Word: oilmen
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...almighty buck," says G.C. Richardson, a retired executive of Cities Service. He's nothing but a pirate." Gulf Chairman James Lee accuses Pickens of "hit-and-run tactics." Says Chevron Chairman George Keller: "Pickens does not break any laws doing what he does. But he breaks tradition." Many oilmen are reluctant to discuss Pickens publicly for fear of drawing his attention to their companies. Says one executive: "They want to let sleeping dogs...
Like many independent oilmen, Pickens was born within sight of working wells. He grew up in Holdenville, Okla. (pop. 6,300), a cow town surrounded by pastures, where cattle graze alongside active oil pumps. An only child, Pickens was raised on a street of white clapboard houses and green lawns. The family is fond of tracing its ancestry back to the same part of England that produced a distant kinsman, Daniel Boone...
Pickens had enough for the spectacular, six-month battle for Gulf Oil, which began in October 1983. He waged it with $1.3 billion in credit that he raised from bankers and partners like Independent Texas Oilmen Cyril Wagner Jr. and Jack Brown. "Our bid was extremely bold," says Tassin. "It was an incredibly intuitive reading by Boone." Pickens correctly anticipated that Gulf's top executives would underestimate him and fail to erect an effective defense. "They were not street fighters," Pickens says...
...boardroom savvy. While his talk is rich in good-ole-boy phrases like "that dog won't hunt" or "it's better than a poke in the eye with a stick," Pickens is every inch the businessman. In place of the pointed boots and Stetson hats that many independent oilmen wear, he favors sober gray suits, button-down shirts and striped ties. He rarely smiles, but when he does, the grin spreads slowly, almost reluctantly, across his face. Says a friend: "He deals with everyone, from Senators to bank presidents, as if he's telling them fishing stories...
...himself from a screenplay by Mario Puzo. But Evans wanted financial as well as creative control of the film. So he snubbed the studios and went elsewhere for money. He made a deal with an Arab arms merchant but returned the dough. He wooed a bunch of Texas oilmen, but that deal fell through. Then, early in 1983, Evans found his angels: a couple of Las Vegas casino moguls...