View Full Version : More CHK news
icecold 06-25-2009, 11:40 AM Yes, they co-own a BASKETBALL team together, but Bennett and even his wife don't have a lot of influence on the paper. I'm sure Steve could chime in somewhat on how much pull Bennett really has or does not have.
Yes, please do chime in Steve because I am not buying that they dont have a lot of influence over what gets reported.
Rover 06-25-2009, 11:40 AM I doubt that many posters in this thread who are throwing out the accusations have a clue of what actually happens at CE, or any other large public corporation, for that matter. Besides the thousands of pages of rules that govern the behavior and accounting of these companies, there are implications to all the releases made. I have yet to hear anyone on this board actually counter the releases with FACT. I hear paranoia and hate.
I don't know if AM is a good guy or bad guy. I do know he has seemingly upset a lot of oilmen .... whom he has out-maneuvered. Sometimes people get upset merely at getting beat and can't face up to the fact they were bested.
It is a fact that AM believes in leverage and risk. He built a huge company being on the right side of it....at least for now. And anyone who wants to see that company on 63rd collapse because they are jealous or too uninformed to know better should be ashamed. However, if you know of wrong-doings, turn them in to the SEC, FBI, or some other jurisdiction. Otherwise, keep raging paranoia to a minimum.
You don't see this type of criticism and negativity towards Larry Nichols and Devon... So this isn't all about jealousy or a political agenda.
There is a certain amount of discomfort with AM and CHK despite all the good they do for the community and I think it's because of the risky nature of their business decisions and because they are so tight-lipped and somewhat covert in their real estate dealings.
It obviously leads to uneasiness and not just from the peanut gallery. Shareholders are voicing concerns, employees are being laid off and people that do business with them don't always have the best things to say (and I'm basing this on people I know personally, not just the anonymous comments here).
I think everyone wishes them great success... I hope they quadruple in size and make every one of their employees and shareholders rich.
Some of these comments and accusations are over the top but that aside, being skeptical is not the same thing as hoping for failure.
benman 06-25-2009, 02:48 PM So basically all the naysayers on here hate big business or hate a few wealthy people? At least thats the sense I get. I have a feeling these same people wouldnt do a single thing different if they were in Aubrey's shoes or anyone else (except run the companies into the ground because they wouldnt want to work 14 hour days). I also know very very few of you have even met or chatted with Aubrey, or Clay, or any other businessmen you think are so crooked. Oh, and Im still laughing at the guy who is upset cause Aubrey is so called anti-gay. Guess what: 1) WHO CARES 2) This is America and we can be anti whatever we want, so pick yourself up and stop crying.
lasomeday 06-25-2009, 03:00 PM Clay Bennett is a good man. He has worked hard and married a wealthy lady. I have no problems with him.
I do have problems with Chesapeake. They are a bully.
Metro, Aubrey is related to the Founders of Kerr-McGee, I am not sure which one, and I don't know what he did with them. I do know that his goal is to make his company dwarf Kerr McGee any way he can.
Devon is a great company. They are very conservative, and no I have never worked there. I almost did a few times, but I didn't because they didn't pay enough at the time.
AM's grandfather was Aubrey Kerr, Robert S. Kerr's brother. His middle name is Kerr.
His dad Joe McClendon worked on the marketing side at Kerr-McGee for 35 years.
MikeOKC 06-25-2009, 05:55 PM Those of you "libertarians" may not understand that he is abusing one of your prized tenets: the free market. CHK is a PUBLIC company, yet he has abused his office as CEO by agreeing to a multi-million dollar marketing deal to be an official sponsor of the Thunder, which of course he is an owner. See any conflict there? His huge salary with an even more mind-blowing bonus comes at a time of 60%+ declines and as a free market puritan, libertarians should be outraged at such a pillaging from CHK stockholders. CHK purchases his wine and art collection from CHK funds in what looks very much like a quid pro quo to bail out Aubrey. His directors are all personal friends and the lawsuits claim they are not working in the best interests of the company and their owners (city pension funds in two of the major cases), but are working for Aubrey McClendon. This is serious stuff and very hard to defend.
soonerguru 06-25-2009, 07:23 PM So basically all the naysayers on here hate big business or hate a few wealthy people
Wow. You need to brush up on your reading comprehension. Perhaps you only read three posts and start writing, I don't know, but your commentary is seriously off base and disconnected from the comments made on this thread.
froggiluv 06-25-2009, 11:07 PM All this craziness about CHK spending money and I just watched the American Chopper episode featuring the CHK bike run on NG, specially ordered for the 20th anny....everyone looked like they were still in daily work wear....maybe they let them out of the cubicles for at least 20 min before they were driven back to work in silence and solitude.
gmwise 06-26-2009, 12:14 PM Yes I do believe it has SOME affect, but not as much as people keep whining about. I worked for OPUBCO in the past, and Bennett sure didn't have much pull from my observation. Yes, they co-own a BASKETBALL team together, but Bennett and even his wife don't have a lot of influence on the paper. Furthermore, that's not even the point of what I was arguing. Gmwise was stating that Aubrey ruined his "grandfathers" company. Everything I've read states CHK was co-founded by Aubrey and Tom Ward with $50,000 back in 1989, a far cry from a long time family institution that was ruined by a spoiled grandchild. Furthermore, what the heck does Jim Roth and Bennett have to do with the topic of hand, of the 50 layoffs CHK recently had? In regards to the topic that has another thread (Oklahoman bias), I'm sure Steve could chime in somewhat on how much pull Bennett really has or does not have.
