the persons "outfront" tonight is billionaire aubrey mcclendon. he's the outspoken, charzmatic scion of one of america's founders and a founder of chesapeake. chesapeake could be the next enron, or worldcom. chesapeake energy is second only to exxonmobil in drilling for natural gas in this country. more than 13,000 americans work for mcclendon, enjoying perks, which according to reuters includes on-site botox treatments. chesapeake also boasts a campus with three restaurants and a 70,000-square foot facility with a rock climbing wall. it may have been among the first signs that something doesn't end up. mcclendon has often made grandiose promises that aren't backed by reality. >> at a minimum, i think they can create a million jobs over the next few years. >> the "they" he's referring to is a fund chesapeake was launching. now, mcclendon is not a household name, but what he's fighting for is. even as natural gas prices have plunged by 50% over the past year, he's been a believer in gas as the fuel of america's future. and some people love him for

mcclendon for a long time r. you surprised by his reaction to these concerns about his financial dealings? >> i actually had a meeting with him a couple weeks ago when the newest head caved and he said that he was in alignment with the shareholders and he is basically putting his money where his mouth is. other allegation i can't comment on it because i cannot verify any of these things. but i can tell you the fact of the news after this crashed, but because of the sharp decline in natural gas prices, they built their fortune on a debt, it all the fundamentals suggest that natural gas is the fuel of the future, it's cleaner, cheaper than oil, we have plenty of it. but obviously nobody has expected that we'll see -- i never thought that could be possible. so this is a company that's really got the brunt of the clients in natural gas prices. >> tom: i'll ask you about the fundamentals of the company, but split from that there's a huge reputation al risk here. as an analyst someone looking into chesapeake, are you s

mcclendon has agreed to end the program early. the deals have caught the eye of the i.r.s., which is "reviewing certain issues" in connection to the program, according to the company. chesapeake has been among the energy leaders using fracking to free oil and natural gas from shale rock. the practice has helped increase natural gas supplies to record levels, pushing prices to near ten-year lows. low gas prices and worries about corporate leadership have pushed chesapeake stock down 40% over the past year. shares rallied today after the firm announced it would split its chairman and c.e.o. positions. david webber is an associate professor of law at boston university, where he concentrates on securities regulations. professor is the right move to separate the roles of chairman and ceo like they've done at chesapeake. >> i do think it's the right move. separating them is a step in the right direction because it's a way to restore some accountability within that company. there's a constant concern within corporate governance that ceos

aubrey mcclendon. >> natural gas is probably our best bet. >> reporter: mcclendon is now under scrutiny by the securities and exchange commission for taking out more than a billion dollars in loans for chesapeake's creditors for his own personal investments-- a move that could affect the terms chesapeake gets from those lenders. when stockholders found out last month they sued. mark gross is their attorney. >> this is not a matter of how he manages his company, it's how he manages his personal assets and creates a conflict with those of his investors. >> reporter: stockholders were already furious about another venture of mcclendon's: his $200 million investment fund which traded oil and gas, a potential conflict of interest because it allowed him to bet against chesapeake. >> it's clearly a fraud on the investors. >> reporter: mcclendon declined our repeated requests for an interview this week, but back in april he said that his personal transactions created no conflict of interest with the companies he helped to start, scott. >> pelley: nancy, thank you very much. a lot of americans a

does aubrey mcclendon survive as ceo here? >> well, that's the big question here. i hope that he does because he think he has the vision and the person that's executed the relationships to drive the company as it is today. does he survive here? depends on what further is uncovered and what's determined and now with regard to this hedge fund. i think the move to remove him as chairman and bring in non-executive outside person to look over his shoulder and to look at this company was a very positive move. whether he survives it is a big question. >> you have a neutral rating on the stock so if that question is answered, is it better for chesapeake if mcclendon is or isn't ceo? >> i think it's better that he is ceo. again, he knows how this company operates. it is a very different company. he has relationships with the joint venture partners that they have or may have in the future. he's been the driving vision behind this company. i think it is like saying that you're going to replace the driver in a race car that's going 200 miles an hour around a curve. you don't w

chesapeake's aubrey mcclendon. kate? >> aubrey mcclendon, you're right, is in the hot seat again. this morning his board of chesapeake energy announced plans to replace him as chairman with a new chairman they will find who has no previous ties to the company. they're hoping to have that person in place for a vote by the shareholder meeting, which is in early june. but that process is under way. there's no guarantee as to how fast it will happen. meantime, aubrey mcclendon remains chairman and ceo. the other thing they announced this morning, interesting development, the founder's well participation program which has been in existence for a number of years was disclosed to the sec. nonetheless, caught the public scrutiny and a lot of criticism about two weeks ago when a reuters story revealed some details of the program showing mcclendon had invested in the company's wells at an early stage of the drilling process. using, among other things, a loan from a private equity company for more than $1 billion. they are terminating that program in 2014. ceo mcclendon will receive no compe

