Chesapeake Guts Workforce to 10-Year Low on Gas-Price Rout

  • Energy industry combined to eliminate more than 200,000 jobs
  • Company will take $55.5 million charge in third quarter
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is letting go of about one in six employees, the latest blow to a workforce that enjoyed boom years under shale wildcatter Aubrey McClendon and shrank since his departure as the natural gas producer grapples with a downturn.

Once the second-biggest private employer in its hometown of Oklahoma City, the company co-founded by McClendon will eliminate 740 jobs, leaving it with about 4,000 workers scattered around the U.S. A $55.5 million, one-time charge will be booked for the third quarter, Chesapeake said in a filing Tuesday.