Travis Kelce is in an investor group with Jana Partners holding about 9% of Six Flags

The group includes the activist hedge fund Jana Partners, which has urged the theme-park operator to explore a sale. According to the report, the stake was acquired last October.

The case matters for founders because it places a famous name in two roles at once. Kelce is one of the investors, and Six Flags named him a brand ambassador in March. Celebrity deals can involve equity as well as endorsement. This one shows an investment and a brand-ambassador role attaching to the same person.

A minority stake held by a group

Fortune says Kelce teamed up with Jana Partners and other investors to acquire the stake. The roughly 9% is reported as the group’s combined position, and the report does not name the other investors. The size of Kelce’s own share is not given.

At about 9%, the group’s holding is a minority position in the company.

In his statement on the investment, Kelce described himself as a lifelong Six Flags fan who grew up going to the parks with family and friends.

The brand ambassador title came later. Six Flags named him to that role in March, several months after the stake was made.

The two roles now sit side by side. He is one of the investors in the group, and he is also the company’s brand ambassador.

The stake
According to Fortune’s 14 October 2026 report, a group including Travis Kelce acquired a roughly 9% stake in Six Flags. The size of Kelce’s own share is not given.

A September push to explore a sale

In September, Jana Partners urged Six Flags to promptly hire an investment bank to explore a sale. The fund cited disappointing second-quarter results.

Fortune reports these figures for that quarter. Six Flags reported a net loss of approximately $203 million, more than double the year-earlier loss. Citi analysts estimated park foot traffic fell 15% year over year from April to June. The company has not recorded a profitable quarter since summer 2024.

Fortune reports, citing CNN, that shares had lost more than 80% of their value since the $8 billion merger with Cedar Fair. Earlier this year, Six Flags sold seven parks for $331 million.

In this case, the demand is that the company explore a sale.

The timeline runs in three steps: the stake in October 2025, the ambassador role in March 2026, and the sale push in September 2026.

Equity in place of a fee

Adweek’s headline describes celebrity endorsement entering an “equity era”. Its standfirst says stars are increasingly becoming shareholders in the brands they promote, sharing the risks that come with it. It names Kylian Mbappé (On), Sydney Sweeney (Novig) and Kendall Jenner (Trip) as recent examples, each taking equity in return for endorsement.

The examples span several brands.

The standfirst says these stars share the risks that come with being shareholders.

The Novig example shows the same structure in sports betting. Adweek reports that Sweeney is an equity partner in the platform. Adweek also reports that Novig’s chief executive, Jacob Fortinsky, told Front Office Sports that the deal was initiated by Sweeney before the campaign launched. Adweek also quotes Fortinsky describing Sweeney as ‘driving a lot of the visuals and the messaging.’

Adweek reports more than 65 million views on Instagram for the ad.

In this deal, the famous name sits in the company’s shareholder group as well as its marketing.

A co-founder deal at a chocolate snack brand sold in Spain

On 4 October 2026, Alimarket reported a €3.75 million round for Plesh, a chocolate snack brand made by Bliss Point. The products contain no added sugar. Alimarket says the brand reached the market in April 2025, and that this round is the company’s second, taking total funding to €4.75 million.

Gerard Piqué and Ibai Llanos led the round, and they join as co-founders alongside the original founders. Alimarket says Piqué takes part in the second tranche after already being among the brand’s investors, and that Llanos takes part in building the brand, not only as a sponsor.

Dealroom names the original founders as Jaume Betrian, Juan Umbert and Adrià Colomines. Alimarket describes Betrian’s earlier roles at Mondeléz and Chupa Chups, and his co-founding of Ofertia, which was later sold. It says Umbert and Colomines founded Makeat, a studio for innovation, design and product development in the food sector.

Alimarket says the pair will take an active part in areas such as product, brand, content and community. Dealroom says Llanos builds entertainment formats and activates large user communities, while Piqué has experience creating products and business models.

Alimarket reports more than 3,000 retail points in Spain. The retailers it names include Carrefour, Alcampo, Bonpreu and Ametller Origen. Dealroom also lists Cal Fruitós and outlets run by the Áreas group.

On expansion, Piqué said the brand has the potential to go well beyond Spain, and Dealroom describes a planned international push.

The two deals differ in the roles the celebrities hold. In Plesh, the celebrities take an active part in product and content. In the Six Flags case, the group holds a stake, and Kelce’s public role is a brand ambassador title.

Investor, spokesperson or co-founder

Three points separate an investor from a spokesperson: who holds the shares, what operating role the person has, and whether the size of the stake is stated.

The Six Flags case answers the first point through the group’s stake. The second is covered by the ambassador title, which is a separate role from the investment. The size of Kelce’s own share is not given.

The Plesh coverage describes operating roles in more detail. Neither Alimarket nor Dealroom gives an individual stake size for either co-founder.

The two cases sit at different points on the same spectrum, from a minority holding with an ambassador title to a co-founder role with named duties.

Photo: Erik Drost · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons