When did SeaWorld acquire Busch Gardens?

SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. owns and operates three SeaWorld locations in San Diego, Orlando and San Antonio, as well as the two Busch Gardens locations in Williamsburg and Tampa. The rights to the Busch Gardens parks were acquired by SeaWorld's ownership group for $2.7 billion in 2009.



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Anheuser-Busch InBev had been seeking a buyer for its theme parks since completing the $52 billion merger of beer giants InBev and Anheuser-Busch last year. Executives have said they want to sell off non-core assets to use the proceeds to pay down debt stemming from the merger.

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SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc., a publicly traded company.

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That operation merged with Belgian giant Interbrew in 2004 to create InBev, which then obtained America's largest brewer, St. Louis's Anheuser-Busch, in 2008 in a stunning $52 billion deal. The new AB InBev outdid itself last year by paying $103 billion for rival SABMiller.

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In 2008, after many decades of Busch family ownership, a company called InBev, the largest beer company in the world — owner of some 400 beer brands today — bought the Anheuser-Busch Company in a hostile takeover for a whopping $52 billion, making the surviving Busch family members even wealthier.

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The parks were bought in 1989 by Busch Entertainment Corp., the family entertainment division of Anheuser-Busch, which is best known for brewing beer. In 2009, Busch Entertainment was sold to the Blackstone Group and subsequently renamed SeaWorld Entertainment.

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Today, there are three SeaWorld parks in the U.S., including the original San Diego, Calif. location, and parks in Orlando, Fla. and San Antonio, Texas. We also created more parks that connect guests with marine life in new ways.

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Located in Tampa, Florida, Busch Gardens opened to the public in 1959. According to ticket-price data gathered by The Family Vacation Guide in May 2022, Busch Gardens is the most expensive theme park in the world just above Disney World.

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Anheuser-Busch InBev, or AB InBev, is a multinational drinks conglomerate headquartered in Belgium. It's the world's largest beer brewer by both volume and revenue, operating more than 600 beer brands in 150 countries.

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In 2001, Six Flags acquired the former SeaWorld Ohio from Anheuser-Busch, merged it with the adjacent Six Flags Ohio and re-branded the combined park as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure.

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