EQT CEO Toby Rice’s Unconventional Rise to Run US’s #1 Gas Co
You might think that Toby Rice, son of Daniel Rice III who was, at one time (for over a decade), the single most successful and profitable mutual fund manager in the world, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. You might think that everything was given to Toby Rice on a silver platter. You would be wrong. Prior to running the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., Toby Rice was, among other professions, a chimney sweep (cue the song from Mary Poppins, Chim Chim Cher-ee). He then swept floors for $9 an hour while he attended grad school to learn about fracking. Toby knows what it’s like to work (hard) for a living.
Read More “EQT CEO Toby Rice’s Unconventional Rise to Run US’s #1 Gas Co”
Two subsidiaries of Connecticut hedge fund Kensico Capital Management filed a lawsuit against EQT on December 28 alleging EQT committed securities fraud during its $6.7 billion acquisition and merger with Rice Energy in 2017. The suit was filed by Saxena White PA on behalf of Kensico Associates and Kensico Offshore Fund Master Ltd. Kensico is not the first large investor to sue EQT over the 2017 merger (see 
A relatively short jury trial last week in a Belmont County, OH court resulted in a quick, three-and-a-half-hour decision in favor of a landowner against Rice Drilling (now EQT) and Gulfport Energy in a trespass case. The jury awarded the landowner, Tera LLC (owned by Thomas Shaw), a $40 million judgment. It’s believed to be the single largest jury award in Belmont County history.
Last December Dan Rice IV, former CEO of Rice Energy and member of the EQT board of directors, launched a “blank check” acquisition firm, called Rice Acquisition Corp., to invest in various energy ventures. Dan found that something-to-invest-in just a few months later in the form of acquiring and merging together Archaea Energy and Aria Energy into a single company focused on providing renewable natural gas (RNG) and “green” hydrogen (see 
On January 4, 2014, Rice Energy (at that time run by Dan Rice IV) hired Vice President for Completions (head fracker) Babatunde Ajayi. After Ajayi assembled a team and a system that propelled Rice to become one of the leading Marcellus/Utica drillers, Rice fired Ajayi on October 31, 2016. Rice claimed Ajayi was double-dipping–that he had a conflict of interest by owning shares in a company doing business with Rice Energy. Ajayi says he had reported his ownership interest–for years–and that Rice fired him shortly after he was forced to sell all of his shares in the other company. The reason he was fired, according to Ajayi, is so that Rice wouldn’t have to pay him $1.9 million in bonuses via shares of Rice stock. According to Ajayi, Rice used him, used his knowledge, then kicked him to the curb. So he sued.
Dan Rice IV, former CEO of Rice Energy and a board member of EQT Corp. (where his younger brother is now the CEO), is making a big bet–we’d call it a gamble–of $1 billion on so-called renewable natural gas, mainly from landfills. Rice’s “blank-check” acquisition firm, called Rice Acquisition Corp., is acquiring and merging together Archaea Energy ($347 million) and Aria Energy ($680 million) into a single company focused on providing renewable natural gas (RNG) and “green” hydrogen.
In June 2019 the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Retirement System sued EQT claiming EQT’s executives had made false and misleading statements about their 2017 purchase of Rice Energy–claims about cost efficiencies that never materialized, and claims about the location of Rice leases that were not as close to EQT’s acreage as claimed (see 
Do you remember the child’s game called “Simon Says”? That’s what we were thinking when we read about a lawsuit in Ohio by landowners against a group of shale drillers. The lawsuit, initiated by several landowners in Belmont County, OH, claims the drillers drilled too deep–into the Point Pleasant rock layer–when the leases signed only mention the Utica rock layer. The lawsuit, which is seeking class action status, claims “unjust enrichment” by the drillers.
Last July MDN broke the news that LOLA Energy had filed a lawsuit in Greene County, PA against EQT for allegedly drilling shale wells under property EQT formerly leased, but property for which the leases had lapsed and were subsequently scooped up by LOLA Energy II (see 
In February, prior to the July takover by Toby and Derek Rice, EQT filed lawsuits in both Pennsylvania and federal courts against two former employees it had fired, claiming the employees, before they were fired, had systematically copied confidential information from company computers and took it with them when they left (see 
In June MDN told you that the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Retirement System is not happy with their investment in EQT shares of stock, so they’re suing the company (see 
After a bruising proxy fight, Toby and Derek Rice (formerly from Rice Energy) won control of EQT, the largest natural gas-producing company in the U.S. (see 
As of today Toby Rice has been on the job as EQT’s CEO for one week. According to an interview he granted the Pittsburgh Business Times, so far there have been “no major surprises.” Rice has begun meeting with all 800 EQT employees–some in groups via electronic town hall, others individually face-to-face. It appears his main focus has been to form and add people to an “Evolution Committee”–charged with executing Rice’s previously laid out 100-day plan. Toby also wants to EQT to be a “fun place to work.” He says right now, it’s not.
The clock is now ticking for Toby and Derek Rice who have made big promises about the future of the company they just seized control of (EQT). The Rice boys have a “100 day plan” they have already begun to implement. During the proxy fight to control EQT’s board, and ultimately its management team, Toby Rice threw some sharp barbs including talk that EQT’s existing management was not up to the task. The Rice boys said so, their board nominees said so, heck, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said so too. There will be change (i.e. personnel change) at the “operational level” said ISS. But apparently that change only extended to two people: EQT’s (now former) CEO Robert McNally, and EQT’s (now former) top attorney, Jonathan Lushko–who were shown the door.