T. Boone Pickens: Always Be Selling

by: Debra Fiakas November 19, 2008 | about stocks: CLNE / SU / XOM    
Debra Fiakas

Debra Fiakas

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T. Boone Pickens is making the rounds of bookstores these days to sign his latest book The First Billion is the Hardest. The man’s life is apparently so large it requires multiple autobiographical accounts - three so far. Boone was published in 1987 and The Luckiest Guy in the World in 2001. Only the most patient reader gets past the first page of The First Billion as Mother Pickens is described going into labor. Pickens perhaps unwisely chose not to enlist the help of a ghost writer.

Some might pick up the book for tips on how to make a fortune. It is hardly necessary to pay the $27.00 for the book. Acolytes of the billionaire need only stand in line as he signs his book to learn the secret to Pickens’ success in the energy industry. He is continuously “pitching” his agenda, telling one person where to find his web site and another about investment opportunities in alternative energy. Pickens is a consummate salesman if nothing else.

Otherwise few of Pickens insights are ground breaking. In The First Billion he suggests “a big deal takes as much time as a little deal.” School kids know that! Neither is it news that “it’s all about the team.”

Readers of Pickens’ book will get a peek at the life of a remarkably successful and charismatic businessman - or at least his own version of it. The readers must delve between the lines to figure out why the man is now married to his third wife. Also helpful are the pictures of his current, very beautiful matrimonial companion.

Pickens is now using his financial and political clout to influence public policy on energy with his Pickens Plan. Granted he is not entirely altruistic in the effort since he has invested heavily in wind, solar and natural gas.

Pickens has founded a series of companies in resource and energy related industries since his big oil days with Mesa Petroleum. BP Capital Management (the B and P stand for Boone Pickens not British Petroleum (BP)) runs two hedge funds that invest primarily in oil and natural gas such as Suncor Energy (SU) and ExxonMobil (XOM).

He started Pickens Fuel Corporation in 1997 and took it public in 2001. Renamed Clean Energy Fuels Corporation (CLNE), the company operates natural gas fueling stations in North America. Mesa Power (private) is a limited partnership focused on wind energy projects in Texas. Pickens gets most attention for his energy plays, but one should not overlook little Mesa Water (private), which Pickens formed with a group of Texas Panhandle landowners. The partnership has been buying up water rights in Texas in recent years.

Pickens is quite unlike the self-dealing industrialists from the previous century. Plain spoken, self-effacing and low-keyed, he evinces the demeanor of “a regular guy.” Nonetheless, Pickens’ predecessor tycoons and moguls would all agree with him on one point. Always be pitching!

Disclosure: Neither the author of the Small Cap Copy web log, Crystal Equity Research nor its affiliates have a beneficial interest in the companies mentioned herein.

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This article has 8 comments:

  •  
    Nov 19 08:44 AM
    Mr Pickens sounds wonderful. Of course, his type is a dime a dozen here in Sweden. The last prime minister is a perfect example, since he declared nuclear energy "obsolete". My favorite Boone story though is how he offered a million dollars to anyone who could prove that the 'Swift Boat captains' were wrong about John Kerry, which cost the United States another four years of George Bush.

    What is he after anyway? I'm tempted to say another billion or two, although I'm tired of finding out bad things about the greed of the rich.
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  •  
    Nov 19 09:20 AM
    Is TBoone still a Billionaire? or is he only a Multi Millionaire now.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Nov 19 12:02 PM
    how did the promo for some outfit touting realestate in Costa Rica get in here?
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Nov 19 01:45 PM
    T-Boone is apparently rich, obviously void of morales, and (my guess) self-serving. He was the force behind the slanderous anti-Kerry "swift-boat" ads that gave us Bush junior in 2004. I'll listen to others on the subject of renewable energy, thank you.
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  •  
    Nov 19 04:59 PM
    Pickens has been dead wrong on oil prices. Now he is saying that oil can`t go lower than this.

    oiltradersblog.blogspo...
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Nov 19 05:24 PM
    Tell Mr. Pickens that coffee is for closers.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Nov 24 09:59 PM
    Why is it if a venture capitalist in the Silicon Valley can make billions with something as socially insignificant as a website or software and still be adored by the masses?

    On the other hand, a guy in the oil industry makes money, and he is seen as evil?

    I agree that the Swift Boat campaign was awful. But the Pickens Energy plan has some real merit. Does anyone of Pickens' critics have a better plan? Do any of you?

    In the coming months, I predict that President Obama will share an energy plan that is very simliar to that of Pickens. Because of the messenger, it will be seen as Nobel Prize winning material. As an American, or better yet...as a resident of this planet, I don't care who's idea it is, or who gets the credit. We just need to do something.

    PS... Ms Fiakas...if you're going to take a low blow at someone's persona, you should do your research. Pickens is on his 4th marriage.

    PPS....ALL Proceeds from Pickens' book are going to a worthy charity. So far, he as donated around $700 million to various charities.


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  •  
    Dec 02 11:03 PM
    I lost on his Mesa Limited Partnership (MLP) in 1980's. Never have trusted him since. That said, I do think his new new ideas have merit.
    Reply | Link to Comment
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