METRO
AM voted to sell at the stockholders meeting, KERR -MEGEE, to anadarko.
DID you not know who is his granddad was? he didnt want to be in K-G's shadow.
YES I KNOW TW (NOW SANDRIDGE) and AM started it.
and unlike you I have access to resources from what I speak.
As for Roth, AM and CB and TW all very vocally anti gay, YET they contribute to his reelection.why?
Because Roth was a politician for sell.
now go do some more brown nosing you worthless "journalist".
ThePlainsman 06-29-2009, 09:20 PM Jeez. It's entertaining to read this thread. I hate to be a CHK apologist. I've never worked there, by choice. But to compare CHK to Enron is quite a stretch indeed. To those of us who dealt directly with Enron during it's time, there is no comparison. Enron started out ok, but all those "smartest guys in the room" decided to pursue an "asset light" strategy. This, combined with fraud, was their undoing. They did not possess adequate assets to cover their debt, etc. However, the MAIN THING was that they were completely cooking the books and lying to all stakeholders. It was this duplicity combined with a lack of assets that ultimately led to their death spiral. On the other hand, CHK has pursued a two prong strategy, from my point of view. 1st, in the late 90's, after some misses in the Austin Chalk and the Dakota's, and after a scathing article in Fortune, they began a consolidation strategy whereby they bet on the natural gas side of the business and began to buy up many, many smaller oil & gas companies. This worked brilliantly, primarily because of two things--natural gas became a favored energy source for the merchant power plant boom in the very late 90's and early 00's, prior to the California power crisis (see Enron) and the price of NG kept rising. Second, beginning in the mid 00's (I'd say 04), they began a strategy (or maybe expanded exponentially) of buying leases/land. This was the "gamble". It is debatable, but only marginally so, as to whether this will ultimately be successful. They paid, in many cases, exorbitantly, for leases and many of those HAVE TO BE DRILLED in order to "hold" the lease. Leases expire and it takes an enormous amount of capital to drill wells (it varies wildly, but say $5M for a typical hz shale well). This capital and that land/leasehold explains the majority of debt they hold. If they are successful drilling and holding leasehold and minimizing the loss of leasehold, I think that their ultimate strategy will work. Don't be misled by income statements if you don't know how to read them, non-cash recurring write-downs are not the loss of cash. There is, I am sure, plenty of debate to go around, but in my estimation, it's unwise to bet against them. I've heard people writing their obit for more than 15 years now. As you can see, they have pursued an asset heavy strategy. One last thing. They used to have a reputation as corner shooters back in the day, but I've never heard anyone say AM is dishonest. You got two cents worth instead one. Some opinion, mostly facts. I'll end the same way I started--I'm no CHK apologist, but I appreciate their civic involvement and it's just unreal what people will believe/say when they go unchecked.
ThePlainsman 06-29-2009, 09:21 PM One more thing. The person most responsible for KM being acquired by ANA was Luke Corbett. That's public record.
PokeyePierce 06-30-2009, 09:00 AM Nice post ThePlainsman.
I'm no CHK apologist either, but they are great for the city and the folks that work there. A recent article mentioned them teaming up with StatOil to find shale gas all over the world. ThePlainsman mentioned their oil and gas assets...they also have many very talented oil and gas professionals. If they find a way to make significant money without having to float the huge capital expenses, they truly could take off.
metro 06-30-2009, 09:04 AM One more thing. The person most responsible for KM being acquired by ANA was Luke Corbett. That's public record.
But I'm sure gmwise had it as private record, as he has "access to things"
metro 06-30-2009, 09:06 AM METRO
AM voted to sell at the stockholders meeting, KERR -MEGEE, to anadarko.
DID you not know who is his granddad was? he didnt want to be in K-G's shadow.
YES I KNOW TW (NOW SANDRIDGE) and AM started it.
and unlike you I have access to resources from what I speak.
As for Roth, AM and CB and TW all very vocally anti gay, YET they contribute to his reelection.why?
Because Roth was a politician for sell.
now go do some more brown nosing you worthless "journalist".
Funny you mention nothing about Luke Corbett. And Jim Roth has nothing to do with the selling of KMG. KMG's leadership sold out years before the move. You might want to check your "resources" again.
I heard this this morning and thought it was interesting. We seem to be having more seismic activity than usual in central Oklahoma the last few months, as well. I'm sharing here, just because it is Chesapeake related:
Is Drilling To Blame For Texas Quakes? : NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106059425)
Steve 06-30-2009, 09:10 AM (Steve is sitting back in his chair enjoying the show)
lasomeday 06-30-2009, 09:24 AM Yeah, Kerr-McGee was looking to sell for about 5 years before they were sold. They had moved a lot of jobs to Houston to make it more attractive to the big companies down there. They also outsourced a lot of jobs to ease in the future sale. Luke Corbett is who I blame as well.
I really feel sorry for the people left at Tronox. They left them with so much debt!
Martin 06-30-2009, 11:10 AM now go do some more brown nosing you worthless "journalist".
gmwise... make your point without the personal attacks. -M
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