful lot of strategic vision for us. We're going to continue to grow the business together."[14]

The acquisition would be done with no loss of jobs at the parks or at the company's Orlando headquarters.[15] New departments will be hired to fill positions that would previously been managed by Anheuser-Busch, such as a legal department and procurement staff.[14] The largest proposed change to the operation of the parks would be the removal of Anheuser-Busch's Clydesdale from those parks that currently have them and the removal of the A&Eagle logos.[14] Anheuser-Busch licenses the "Busch Gardens" name to SeaWorld Entertainment perpetually.[3]

SeaWorld Entertainment

On December 27, 2012, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment announced that it had filed for an initial public offering (IPO) of stock, while changing its name to SeaWorld Entertainment at the IPO. Part of the proceeds from this sale would go to Blackstone group, which would retain a controlling interest in the company. It began trading April 19, 2013 on the New York Stock Exchange with a ticker symbol of SEAS.[5][16]

Following CNN's broadcast of the documentary Blackfish, which criticized the company's handling of killer whale exhibits, SeaWorld's profits went into a steep decline and its share values plummeted. SeaWorld said in August 2014 that the film had hurt revenues at its park in San Diego, California.[17] On December 11, 2014, SeaWorld announced that chief executive Jim Atchison would resign, with an interim successor replacing him on January 15, 2015. The company's share price had fallen 44% in 2014.[17][18]

By November 2015, SeaWorld and Evans Hotels formed a partnership to explore the development for a Mission Bay SeaWorld-branded resort hotel connected to the San Diego park.[19]

In August 2015, SeaWorld announced an 84% drop in second quarter 2015 net income compared to the year before. Total income was down 3% from 2014-2015. Visitors fell by 100,000, from 6.58 million to 6.48 million.[20][21][22][23]

On March 24, 2017, Blackstone Group announced that it will sell its stake to Zhonghong Group.[24][25]

Current properties

Beginning November 9, 2007, the parks collectively became known as Worlds of Discovery.[26] Prior to the introduction of the Worlds of Discovery brand, the parks were marketed as "Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks," emphasizing their animal exhibits and thrill rides. Since the company's sale to Blackstone in 2009, the "Worlds of Discovery" branding is no longer in use.

Theme parks

Busch Gardens parks

SeaWorld parks

Other theme parks

Water parks

Aquatica chain

Other water parks

Future Properties

On December 13, 2016, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment announced a new partnership with Miral to bring SeaWorld Abu Dhabi to Yas Island. The park, which will be situated to the northeast of Ferrari World, is set to open in 2022 and will be the first SeaWorld without orcas.[28] SeaWorld is licensing the brand to Miral, who will fully fund the project.[29]

  • New Sesame Place Theme Park and New Sesame Street Land in Seaworld Orlando

On May 18, 2017, SeaWorld Entertainment announced that they would build another Sesame Place theme park in the United States by 2021 in addition to the one currently operating in Pennsylvania, with the option to build more Sesame Place parks after that. A New Sesame Street land will build in Seaworld Orlando by spring 2019.

Dubai properties

First announced in February 2008, Dubai developer Nakheel planned to license SeaWorld's properties for its own "Worlds of Discovery," with the first parks set to open in 2012.[30] However, the global financial crisis of 2008-09 has prompted both Nakheel and Busch Entertainment to suspend development indefinitely, although both sides expect to move forward when the financial climate improves.[31]

First phase (originally planned for December 2012):[31]

Second phase (originally planned for 2015):[31]

