Occidental Goes Skinny-Dipping in a Tsunami
Coronavirus exposes the oil company’s drawbacks, including the cost of its assistance from Warren Buffett.
Who’s hungry?
Photographer: JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images
Warren Buffett is credited with that old saying about receding tides and embarrassed skinny-dippers. In Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s case, the lack of swimwear is one problem, but so is the anchor tied around its ankle. Part of that anchor is the old sage himself.
Oxy, as it is known, just reported results for its first full quarter since acquiring Anadarko Petroleum Corp. In that bruising takeover battle against Chevron Corp., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. provided a crucial $10 billion check allowing Oxy to avoid a shareholder vote. It came at a steep cost of, among other goodies, an 8% preferred dividend. As it turns out, that was more than enough to swallow Oxy’s adjusted net income for the second half of 2019 before any of it could trickle down to the commoners.