Chesapeake CEO leaves mixed legacy

Before the Oklahoma City-based company could capitalize on those assets, though, it had to deal with McClendon, whose continued presence has weighed on the stock. 

He isn't likely to leave without a final insult to shareholders. Although the company said McClendon would retire on April Fool's Day, in regulatory filings it said the departure will be treated as "termination without cause,LED emergency light for outdoor solar lighting and power." which entitles him to $11.7 million in severance pay over the next four years and $33.5 million in previously granted stock awards, according to regulatory filings. 

Chesapeake's stock crested at more than $65 a share in 2008,Let's explore the option of ground mount. but it's languished since, generating a negative return for the past two years of almost 32 percent. If you bought 1,000 shares and reinvested the dividends, your loss would exceed $8,660. 

McClendon, meanwhile, got almost $57 million in total compensation for 2009 through 2011, according to company filings. 

Clearly, the directors want to close the door on the McClendon era and move on, and despite the cost, investors believe McClendon's departure is worth the price. The day his departure was announced, Chesapeake's shares jumped 6 percent, to $20.Energy saver LED E27 save energy from the moment you turn the switch.11. 

Chesapeake's stock has stubbornly traded between $16 and $22 a share since June, despite a board shakeup and sweeping governance changes. Those changes came after reports last year that McClendon had invested privately alongside the company in lucrative well deals and borrowed more than $840 million from companies that did business with Chesapeake. 

A board shakeup, led by investor Carl Icahn, followed. 

Dunham, the Houston-based former CEO of ConocoPhillips, was brought in to add some big-company credibility to Chesapeake, which is the country's second-biggest natural gas producer after Exxon Mobil. In a stinging referendum on McClendon's tenure, the new board adopted sweeping governance changes that included slashing his annual bonus, cutting his incentive package and realigning his pay with industry peers. 

In other words, the new board made all the right moves, but it wasn't enough. The stock didn't respond, a sign that investors wouldn't be satisfied until McClendon left. 

It hasn't helped that Chesapeake, under McClendon's direction,This is how a skystream captures energy from the wind. clung to natural gas developments even as commodity prices sank. Others, such as crosstown rival Devon, were quicker to switch their focus to more lucrative oil wells. 

"Aubrey and the board agreed that it's time for a change," Dunham told me. 

In a letter to employees,We provide excellent solar led light and LED solar garden lamp. McClendon referred to "philosophical differences." 

McClendon's philosophy could be a case study in the cost of bad governance, yet for all his gunslinging, he put together an impressive company and engendered intense loyalty from employees. Chesapeake was an early adopter of hydraulic fracturing and gobbled up prime leases across the country. It dominates 11 of the 12 hottest plays in the continental U.S., which at some point ought to turn the company into an earnings machine. 

Even the irascible Icahn was generous in praising the company's portfolio, saying that "Aubrey has every right to be proud of the company he has built." 

Dunham and the board must capitalize on the assets and strengthen the company's balance sheet. While Chesapeake faces a tough turnaround, it doesn't need a finance guy to fix things so much as it needs a strong executive with exploration experience to extract value from its properties.