- Banned
- #1
Interesting (IMNSHO) article about the oil business
“If you never lose, you won’t know how to act,” Bear Bryant once said. “If you lose with humility, you can come back.” Bear Bryant
How the Most Hyped U.S. Oil Merger in a Decade Went Bust
For her cojones, Hollub was dubbed “Big Oil’s Big Dealmaker” by Bloomberg Businessweek. The Motley Fool investing website described her move as “attempting to pull off one of the greatest 21st-century acquisitions in upstream oil and gas.” CNN Business announced, “She went head-to-head with an oil company five times the size of her own. And won.”
Oxy had come from behind to best the much larger Chevron, with an eleventh-hour cash infusion of $10 billion from none other than Warren Buffett. Critics were baying that Hollub had overpaid; with the addition of Anadarko’s debt, the deal was valued at $58 billion. The specter of layoffs loomed. And now, inside an airless, windowless conference room, the former Anadarko—now Oxy—employees present were understandably restive. The meeting was supposed to be celebratory, but many were curious about how, exactly, the new company would get itself to Hollub’s proposed “next level.” She understood their anxiety. Trust, she believed, was a crucial element of leadership. And caring. A leader has to really care about a company’s employees.
“If you never lose, you won’t know how to act,” Bear Bryant once said. “If you lose with humility, you can come back.” Bear Bryant
How the Most Hyped U.S. Oil Merger in a Decade Went Bust
For her cojones, Hollub was dubbed “Big Oil’s Big Dealmaker” by Bloomberg Businessweek. The Motley Fool investing website described her move as “attempting to pull off one of the greatest 21st-century acquisitions in upstream oil and gas.” CNN Business announced, “She went head-to-head with an oil company five times the size of her own. And won.”
Oxy had come from behind to best the much larger Chevron, with an eleventh-hour cash infusion of $10 billion from none other than Warren Buffett. Critics were baying that Hollub had overpaid; with the addition of Anadarko’s debt, the deal was valued at $58 billion. The specter of layoffs loomed. And now, inside an airless, windowless conference room, the former Anadarko—now Oxy—employees present were understandably restive. The meeting was supposed to be celebratory, but many were curious about how, exactly, the new company would get itself to Hollub’s proposed “next level.” She understood their anxiety. Trust, she believed, was a crucial element of leadership. And caring. A leader has to really care about a company’s employees.
