Hedge fund JANA Partners teamed up with Travis Kelce and two other executives to acquire a roughly 9% ownership stake in the Six Flags amusement park conglomerate.
CLEVELAND — An activist investor is enlisting Cleveland Heights native and NFL star Travis Kelce in a bid to take Cedar Point parent company Six Flags to new heights.
Hedge fund JANA Partners teamed up with Kelce, consumer executive Glenn Murphy and tech executive Dave Habiger on an investment in Six Flags Entertainment Corp. that would see the group own roughly 9% of the amusement park conglomerate.
JANA, which disclosed the investment at the 13D Monitor Active-Passive Investor Summit in New York, said it plans to work with Six Flags management and board members on ways to “enhance shareholder value and improve the guest experience,” according to a press release.
Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and fiance of pop star Taylor Swift, posted vintage home videos of himself and his family on rides at Cedar Point — now a Six Flags park after the company’s 2024 merger with its former Cedar Fair parentco — on social media to mark the announcement, set to audio of a discussion about the park on his popular New Heights podcast with brother Jason Kelce.
“I am a lifelong Six Flags fan and grew up going to these parks with my family and friends,” Kelce said. “The chance to help make Six Flags special for the next generation is one I couldn’t pass up.”
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the activist campaign, noted investors like JANA often partner with celebrities for public awareness, like the firm did with NBA star Dwayne Wade and Hall of Fame former Cleveland Indians pitcher CC Sabathia on a previous campaign with the pet food company Freshpet.
Shares in Six Flags (FUN) shot up nearly 18% at closing Tuesday following the news.
Murphy is the former CEO of clothier Gap, Inc., and previously worked with JANA on a stake in grocer Whole Foods before its eventual acquisition by Amazon. Habiger is former president and CEO of J.D. Power and chairs the board of Reddit.
Six Flags has struggled in 2025 with lagging attendance and bad weather, and has taken public relations hits for nagging construction delays and mechanical issues at parks including Cedar Point. The two newest coasters on the shores of Lake Erie, Top Thrill 2 and Siren’s Curse, have both had well-documented issues on that front.
Six Flags CEO Richard Zimmerman announced in August his intention to step down from the role by the end of the year.
