Continental Resources Business Practices

[HangryHippo]

I understand they're reporting news, but its annoying that every damn thing they report is about a negative event with one of our companies. It's just old at this point. Yes it's worthy news that needs to be reported, but I have no doubt I'm not the only one that's tired of the uneasy Reuters reports.

[HangryHippo]

Did anyone else watch the Today Show this morning? This story was covered and they were talking about the stock price drop that's bound to continue.

[HangryHippo]

I was told that the reason Continental backed off the State Center site was due to this pending divorce. So yes, this whole situation impacts OKC very directly and I'm glad someone is at least attempting to get to the facts.

What exactly does this divorce do to Continental? It's probably obvious to other posters, but why would they have to back off the site because of Hamm's personal divorce?

[Bellaboo]

In todays DOK article, I think they had filed and rescinded divorce papers on two previous occasions, as far back as 1998.

http://newsok.com/continental-resour...rticle/3768079

[onthestrip]

Calling Midtowner...why and how does a file get destroyed?

From the Reuters article:
In 1998, Harold Hamm filed for divorce and demanded that Sue Ann undergo a psychological evaluation. He later withdrew the divorce petition and the case file was ordered destroyed this year, on February 13, according to Oklahoma court records. What prompted the destruction of the file is unclear. In 2005, Sue Ann Hamm subsequently filed for divorce; that case also was dropped.

[Teo9969]

What exactly does this divorce do to Continental? It's probably obvious to other posters, but why would they have to back off the site because of Hamm's personal divorce?

Hamm owns 68% of CLR. He runs the company through and through. There is no board, no investors, no executives that can out-vote him.

If he loses half of that...geez, even just 20% of the total shares (~30% of his shares) then all of the sudden he's no longer majority owner, the company probably ends up in multiple investors hands and all the crap that the average publicly traded company has to deal with in terms of battles with shareholders become particularly relevant.

Or a potentially worse scenario: his wife actually holds onto the shares she gets in the divorce and now has a major say in the business practices of CLR, makes use of it and somehow damages the company.

None of this is inherently *bad* but a major shakeup of the ownership of the company rightly means that any major moves the company is going to make need to placed on hold to see how things pan out.

[HangryHippo]

Hamm owns 68% of CLR. He runs the company through and through. There is no board, no investors, no executives that can out-vote him.

If he loses half of that...geez, even just 20% of the total shares (~30% of his shares) then all of the sudden he's no longer majority owner, the company probably ends up in multiple investors hands and all the crap that the average publicly traded company has to deal with in terms of battles with shareholders become particularly relevant.

Or a potentially worse scenario: his wife actually holds onto the shares she gets in the divorce and now has a major say in the business practices of CLR, makes use of it and somehow damages the company.

None of this is inherently *bad* but a major shakeup of the ownership of the company rightly means that any major moves the company is going to make need to placed on hold to see how things pan out.

Thanks, Teo for the informative post. Very interesting stuff.

[Pete]

And regarding them possibly building a new tower, I'm sure the uncertainty in all of this just means they don't want to get into a rush to launch some huge project.

I was just told by someone in the know they actually have some room to grow in their current building, although that would last long given their current growth trajectory. And of course, it takes 3-5 years to get a new urban down open for business, unless they've already started some of the design and programming work.

[Just the facts]

Or a potentially worse scenario: his wife actually holds onto the shares she gets in the divorce and now has a major say in the business practices of CLR, makes use of it and somehow damages the company.

Why would she damage something worth billions of dollars? Hell, for all we know she is better at running the company than Harold is.

[HangryHippo]

Hell, for all we know she is better at running the company than Harold is.

Uh, JTF, sometimes you make some solid points, but I don't think this is one of them...

[Just the facts]

Uh, JTF, sometimes you make some solid points, but I don't think this is one of them...

Why not? She was a leading executive at the company for years and launched two of the biggest divisions. She is also an economist and an attorney.

[HangryHippo]

Why not? She was a leading executive at the company for years and launched two of the biggest divisions. She is also an economist and an attorney.

I'm not saying she isn't capable of being a wonderful leader, I'm saying it seemed like you were too easily discounting what Harold Hamm has done for Continental. And I thought that was a mistake.

[Just the facts]

I'm not saying she isn't capable of being a wonderful leader, I'm saying it seemed like you were too easily discounting what Harold Hamm has done for Continental. And I thought that was a mistake.

If what she claims is true then the jury is still out on what he "did for Continental". Anyhow, I am sure in the end this will be much ado about nothing. Besides, OKC could probably use a woman's touch in the good 'ol boy network. On that topic, I wonder who the most powerful business woman is in OKC.

[Bellaboo]

If what she claims is true then the jury is still out on what he "did for Continental". Anyhow, I am sure in the end this will be much ado about nothing. Besides, OKC could probably use a woman's touch in the good 'ol boy network. On that topic, I wonder who the most powerful business woman is in OKC.

It was Christy Gaylord Everest, before the sale.....

[Teo9969]

Why would she damage something worth billions of dollars? Hell, for all we know she is better at running the company than Harold is.

I wasn't saying that that was a given. I'm just expressing a possible reason for caution in proceeding with big projects.

I'm sure everything will be fine on the CLR front. Even if Hamm only owns 34% of the stock, that's still a major amount. I'd just hate to see that much stock get liquidated and put in the hands of sundry investment firms. I hope if she gets stock in the divorce and decides to sell it, that she sells it to OKC investors. We've seen enough crap with CHK and SD to last us 5 to 10 years. I really hope CLR is not even exposed to the possibility.