Former properties

Busch Gardens parks

SeaWorld parks

Other parks

See also

References

  1. ^ Smith, Aaron (February 27, 2018). "SeaWorld CEO steps down as attendance slides". CNN Money. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (December 12, 2013). "SeaWorld 2014 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  3. ^ a b SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (December 12, 2013). "SeaWorld Prospectus" (PDF). Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Powers, Scott (October 25, 2007). "Busch Entertainment to call Orlando home". www.orlandosentinel.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2007. Retrieved October 25, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b "SeaWorld stock surges in first day of trading". New York Post. April 19, 2013.
  6. ^ "Baseball theme park strikes out". Gainesville Sun. New York Times Company. AP. January 19, 1990. p. 4B. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  7. ^ Leonard, Christopher (July 15, 2008). "Can InBev sell Anheuser-Busch theme parks?". FoxNews.com. Associated Press. Retrieved October 4, 2009.
  8. ^ a b "Sale expected soon on Busch theme parks". Virginia Gazette. January 15, 2009. Retrieved January 23, 2009.[dead link]
  9. ^ a b Eckert, Barton (January 6, 2009). "No more free beer at Busch Gardens Williamsburg". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
  10. ^ McWilliams, Jeremiah (June 24, 2009). "Free beer continues at Anheuser-Busch; What does Brito think?". stltoday.com. Archived from the original on June 27, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Garcia, Jason; Clarke, Sara K. (April 27, 2009). "Will Universal, SeaWorld combine forces?". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
  12. ^ a b Garcia, Jason (May 13, 2009). "Is urgency to sell SeaWorld, other Busch parks ebbing?". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
  13. ^ a b c Hall, Jessica; Davies, Megan (October 2, 2009). "Blackstone near deal to buy theme parks: sources". Reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved October 4, 2009.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Garcia, Jason (October 7, 2009). "SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens, other parks sold to Blackstone Group". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 7, 2009.
  15. ^ a b "InBev Selling Busch Gardens, SeaWorld Parks". TheLedger.com. Associated Press. October 7, 2009. Retrieved October 7, 2009.
  16. ^ Garcia, Jason (December 27, 2012). "SeaWorld files to sell stock in IPO". orlandosentinel.com. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
  17. ^ a b "SeaWorld boss steps down after film hurts attendance". BBC News. December 11, 2014. Archived from the original on December 13, 2014. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. Announces David D'Alessandro Named Interim CEO" (Press release). SeaWorld Entertainment. December 11, 2014. Archived from the original on December 14, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014. {{cite press release}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Weisberg, Lori; Van Grove, Jennifer (November 9, 2015). "SeaWorld to build resort on Mission Bay". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  20. ^ Weisman, Aly, "'Jackass' star Steve-O arrested after an epic stunt including a 100-foot crane and an inflatable whale in protest of SeaWorld", Business Insider (Yahoo! News), August 11, 2015
  21. ^ SeaWorld Entertainment, "SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2015 Results", PRNewswire, August 6, 2015
  22. ^ Verhoeven, Beatrice, "‘Blackfish’ Effect: SeaWorld Suffers Disastrous 84 Percent Drop in Profits in Wake of Documentary", TheWrap, August 6, 2015
  23. ^ Neate, Rupert, "SeaWorld sees profits plunge 84% as customers desert controversial park", The Guardian, August 6, 2015
  24. ^ Merced, Michael J. de la (March 24, 2017). "SeaWorld Stake, Long Held by Blackstone, Is Sold to Chinese Firm". The New York Times.
  25. ^ "UPDATE 1-Blackstone sells stake in SeaWorld to China's Zhonghong Zhuoye". CNBC. Reuters. March 24, 2017.
  26. ^ "Sea World, other Florida attractions, offer multi-park discounts". USA Today. Associated Press. November 9, 2007. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
  27. ^ https://sesameplace.com/philadelphia/park-info/directions/
  28. ^ "SeaWorld Announces Partnership with Miral to Develop SeaWorld Abu Dhabi". seaworldcares.com. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  29. ^ Pedicini, Sandra. "SeaWorld announces new theme park in the Middle East, with no orcas". OrlandoSentinell.com. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  30. ^ "Busch plans four parks in Dubai". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on March 2, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
  31. ^ a b c Kassab, Beth (February 4, 2009). "No Busch Gardens, SeaWorld for Dubai". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on February 5, 2009. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
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