candidate: The parks were owned and operated by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich between 1976 and 1989 , when they were purchased by Anheuser - Busch Companies , Inc. After Anheuser - Busch was acquired by InBev , SeaWorld San Diego and the rest of the company 's theme parks were sold to the Blackstone Group in December 2009 , which operates the park through its SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment division .