Williams Being Acquired?

[cannon_fodder]

Lets build a great big tower....Instead saving our money for leaner times.....!!!!

As much as I agree with the curse of the sky scrapper (see, e.g., Wililiams, WilTel, MidCon, City Services...), it almost certainly would make the same move even if it had whatever cash it spent on that tower in reserve. The tower cost about $750mil, or about $5mil a month on a 15 year note. They lost $5.2 Billion last quarter, so pretending that the tower was a bad investment (I have no knowledge either way) and pretending it is a complete sunk cost (that is, they didn't have to pay rent if they didn't have this tower) - it accounted for 1/3 of 1% of their losses.

All that said, 700 energy jobs out the window really hurts. Will also essentially abandon 10-20 floors of that new shiny building. Hope the bleeding doesn't get too bad.

[swake]

As much as I agree with the curse of the sky scrapper (see, e.g., Wililiams, WilTel, MidCon, City Services...), it almost certainly would make the same move even if it had whatever cash it spent on that tower in reserve. The tower cost about $750mil, or about $5mil a month on a 15 year note. They lost $5.2 Billion last quarter, so pretending that the tower was a bad investment (I have no knowledge either way) and pretending it is a complete sunk cost (that is, they didn't have to pay rent if they didn't have this tower) - it accounted for 1/3 of 1% of their losses.

All that said, 700 energy jobs out the window really hurts. Will also essentially abandon 10-20 floors of that new shiny building. Hope the bleeding doesn't get too bad.

And the loss was due to a write down of assets, on a cash basis they made $300 million.

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Lets build a great big tower....Instead saving our money for leaner times.....!!!!

The Tower could be a more solid recession-resistant sources of positive cash flow during tough times for oil & gas, depending on how much they lease out. Especially considering they don't have to rent prime downtown office space which could come at more of a premium than owning. It is certainly a risk, it is  nice when companies put such large investments into building nice headquarters in our downtowns. That really changed the skyline and vibe of downtown OKC (without it, the downtown was small and very dated looking).

> Also Tuesday, Devon said it had a net loss of $4.5 billion, or $11.12 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, driven largely by a non-cash, asset impairment charge of $5.3 billion. In the year-ago quarter, Devon recorded a loss of $408 million, or $1.01 a share.

This  math didn't make sense - 11.12 cents a share would mean billions of shares. The net loss was $11.12 dollars per share.

[Conan71]

In terms of corporate HQ, Devon's tower makes more sense than Chesapeake's sprawling campus in Nichols Hills.  It's only a matter of time before Chesapeake hits the auction block or BK's.  It's long been managed with a wildcatter mentality.

[Hoss]

The Tower could be a more solid recession-resistant sources of positive cash flow during tough times for oil & gas, depending on how much they lease out. Especially considering they don't have to rent prime downtown office space which could come at more of a premium than owning. It is certainly a risk, it is  nice when companies put such large investments into building nice headquarters in our downtowns. That really changed the skyline and vibe of downtown OKC (without it, the downtown was small and very dated looking).

> Also Tuesday, Devon said it had a net loss of $4.5 billion, or $11.12 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, driven largely by a non-cash, asset impairment charge of $5.3 billion. In the year-ago quarter, Devon recorded a loss of $408 million, or $1.01 a share.

This  math didn't make sense - 11.12 cents a share would mean billions of shares. The net loss was $11.12 dollars per share.

I hate to say this, even WITH the tower, it's still pretty dated looking.  Tulsa's isn't a lot better but there is some symmetry to the Tulsa Skyline.  Not so much so now with Devon Tower and OKC.

[swake]

I hate to say this, even WITH the tower, it's still pretty dated looking.  Tulsa's isn't a lot better but there is some symmetry to the Tulsa Skyline.  Not so much so now with Devon Tower and OKC.

It's a giant phallus somewhat close to the OKC skyline.


Think of what we could have done with a giant Indian statue......

[SXSW]

I hate to say this, even WITH the tower, it's still pretty dated looking.  Tulsa's isn't a lot better but there is some symmetry to the Tulsa Skyline.  Not so much so now with Devon Tower and OKC.

Tulsa's skyline is indeed dated, other than WilTel and Cimarex there haven't been any high rises added in the past 30 years, and neither of those are skyline-altering.  That being said Tulsa has a very nice skyline and punches well above its weight.  The skyline viewed with the river from the pedestrian bridge is fantastic.  Add a couple more modern glass towers (NOT like Devon but maybe in the 400-600 ft range) and you would have a pretty impressive skyline and a better one than many larger cities.

