CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, the parent company of a portfolio of amusement parks that includes Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom in Lehigh County, faces a federal class action lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. It alleges that Six Flags oversold its financial health and the status of its parks prior to a merger with Cedar Fair in 2024.

The lawsuit names as defendants Six Flags Entertainment, as well as several company executives, including President and CEO Richard Zimmerman, and former CEO Selim Bassoul.

Zimmerman announced in August that he intended to resign amid declines in both revenue and park attendance. Bassoul, who oversaw the merger with the Ohio based Cedar Fair (Dorney Park’s longtime parent company) as CEO, said last month that he would step down as executive chairman. 

The class action suit alleges violations of Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which aims to ensure that company shareholders are given complete and accurate information before they vote on corporate matters. It seeks damages for all shareholders who were entitled to vote on the merger.

According to the lawsuit, despite executives’ claims that Six Flags “had pursued transformational investment initiatives” prior to the merger, the company “suffered from chronic underinvestment, and its amusement parks required millions of dollars in additional capital and operational expenditures.”

The $8 billion merger made Six Flags the largest regional amusement park operator in North America, with 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties across 17 states in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

But the company has struggled financially since then; during its most recent earnings report just last week, Six Flags Entertainment posted negative results in just about every measurement that matters, 69 News reported. 

Shares of Six Flags stock (NYSE: FUN) have dropped about 67% since the beginning of the year. They were trading at $16.39 early Wednesday afternoon.  That gives the company a market capitalization of $1.57 billion. 

69 News reached out to Six Flags Entertainment for comment on the class action lawsuit; the company said it does not comment on pending litigation.