Whiting execs got $14.6m bonuses days before bankruptcy
I wrote yesterday about former shale star Whiting Peteroleum filing for bankruptcy. The tide is going out on shale in a big way and Trump is meeting with oil executives this week but it's a lost cause.
Whiting fell to $2 before coronavirus exploded and to $20 from $150 at the start of the year. The virus only accelerated the timeline.
What has market watchers outraged today is that Whiting's board approved $14.6m in cash bonuses to top executives to be "paid immediately" just before filing bankruptcy, including $6.4m for CEO Bard Holly.
In bankruptcy, equity holders combined will get 3% of the company while the exec bonuses are worth 8%.
The reality of shale is that it was a scam from the start. The cashflow projections were always a lie, the breakevens were a lie and the executives were the kind of scumbags who would pay themselves a fortune days before declaring bankruptcy.
The saddest part is that other oil executives are looking at this now and thinking about how they can do the same.
