Washington (AFP)
The personality of T. Boone Pickens, a legend in oil and gas production and corporate predator, had the disproportionate size of Texas, his adopted state. He died there Wednesday at the age of 91.
The death of the businessman who built his own fortune, greatly reduced after several cardiovascular accidents and a heavy fall in 2017, occurred "on September 11, 2019, natural causes, surrounded by his friends and his family, "said Jay Rosser, a spokesperson on the foundation's website created by the billionaire.
Pickens was a pioneer in the oil and gas industry, an early advocate of shareholder rights, a pioneer in fitness and health (within the company), and a generous philanthropist who has donated more than a billion dollars, "says the foundation in a succinct portrait that describes well this man with many facets.
- King shareholder -
After founding the Mesa Petroleum Group in 1957 as one of the largest independent oil and gas groups in the United States, T. Boone Pickens made a name for himself by claiming more rights for shareholders and arguing that The remuneration of the directors of a company should be correlated to the fate of the action.
A revolutionary idea in the 80s, it has become the rule today but has been misguided to the point of being probably unrecognizable in the eyes of his defender then.
According to the New York Times, his multiple hostile raids on much larger rivals -somely successful but still lucrative-earned him the title of the most hated businessman in America.
As an echo to the current White House occupier, who actively helped him win the 2016 election, T. Boone Pickens called for American investors to be treated as well in Japan or elsewhere as the men in those countries. were not in the United States.
A long-time Republican, he did not hesitate to fund a million dollar campaign to defile John Kerry's impeccable service during the Vietnam War, as he tried to drive George W. Bush out of the country. White House.
In July 2008, T. Boone Pickens added a new string to his bow, putting $ 100 million of his own dollars into a massive campaign to denounce US dependence on the oil cartel (OPEC) and promote energy independence of the world's largest economy.
It will finally reach its target in December 2018. For the first time in several decades, the United States exported a week more petroleum products than they imported.
T. Boone Pickens tirelessly promoted the exploitation of shale gas to lead the United States to this energy independence that he defended tooth and nail. And as early as 2017, the United States became a net exporter of gas for the first time in 60 years.
- octogenarian Twittos -
Athletic allure, the investor, was born May 22, 1928 in Holdenville, a small town in Oklahoma, from a father already in the oil business. His mother was responsible for rationing in several counties during the Second World War.
According to his biography, the virus of entrepreneurship infected him from his youth, when he patiently extended his newspaper distribution empire to neighborhoods around his own.
He will graduate a degree in geology in 1951.
Never stingy with good words, he has long been the darling of the media and he has skilfully used social networks.
At 84, he had a memorable exchange on Twitter with rapper Drake, some 60 years his junior.
When Drake tweeted: "the first million is the hardest", T. Boone Pickens replied: "the first billion is much harder".
© 2019 AFP