This is my favourite Wizard of Oz song.
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The alternative would have been much worse.
@OP I too liked it when I was 12. Sounds like you must be around 12. Do you like Power Rangers too?
RJ will do a great job. VH did a good job given the tough price environment the industry has faced over the last decade.
@aq - I second your comments. At a time in 2014 when Mr. Chung (the alternative at the time) would have slashed the workforce, Vicki stuck with the employees.
Was she perfect, no. But I am very happy to have worked at OXY while she was at the helm.
I'm sure the corporate objective is not just to keep the employees fat and happy. Oxy has underperformed and the stock price for years reflects this. It took a war in the middle east to get the stock price close to pre APC valuation; not because you are finding and producing grease. I'd be careful that you are not being positioned to cleaned up to be sold with the next change in management....
As well she kept us all employed and did not push for a sale of the company when the chips were down. As an employee you better pray RJ is not another Al Walker and sale the company. Working under his tenure at APC was the worst. He walked away with over 100 million after the sale to Oxy and Vicki probably could have done the same a few times over when our market cap and enterprise value was so low during Covid. All of us came into a job through Covid and just kept working and providing for our families.
Just don’t complain when you are in the office 5 days a week. From an employee standpoint she was one of the best. The financial side can be argued for sure, but I would think most people on this site are employees and we have had it good under her leadership. If it is all about the money just don’t come on here and whine when you are driving in on a Monday and Friday. Many of us appreciated the 3 days a week in the office as it was right in the sweet spot for many of us. I can’t thank her enough for what she did for me as an employee. Many of you that complain would fold like a piece of paper if you were under the pressures she was. Sure she made tons of money, but she worked long hours and was traveling all the time. Most of you would break if you were on the road that much. She traded off a lot of free time while on the road. Plus, as a woman she broke into the man’s world of being a CEO of a large oil company and I think the first. That in itself needs to be at the top.
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Stock will go up now that the cement block and incompetent VH will be gone as CEO.
All professional reviews of her subpar performance say it’s been a disastrous reign and has negatively affected the company and shareholders. Facts are facts.
Good riddance VH.
What did VH accomplish besides not lay you off to enshrine her in the Texas hydrocarbon hall of fame. She ultimately answered to the shareholders and the board. Time to move on. Back to the $40's once the strait is opened.
Vicki was nice. She has a terrible track record of value creation. Her ego almost put company into bankruptcy. A competent board would have fired her years ago. Here’s to a fresh start with RJ
This is my personal opinion about Vicki. Yours might be different from mine. VH is the best thing that has ever happened to Oxy. She took the lead in areas where others are reluctant or afraid to take the lead in the industry.
She transformed Oxy into a company that is very stable (no massive layoffs), innovation in LCV, and very competitive assets.
You people should get over the 2019 acquisition of APC. It was a huge risk she took but owned up to it by leading the company through it along with the COVID pandemic period where companies were doing massive layoffs all over the place.
I don’t think if it’s a male CEO, they will keep bringing this APC issue up. Many male CEO’s have made terrible decisions and lay people off to cover face and grant themselves bigger bonuses by calling it money saved from efficiency (headcount reduction). Vicki treated all employees with dignity and respect. Hats on off to Vicki for the stability she brought to Oxy and wishing her all the best as she transitions to the BoD to ensure further stability and support to Richard. Congratulations to Richard on this great privilege to lead Oxy.
P.S: If you are not happy with Oxy, I believe you are mature enough to seek employment somewhere. That’s what l did in the other places l have worked. If it’s not serving my needs anymore, l look for a job elsewhere rather than coming online to throw insults at people. If Oxy no longer serves my needs, l will leave elsewhere. No company is perfect but Oxy stands out among all the companies as the most stable. Go ask the folks in Ovintiv, ConocoPhillips, BP, Chevron, Shell, XOM and the rest that were lay-off the past 2 years. They would have been glad they were at Oxy to have that stability for their families.
What exactly will her legacy be? Overpaying to buy APC just to get a seat at the boy's table. Or being toxic to the shareholders while being the employee's favorite aunt. She will be a speed bump in history, soon to be forgotten.....