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Seaworld Parks & Entertainment Company Analysis

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Seaworld Parks & Entertainment Company Analysis
Individual Company Report
John Hirko
ECO 6115

Introduction

History of the Company This report is centered on SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, LP. It’s flagship park, SeaWorld, was opened in San Diego, California in 1964. The second park, SeaWorld Orlando, was opened in 1973 after the success that the Walt Disney World Resort had experienced in the Central Florida region. The third and final SeaWorld Park was opened in San Antonio, Texas in 1988. All three of these parks still exist today under the umbrella of SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment. SeaWorld is a unique attraction because they showcase rare animals not normally found in the climates the parks are located in. Tourists that visit are allowed to see these animals up close without having to travel to remote locations around the world. In addition to housing exotic marine life, SeaWorld has also branched out by incorporating thrill rides into the parks. Currently, all of the parks offer animal exhibits, shows and roller coasters as attractions for the visitors. The unique dimension of SeaWorld’s appeal made the parks very successful in a short period of time.
Shortly after the opening of SeaWorld San Antonio, Anhueser-Busch bought all three of the theme parks in 1989. The company merged them with Busch Gardens and the parent company became Busch Entertainment Corp.; which managed all of the parks from 1989-2009. After Anheuser-Busch was purchased from InBev in 2008, it was widely assumed that some “non-core assets” would be sold off to lift some of the debt InBev took on to purchase Anheuser-Busch. (Leonhard, 2008) Sure enough, in October 2009, The Blackstone Group, LP purchased Busch Entertainment Corp. from Anheuser-Busch InBev for $2.7 Billion. Subsequently, Blackstone changed the name of Busch Entertainment Corp. to SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, reflecting the flagship theme park.

Product Diversity
Blackstone’s


Cited: 1. Anonymous. “SeaWorld Pictures Launches.” License! Global. June 2011: v13, i3, p27. Academic OneFile. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. 4. Jones, Del. “Training workers the SeaWorld way.” USA Today. Aug 21, 2006. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. 5. Kellerhals, Richard. "Seaworld Makes Splash With $1.19B Loan Refi." High Yield Report 22.7 (2011): 9. Business Source Premier. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. 6. Leonard, Christopher. “Can InBev sell Anheuser-Busch theme parks?” foxnews.com. July 15, 2008. http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Jul15/0,4670,AnheuserBuschInBev,00.html 7 10. Spiegel, Rob. “Shamu Goes Green.” Design News, Jan 5, 2009: v64, i1, p28. Business & Company Resource Center. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. 11. The Associated Press. “Florida: Sea World to Resume Whale Show.” The New York Times. Feb 27, 2010. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.
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