The Takeover Attempts
During the 1980s, T. Boone Pickens launched high-profile corporate takeover attempts. Utilizing the media to help tell his story was a critical element of each campaign.
UNOCAL
PBS Nightly Business Report, March 21, 1985
Moneyline, April 9, 1985
PHILLIPS
MacNeil Lehrer News Hour, December 6, 1984
Face the Nation, CBS News, February 24, 1985
GULF
This Week, ABC News, March 18, 1984
CBS Morning News, 1984
Pinnacle with Tom Cassidy, CNN, 1985
DIAMOND SHAMROCK
John McLaughlin, One on One, Public Broadcasting Service, 1986
Shareholder Rights’ Efforts
Pickens was an early champion of shareholders rights, advocating that corporate shareholders owned the company and corporate managers were employees.
Bear Stearns Special Report with Ron Betten, 1985
University Television Network, Oct. 25, 1987
ABC News, July 1988
ABC News, 1988
United Shareholders Association
In 1986, Pickens founded the United Shareholders Association (USA), which gathered substantial grassroots support, counting 65,000 members at its zenith. During its eight-year existence, it generated mounds of shareholder-rights advocacy correspondence. After nearly two years of periodic hearings and debate, in July 1988 the SEC voted 4-1 to approve a one-share, one-vote rule, a primary USA mission.
CNN, Take Two, August 25, 1986
Moneyline, 1989
Texas Governor Race
Boone once contemplated a run for Governor of Texas but ended that notion in a speech to the Downtown Dallas Rotary Club.
Dallas Rotary International Club speech, August 30, 1989
KFDA, Amarillo News, August 30, 1989
Mesa Fitness Program
In 1979, Boone built a $2.5 million, 30,000-square-foot fitness center at Mesa Petroleum in Amarillo and instituted a corporate wellness program available to all employees (it was later expanded to spouses). Pickens espoused that physical fitness created a better, more economically sound workforce and workplace. In the process, Mesa earned the title the “Most Physically Fit Company in America” in 1985.
Amarillo KAMR News, 1989
Japan
In late 1988, a contingent of Japanese businessmen led by Kitaro Watanabe enlisted Boone’s help in a struggle against Koito Manufacturing Co., a main subcontractor of Toyota Motor Co. Boone was soon embroiled in a strange, two-and-a-half-year odyssey that became the focus of intense international scrutiny.
Boone Co. video to Koito Japanese stockholders, 1990
Japanese news reports, 1990
WFAA Dallas, Financial News Network Reports, June 1990
CNN Moneyline, 1990
News Report, FNN Network, 1990
Moneyline, 1990
American Interests, 1990
Ethics in America
“I learned early on that you play by the rules. It’s no fun if you cheat to win.”
— Boone Pickens
Ethics in America, The Annenberg/CPB Project, October 31, 1987