Chesapeake Energy

Corporate raider Carl Icahn will be happy. Chesapeake Energy, the company where Icahn pulls all the strings, released an investor’s report (IR) on Jan. 2 that shows capital expenses year over year have dropped an astonishing 48%, thanks to Doug Lawler (Icahn’s toady) firing 1,200 Chesapeake employees in 2013 (see The Great Chesapeake Massacre: Lawler Fires 800 People in One Day). The company reports net income for 2013 is forecast to be up 150%, and profits will be up 33%. However, overall production for the company is only up a minuscule 3%, largely because Chesapeake sold off so many assets in order to “right” the financial ship–or so they say.

Below is a good analysis of the Jan. 2 IR by a Seeking Alpha contributor, along with a copy of the Jan. 2 IR (embedded below). Interesting to MDN: Although the Chesapeake report contains a map showing 10 shale plays where Chesapeake remains active (slide #5), management chose to highlight just three of those 10 plays by providing detailed information in the Jan 2 report. Two of the three are the Utica and Marcellus (slides #14 & #15)…
Read More “Chesapeake Energy Jan 2014 IR Update Focuses on Utica/Marcellus”

Chesapeake CEO Doug “the ax man” Lawler said the company had “an exciting third quarter” (tell that to the families of 1,200 people now out of a job), and that the company saw a “significant transformation and the implementation of a new strategy for Chesapeake” during the past quarter. That’s certainly a true statement. The numbers for the company have improved over a year ago, which will be music to the ears of Lawler’s boss corporate raider Carl Icahn (and will fatten Icahn’s bank account when he sells in the next year or two, sleazeball).

Yesterday Chesapeake issued their third quarter operations and financial update, accompanied by a phone call with select analysts who asked puff questions of Lawler and former Aubrey McClendon “friend” and CFO Nick “Dom” Dell’Osso. One bit of good news amongst all the hot air issued yesterday: Chesapeake’s Utica Shale production went up a dramatic 91% from 2Q13 to 3Q13, as pipelines and processing plants have come online. According to Lawler, that trend will continue into 2014 as more infrastructure comes online…
Read More “Chesapeake’s Lawler Says 3Q13 was “Transformational” for Company”

Is Chesapeake Energy for sale? MDN says you have to be a Dodo bird to ignore the signs. Activist investor (nee corporate raider) Carl Icahn has been the puppet master pulling the strings since he got a seat on the board of directors in June 2012, culminating in a jobs massacre two weeks ago (see The Great Chesapeake Massacre: Lawler Fires 800 People in One Day). Why do corporate raiders invest in companies? To slash employees, sell bits and pieces of the company off that are “unprofitable” and in general get it ready for sale–so the corporate raider can line his pockets when the stock price goes up. Selling companies is what they (disgustingly) do.

So you won’t be surprised that (a) Icahn has upped his investment in Chesapeake–he now owns 10% of the stock, and (b) the “Chessy is for sale” rumor mill has officially begun. The UK Daily Mail reports both BP and Shell could be looking at Chessy as a potential purchase…
Read More “Chesapeake Energy Up for Sale? Maybe”

Yesterday’s axing of 800 Chesapeake Energy employees nationwide by newly appointed CEO Doug Lawler is still reverberating throughout the industry (see The Great Chesapeake Massacre: Lawler Fires 800 People in One Day).

Of the 800 fired, 640 of them worked at Chessy’s headquarters in Oklahoma City, OK. When 640 people lose their jobs in a single city (heck, in a single state), it’s a really big deal–big enough that the firings rated a statement from Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, who had this to say:
Read More “OK Gov. Fallin Weighs in on Chesapeake Energy Mass Firings”

Doug Lawler, Chesapeake Energy’s new CEO–brought over from Anadarko Petroleum after Chessy board member and corporate raider Carl Icahn booted Aubrey McClendon to the curb–says he’s now done swinging the ax at the once-great natural gas driller. And boy did he end his ax-swinging with a bang–he must be exhausted. Yesterday Lawler fired another 800 people companywide, in addition to the ones already let go in his recent firing sprees (see Chesapeake’s Lawler Continues to Swing the Ax – More VPs Gone and God, Veggies & Bees – What’s Next on the Chesapeake Chopping Block?). Yesterday was more like a massacre than a mass firing. We seriously wonder how long Lawler will last after inflicting so much psychological (and real) damage on the company. Is he just getting the company ready for sale at his master’s bidding–so Icahn can add a few more zeros to his already robust bank account?

Some 640 of the 800 who were fired yesterday worked at Chessy’s Oklahoma City headquarters (is there anyone left to turn the lights out?). Twenty of the fired were Pennsylvania employees, on top of the dozen or more PA employees already let go a few months ago. No word on how many got the ax in OH or WV. However, the total body count now stands at around 1,200 since the beginning of the year. That’s 1,200 people out of work thanks to Carl Icahn and Doug Lawler. Here’s the bloody details…
Read More “The Great Chesapeake Massacre: Lawler Fires 800 People in One Day”