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Tulsa's skyline is indeed dated, other than WilTel and Cimarex there haven't been any high rises added in the past 30 years, and neither of those are skyline-altering.  That being said Tulsa has a very nice skyline and punches well above its weight.  The skyline viewed with the river from the pedestrian bridge is fantastic.  Add a couple more modern glass towers (NOT like Devon but maybe in the 400-600 ft range) and you would have a pretty impressive skyline and a better one than many larger cities.

Tulsa's downtown has more attractive buildings dominating the skyline (So while technically dated, the buildings are from an era where the building style was much better and have stood the visual test of time). Contrast that to OKC or New Orleans which are dominated by ugly buildings from the era of ugly skyscrapers (60's-80's) where they built big and cheap and have always appeared ugly to me. The Devon Tower at least took away the focus from that.

OKC has some Art Deco buildings, but the biggest one, even with a nice shape, is ugly plain concrete (It looks good in drawings or if you squint).

[johrasephoenix]

Most of the buildings in downtown Tulsa are great on a stand alone basis.  The problem is the missing teeth.  In great urban settings your big marquee buildings (Philtower, BOK Tower, etc) are connected by lots of little buildings that may not be postcard worthy on their own, but taken together make a great urban district.  Tulsa has managed to turn most of those buildings into parking lots.

The amount of parking and vacant land downtown continues to amaze me.  For a place with supposedly some of the highest land values in the city you'd think things would be getting built.

Honestly, between 1960-1990 the best use of prime downtown land was reverting to prairie?  And while the eastern part of the IDL was falling into buffalo pasture Tulsa continued to grow south at an astounding pace in the absence of any significant population growth.

As an urban planner, I seriously question the wisdom of the last few generations of urban planners....  Note that the best parts of just about every mid-sized city is the part that was so crappy that urban planners didn't even bother with it (ie, the Brady District). 

[cannon_fodder]

Honestly, between 1960-1990 the best use of prime downtown land was reverting to prairie?. 

You're gonna fit inn just fine... 

[Breadburner]

https://www.thelayoff.com/devon-energy

[RecycleMichael]

In terms of corporate HQ, Devon's tower makes more sense than Chesapeake's sprawling campus in Nichols Hills.  It's only a matter of time before Chesapeake hits the auction block or BK's.  It's long been managed with a wildcatter mentality.

I just bought CHK stock. I don't have much but I had a sense that they had bottomed out. We will see.

I paid $1.60 a share on Thursday and it closed today (the following Wednesday) at $1.88. I don't expect much more gain in the short term and it is all still at risk, but I have a target sell price and am very happy with my quick results. If they keep rising and can deal with some debt, I think they are still a solid investment for me.

If it keeps up this momentum, it is good for Oklahoma.

[Breadburner]

I just bought CHK stock. I don't have much but I had a sense that they had bottomed out. We will see.

I paid $1.60 a share on Thursday and it closed today (the following Wednesday) at $1.88. I don't expect much more gain in the short term and it is all still at risk, but I have a target sell price and am very happy with my quick results. If they keep rising and can deal with some debt, I think they are still a solid investment for me.

If it keeps up this momentum, it is good for Oklahoma.

They are likely going to file bankruptcy.....

[Conan71]

I just bought CHK stock. I don't have much but I had a sense that they had bottomed out. We will see.

I paid $1.60 a share on Thursday and it closed today (the following Wednesday) at $1.88. I don't expect much more gain in the short term and it is all still at risk, but I have a target sell price and am very happy with my quick results. If they keep rising and can deal with some debt, I think they are still a solid investment for me.

If it keeps up this momentum, it is good for Oklahoma.

DTAG was the one I coulda shoulda in 2009.  I was just sure they were going BK.  Seems like the bottom was about .60 a share.  They eventually had a huge recovery that 10,000 shares of would have helped set someone's retirement pretty well.

I've been keeping an eye on CHK, but it sounds like their current moves are more like someone trying to pay their car payment and house payment  using their Discover card.

[RecycleMichael]

I just bought CHK stock. I don't have much but I had a sense that they had bottomed out. We will see.

I paid $1.60 a share on Thursday and it closed today (the following Wednesday) at $1.88. I don't expect much more gain in the short term and it is all still at risk, but I have a target sell price and am very happy with my quick results. If they keep rising and can deal with some debt, I think they are still a solid investment for me.

If it keeps up this momentum, it is good for Oklahoma.

Up another ten cents yesterday to $1.98. That is 30% in a week. I suspect flattening out for the following week, but still optimistic for the stock to get to $2.50 in 2016. Then I will sell.