Travis Kelce and Jana Partners bought 9% of Six Flags?!

Six Flags has been hurting. Their stock was down 50% on the year (due to bad weather and declining visits).

Until it was announced last week that New York-based hedge fund Jana Partners and NFL superstar Travis Kelce (and other investors) have a combined stake of about 9% of the theme-park operator's shares, which is currently worth ~$200M.

Shares popped 18% on the news.

## Why Travis?

Kelce is a a self-described theme park "superfan" who grew up frequenting parks in Ohio.

He announced the deal about buying the stock at around 2:15 in this video:

I mean this is literally what we do as Flankers. Obviously, Travis has access to deals that we don't (Jana isn't coming to me anytime soon). But! He didn't invest in a crazy space company that has no revenue, he bought a business that he understood. That's cool to see.

He also announced the deal on his instagram.

This deal makes so much sense. JANA’s partnership with Mr. Kelce is unprecedented in two respects:

It pairs an activist and a world-famous celebrity that has personally invested in the company and is using their star power to boost the company’s brand from the outside in a highly authentic manner, and
It brings a perfectly tailored solution to rejuvenate the company’s branding and marketing, reaffirming its cool factor and resolving any concern about Six Flag’s brand relevance that has weighed on the company’s multiple.

Also, it also makes total sense for Jana to try and use Travis' star power to help make Six Flag's Brand "cool" again... but can you imagine what will happen when they use Travis to get to Taylor? Look out above.