Ardent Leisure Group's biggest hurdle is rebuilding the public's trust in Australia's biggest theme park after four people were killed at Dreamworld on Tuesday.
And at the helm of this disaster is the company's CEO and chairman — the two high-profiled media figures boasting more than 60 years' experience between them.
Yet paradoxically, the fallout from the country's worst theme park incident since 1979 has been a public relations disaster.
Ardent chief executive Deborah Thomas is an iconic women's magazine editor, and its chairman Neil Balnaves is a former media-executive-turned-businessmen and art philanthropist.
Both are facing condemnation from the victims' families and the public over their response to the tragedy.
The theme park deaths came as Ardent, which owns Dreamworld, WhiteWater World, Skypoint, AMF bowling and GoodLife Health Clubs, planned to shift its business focus away from Australia to its growing entertainment empire in the United States.
Head of Ardent Leisure Ms Thomas faced a barrage of criticism over yesterday's announcement she would still receive a performance bonus of up to $840,000 despite this week's fatal accident at the Gold Coast theme park.
The decade-long editor of Australian Women's Weekly and former editor in chief of CLEO and ELLE magazines took on the top job with Ardent in March last year.
Ardent went ahead with its scheduled annual general meeting yesterday to discuss the tragedy and to sign off on executive bonuses.
Late on Thursday, Ms Thomas announced she would donate her $167,500 cash bonus to charity.
She has also been lambasted for failing to contact the victims' families.
At service for staff at the Gold Coast theme park today she gave an emotional apology.
"I would like to say that if I hadn't handled it as well as I could, we thought we were doing the right things in terms of the way we approached it through the police," she told reporters.
"But if the families are watching, I have spoken to a number of them and we will look after them."
Ms Thomas said Ardent's support would include counsellors and immediate financial assistance.
Millionaire philanthropist plans to retire
Mr Balnaves has defended the timing of the AGM, saying the company was bound by law to hold the meeting.
He also said the theme park's earnings would take a substantial hit in the current financial year, following the accident that killed four people.
In 2014, Dreamworld was voted Australia's third most popular tourist attraction in the National Tourism Awards.
The chairman also went through his planned retirement at the meeting, but promised he would not just "disappear" and would be available to consult the board as it dealt with the accident.
"I will be in touch and available to the board," he told reporters at the AGM.
Prior to this role, Mr Balnaves spent four decades with Southern Star Television, bringing shows such as Blue Heelers, Water Rats, The Secret Life of Us and Big Brother to Australian screens.
A near-death boat accident in 2002 inspired the television executive to invest his fortunes in supporting art in Australia.
In 2006, he established the Balnaves Foundation, which seeks to broaden community access to the arts.
He has been awarded an order of Australia for this work and has donated more than $20 million in the past decade.
Arduous times for Ardent group
Dreamworld had planned to reopen its doors for the first time today, and hold a memorial service for the victims.
But the park will now stay closed until at least Monday, after concerns that opening too soon could hamper the police's investigation.
The company's theme park division, which encompasses Dreamworld and WhiteWater World, generates about one-third of Ardent's total earnings.
This is the first major tragedy for the leisure group but Mr Balnaves said the horrific accident would not impact the company's expansion into the US.
In 2012, the group entered the US and Main Event is now the fastest-growing bowling-anchored family entertainment chain in the US.
He said funding for the expansion would mostly come from the sale of the Ardent's gym and marina businesses rather than relying on its theme park revenue.
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