Chesapeake's (CHK) CEO McClendon Gets Wiped Out, Has To Sell Nearly All His Shares

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) CEO, Aubrey McClendon, was forced to sell nearly all of his shares of common stock in the company over the past three days in order to meet margin calls.

At last count McClendon held 33,469,359 Chesapeake shares, recently worth billions.

Mr. McClendon commented, "I am very disappointed to have been required to sell substantially all of my shares of Chesapeake. These involuntary and unexpected sales were precipitated by the extraordinary circumstances of the worldwide financial crisis. In no way do these sales reflect my view of the company's financial position or my view of Chesapeake's future performance potential. I have been the company's largest individual shareholder for the past three years and frequently purchased additional shares of stock on margin as an expression of my complete confidence in the value of the company's strategy and assets. My confidence in Chesapeake remains undiminished, and I look forward to rebuilding my ownership position in the company in the months and years ahead."

Shares of Chesapeake Energy fell nearly 43% this week. There could be a bounce now that the selling pressure will likely subside.

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