{"id":12421,"date":"2013-01-08T12:37:03","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T18:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=12421"},"modified":"2013-01-08T13:07:08","modified_gmt":"2013-01-08T19:07:08","slug":"no-bonus-for-aubrey-mcclendon-and-other-changes-at-chesapeake-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2013\/01\/08\/no-bonus-for-aubrey-mcclendon-and-other-changes-at-chesapeake-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"No Bonus for Aubrey McClendon, and Other Changes at Chesapeake Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_6291\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/05\/chesapeake1-620x465.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6291\" title=\"Aubrey McClendon\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/05\/chesapeake1-620x465-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/05\/chesapeake1-620x465-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/05\/chesapeake1-620x465.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Scott Detrow \/ StateImpact Pennsylvania<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<\/div><p>Change is coming to Chesapeake Energy, the Oklahoma City natural gas giant\u2019s directors said on Monday.<\/p><p>Many of the changes were proposed by shareholders at last year\u2019s annual meeting, but were rejected by Chesapeake\u2019s directors. The composition of the board has changed since, and shareholder criticism fueled the appointment of five new independent directors.<\/p><p>Among the changes is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/01\/08\/business\/chesapeake-energys-chief-denied-2012-bonus.html?_r=0\">a cut in CEO Aubrey McClendon\u2019s compensation and corporate perks<\/a>. Chesapeake also reiterated its effort to ask the Oklahoma Legislature for an exemption from a law the company helped write \u2014 one specifically designed to help prevent what happened at Chesapeake: a boardroom takeover.\u00a0<!--more-->Chesapeake helped write legislation signed into law in June 2010 by former Gov. Brad Henry.<\/p><p>Our <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/06\/08\/declassified-chesapeake-wants-relief-from-an-oklahoma-law-it-helped-write\/\">previous reporting sums it up<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The law requires companies incorporated in Oklahoma to have what\u2019s known as a \u201cclassified\u201d board structure. That means board members are divided into classes with staggered elections so that only one-third of the members face a vote of shareholders each year.<\/p><p>Such classified structures make companies less vulnerable to board takeovers, a threat Chesapeake now faces.<\/p><p>The law received overwhelming support in the state House and Senate, and its passage was praised by the State Chamber of Oklahoma for ensuring \u201ccontinuity of leadership\u201d and \u201corderly transitions\u201d at Oklahoma public companies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"related-content alignright\">\n<h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4>\n<div class=\"links\">\n<h5>Posts<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/05\/29\/chesapeake-energy-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-worlds-biggest-fracker\/\">Chesapeake Energy: Everything You Need To Know About The \u2018World\u2019s Biggest Fracker\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/12\/14\/chesapeake-energy-offering-buyouts-to-employees\/\">Chesapeake Energy Offering Buyouts to Employees<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"topics\">\n<h5>Topics<\/h5>\n<p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/05\/chesapeake.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/topic\/chesapeake-energy\/\">Chesapeake Energy: The Impact of Oklahoma City&#8217;s Natural Gas Giant<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><p>The law was amended in 2011 to allow companies like ONEOK \u2014 which complained \u2014 to keep their declassified board structure.<\/p><p>The changes that will be proposed at the company\u2019s annual meeting this summer also include increased proxy access, the elimination of supermajority voting requirements from the company\u2019s corporate bylaws, and the publication of \u201ccertain\u201d political contributions.<\/p><p>Chesapeake officials wouldn\u2019t comment on the law or the company\u2019s plans to secure relief from it when StateImpact reached out in June.<\/p><p>Here\u2019s what the company wrote in <a href=\"http:\/\/services.corporate-ir.net\/SEC.Enhanced\/SecCapsule.aspx?c=104617&fid=8552018\">Monday\u2019s SEC filing<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If action is not taken by the legislature sufficiently in advance of the 2013 annual meeting, the Board will take the steps necessary to ensure that shareholders are allowed to elect the Company\u2019s entire board of directors at the 2013 annual meeting. In the event the Oklahoma legislature declines to grant relief from the classified board statute, the Board intends to take the steps necessary to allow the Company to re-incorporate in Delaware.<\/p><\/blockquote><p>We&#8217;ve asked a spokesperson for more details on plans for relief from the law. We will update you with their comments.<\/p><p>CEO McClendon\u00a0recommended\u00a0he not receive a bonus for 2012. The board agreed.<\/p><p>From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/01\/08\/business\/chesapeake-energys-chief-denied-2012-bonus.html?_r=0\">Reuters<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Last year was a rough one for Chesapeake and Mr. McClendon. The company faced both severe financial strains, brought on by low gas prices and heavy spending, and a corporate governance dispute that resulted in shareholders effectively taking control of the board away from Mr. McClendon, Chesapeake\u2019s co-founder, in June.<\/p><p>Mr. McClendon has come under fire for blurring the line between his personal dealings and those of the company. He was stripped of his title as chairman in June.<\/p><\/blockquote><p>In <a href=\"http:\/\/newsok.com\/chesapeake-announces-big-changes\/article\/3743969\">an interview<\/a> with <em>Oklahoman<\/em> reporters Adam Wilmoth and Jay Marks, Argus analyst Phillip Weiss characterized Chesapeake\u2019s changes as \u201cincremental positives\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c&#8230; but I&#8217;m more interested in finding out the results of their investigation of McClendon,\u201d Weiss said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Change is coming to Chesapeake Energy, the Oklahoma City natural gas giant\u2019s directors said on Monday.Many of the changes were proposed by shareholders at last year\u2019s annual meeting, but were rejected by Chesapeake\u2019s directors. The composition of the board has changed since, and shareholder criticism fueled the appointment of five new independent directors.Among the changes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":6291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[360,275],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}