Thread regarding Halliburton Co. layoffs

Once all of the hog heads in the EU, Total & Chevron get their pockets full. The take over will fly through the inspectors.

Patience is the key. Ol Dave has been greedy. There come Enron.. I hope not. I still have lots of friends still work there. Get your arse together Dave...

Way to go Dave! But YOU will still get your multi-million dollar bonus for your "strategic vision", won't you.?

EACH employee, past and present, should buy one share, and be diligent in voting against YOU and YOUR proposals, and witness as YOU are perp-walked out the door.

You gotta be feeling the 'luv', aren't YOU, Dave?

THESE PEEPS ARE NOT HAPPY ! >>>>>>Investor takeaway

Not only is Halliburton trying to convince regulators that it can combine with Baker Hughes and not stifle competition, but it has to convince its customers that the deal won't increase their costs. Given the comments from Total's CEO and the regulatory filing of Chevron's subsidiary in Brazil, that's going to be a tough sell. Needless to say, with a growing list of customers actively fighting the deal, it will make it much harder for global competition regulators to approve this deal.

At issue, when it comes down to it, is exactly the concern voiced by Chevron. There is no viable No. 4 player on a global scale to fill the role Baker Hughes had served in scores of markets. That equates to less competition for contracts. That's because the fourth largest oil-field service company at the moment, Weatherford (NYSE:WFT), lags behind the group in terms of size while also being weighed down by a weaker balance sheet:As one can plainly see, Weatherford has generated just $9.4 billion in revenue over the past year compared to a combined $39.4 billion for Halliburton and Baker Hughes. Further, it has $7.4 billion in debt, which is actually just as much as Halliburton had prior to borrowing $7.5 billion to facilitate its merger with Baker Hughes. Even with that debt the combined company would have four times the revenue but only slightly more than double the debt sported by Weatherford. Though it is worth noting that Halliburton and Baker Hughes have proposed to sell a number of assets, such concessions are unlikely to change industry dynamics meaningfully.

It's those proposed asset sales that are seen as the key to this merger being approved. Halliburton has proposed an ever growing list of divestitures that it hopes will appease the concerns of regulators that the deal would stifle competition. However, the problem with these proposals is that Weatherford isn't seen as a likely buyer for these assets, with private equity funds or industrial buyers rumored to be the most likely bidders. As such, the merger has the potential to fragment competition at the bottom so that there would still be no viable third bidder in key markets, which is what has Chevron worried in Brazil. OUCH !!!