Follow the Big Money Disappear Starring Aubrey McClendon

Easy come easy go.  I’m not sure where the lesson is in this story other than the obvious one of the benefits and dangers of leverage.  I’m not sure what can be learned from this story but I’m posting it because of the sheer magnitude of the dollar amount, how quickly it vaporized and the size of the bets this guy was making. 

A lot of the Forbes 400 are gamblers and risk takers but this takes it to a whole new level.  Aubrey McClendon was truly a CEO that put his money on the line along with shareholders.   Unfortunately,  Aubrey was #134 on this year’s Forbes 400 list.  Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, most likely lost 100% of his entire $3 Billion net worth over the last 3 months.  Check out this chart on Chesapeake Energy.  It went from $70 to as low as $11in just over 3 months.

The advice from this big money story is more clear to me now than when I started this post.  

Here’s the lesson.  In order to become ultra wealthy, you have to have a little bit of gambler in you.  Aubrey McClendon takes the prize with this story but the principle holds true.  To become big money you have to place a big bet and continue to place them.  Too many people expect too big of a return on a small bet, which is why the lottery is so popular.  The other principle is that Aubrey McClendon bet on himself when he bought his company’s stock.  As CEO, that’s definitely placing a bet on yourself which shows extreme confidence and aggressiveness.

Tying it all together, to have $3 billion to lose, you have to bet big and bet on yourself.