[MustangGT]

I can easily see her demanding and getting 50% of his stock which would make her just as powerful in the company as he is. A company such as this cannot answer to two masters. Somebody has to have the ultimate and final say so.

[Bellaboo]

I can easily see her demanding and getting 50% of his stock which would make her just as powerful in the company as he is. A company such as this cannot answer to two masters. Somebody has to have the ultimate and final say so.

I don't think so. She got married to him many years after his company was established. She might gain an X factor from that point on, but his gain may be an X factor of 100.

I have a friend who had this scenario - He got married late in life, as an example lets say he had $10,000 in his 401k when he got married. Lets say he got divorced when it reached $20,000. She wanted half, $10,000, but only got $4,000, due to the fact that he had a larger percent gain due to owning a larger part of the 401k (at the point of marriage) that the final principal grew to. He walked away with $16,000.

[MustangGT]

Yes no maybe so. Your friends low end divorce is not even in the same league. When massive amounts of money are concerned what works for the little people many times goes out the window. It is reported that the companies stock price surged 500% since they got married. Also she has held executive positions within the company. Not so simple now is it?

[ou48A]

Hamm owns 68% of CLR. He runs the company through and through. There is no board, no investors, no executives that can out-vote him.

If he loses half of that...geez, even just 20% of the total shares (~30% of his shares) then all of the sudden he's no longer majority owner, the company probably ends up in multiple investors hands and all the crap that the average publicly traded company has to deal with in terms of battles with shareholders become particularly relevant.

Or a potentially worse scenario: his wife actually holds onto the shares she gets in the divorce and now has a major say in the business practices of CLR, makes use of it and somehow damages the company.

None of this is inherently *bad* but a major shakeup of the ownership of the company rightly means that any major moves the company is going to make need to placed on hold to see how things pan out.

What you say is mostly true IMHO. However if there is no prenuptial agreement in place the easiest thing to do for all involved may be to seek a buyer for CLR. That would probably be bad news for OKC.

With the major egos involved we could eventually see this having a major impact on many average CLR employees who had nothing to do with the personal matters of the CEO?

[ou48A]

I'm going to get into an argument on this. But reporting on this one isn't as clear cut or simple as folks are assuming. I'll just say this... it ain't easy being a professional reporter, and it's even more difficult being a professional editor - especially if they have to oversee folks like myself and Brianna Bailey. (and as an aside - records were sealed. Reuters "obtained" a part of the filing. How? Who provided it? I don't know. But were we (JR, OKC Biz and Gaz heard this too) supposed to report an unconfirmed rumor of a divorce? And don't be so sure Reuters has it all correct on this one....they certainly omitted important details that are in The Oklahoman's report tomorrow.

The reporting on this may not be “as clear cut or simple as folks are assuming” but just like SD and CHK the great bulk of the breaking news on these news events seems to have come from out of state sources.

It’s almost like the local journalist are afraid to risk offending our local business when their business decisions and governance is in question.

Anyone with a lick of business common sense could see the CHK problem brewing for well over a decade.

[DowntownMan]

What you say is mostly true IMHO. However if there is no prenuptial agreement in place the easiest thing to do for all involved may be to seek a buyer for CLR. That would probably be bad news for OKC.

With the major egos involved we could eventually see this having a major impact on many average CLR employees who had nothing to do with the personal matters of the CEO?

So they haven't lived together since 2005....CLR ipo was in 2007.... Could thing be a positive on Harold side??

[ou48A]

So they haven't lived together since 2005....CLR ipo was in 2007.... Could thing be a positive on Harold side??

I have no idea on that…..That’s for the legal system to figure out…..
She had been working for CLR and representing Hamm as his wife at events many times since the IPO.

[MustangGT]

So they haven't lived together since 2005....CLR ipo was in 2007.... Could thing be a positive on Harold side??

The living arrangements are allegations only. No true facts have come to light yet on that matter. I hope this debacle will not take the decade to resolve that the Dolese divorce caused. My family had a major financial interest in Dolese and that divorce was a HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS.

[Teo9969]

What you say is mostly true IMHO. However if there is no prenuptial agreement in place the easiest thing to do for all involved may be to seek a buyer for CLR. That would probably be bad news for OKC.

With the major egos involved we could eventually see this having a major impact on many average CLR employees who had nothing to do with the personal matters of the CEO?

If I'm Harold Hamm, no way do I let the company just get sold like that. He's still getting paid very handsomely and will have plenty of capital over time to buy enough shares to maintain the largest holding of any one entity in the company. I imagine he'll give everything he has to maintain 51% of the shares if he has to.

Even if she gets half, 34% is a massive number, and he's getting (and would continue to get) paid much more than she is which will mean he would eventually be able to buy a significantly greater portion of shares to maintain his power.

(Just for the record: Hamm would maintain 51% of CLR if he maintains 75% of his current share count. If he can win a case where he only has to give her 25%, then he's still the majority partner.

[Bellaboo]

Yes no maybe so. Your friends low end divorce is not even in the same league. When massive amounts of money are concerned what works for the little people many times goes out the window. It is reported that the companies stock price surged 500% since they got married. Also she has held executive positions within the company. Not so simple now is it?

This was just an example.

Don't think she was the CEO or Chairman of the Board, do you ?