Icahn’s Chesapeake Intervention Faces $22 Billion Hurdle

Carl Icahn’s makeover of Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s board may be too late to shield the U.S. natural-gas producer from a gathering storm of wrong-way bets on energy demand, plunging oil prices and corporate-governance failures.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon’s management of the company he co-founded 23 years ago will come under new oversight after Chesapeake said yesterday it will replace four of the eight non-executive directors along with naming a new independent chairman. Icahn said he’ll now push to curb spending after earlier criticizing the CEO and directors for “irresponsible actions” that led Chesapeake “to the edge of the proverbial cliff.”