oil spill in the gulf, i asked aubrey mcclendon about the safety of fracking. what would happen if you go down to dig for shale, and you have an explosion, and you destroy a whole part of the country? >> it cannot happen, okay? >> it cannot happen? why do you say that? >> well, because we're not a mile underneath the surface of the ocean, and if something were to get away-- and there are incidents where wells have loss of control-- you can go--you can go fix it. >> an underground explosion is impossible because there's no oxygen or anything to ignite a blast, but as you can see from these pictures chesapeake took of their operations, drilling is now a fact of life near homes and farms, and the industry has racked up thousands of accidents and safety violations above ground. this really is your backyard. oh, look at this. what happened in tim and christine ruggiero's backyard is happening more and more. they moved to this pastoral 10-acre ranch in decatur, texas, in 2004 to raise their horses and their daughter, reilly. but in 2009, a company called aruba petrol

aubrey mcclendon out as chairman, but how should you trade the stock ahead of its earnings report? and hot money. is latin america your best investment bet right now? we're talking with blackrock's will landers about his favorite stock picks. welcome to "the fast money halftime report." lots of trade. let's talk to the traders now. i sure hope they didn't sell on this first day of may, pete najarian, because when the ism report came out and it was better than expected, the market started to move higher. >> absolutely exploded to the high side. look at the volatility index. the latter part of april, we started to slip underneath the 50-day. we're back there again. just for a number look-up, 1710 on the volatility index. we're wl below that now, trading in the 16s. but look at big-cap tech, look at coal, look at the copper names, the steel names, the participation. even yesterday on a down tape, look at some of those coal and steel names, some of that participation from names like peabody energy. take a look at southern copper, walter energy. a lot of these names have been performing

. >> and aubrey mcclendon getting hit with another conflict of interest claim.hat's coming your way, next. >>> also, steve wynn. courtney reagan with us back again that. story coming up. >>> wynn is rolling the dice in macau and so should you. i'll round them out and you place the bets. that's coming up on the "closing bell." bell." what happens when classroom teachers get the training... ...and support they need? schools flourish and students blossom. that's why programs like... ...the mickelson exxonmobil teachers academy... ...and astronaut sally ride's science academy are helping our educators improve student success in math and science. let's shoot for the stars. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearb

mcclendon step aside as chairman and end early that program., to another investor out there, namely carl icahn, who at one point held 6% of the shares. he sold them, made a lot on this trade, did carl. that was last year. but from what i'm hearing from trading sources, mr. icahn, in fact, may be back in those shares, not to the significant level he was previously, but nonetheless, perhaps a buyer. again, icahn, well, i had a chance to talk to him yesterday. this is what he had to say about chesapeake energy. >> i do think that chesapeake is undervalued. but aside from that, you do have other problems, as you know. we're studying it. put it that way. and i'm not saying we have a position or we don't. >> apparently, they do, and potentially growing again, though icahn would not say as much. but trading sources tell me that, in fact, is the case. we should also keep in mind, chesapeake reporting earnings after the bell, and we'll see how much money they spent to continue to take some of that gas out of the ground and oil, an important component he

aubrey mcclendon was pushed out as chairman. you said there was something notice noticeable in there, correct? >> correct. they basically said that we are pleased that chesapeake has taken our suggestions and we're glad that aubrey knows that as well as separation and ceo. i called southeastern and they've declined to comment beyond what is in that press release but it's very clear that there were some tough behind the scenes discussions with them and i know other shareholders were supportive of the company as it was but clearly there's been drama in oklahoma city. >> indeed. and the stock trading lower. >> that's right. it's clearly a disappointing quarter. natural gas, you know, at $2 or less clearly doesn't help them. so that may explain some of it. but, you know, they also disappointed even with that expectation baked in. >> kate kelly, thanks. as always. >>> president obama made a surprise trip to afghanistan on this, the one-year anniversary of osama bin laden. mr. obama will meet with president karzai to sign a strategic

mcclendon's historical use of leverage. chesapeake share is surging today. dan, what argument makes more sense here that the shareholder who says that mcclendon should be fired or should you be buying the stock because you think icahn is going to take a big stake? >> i don't know whether you should be buying the stock. the time to be short for the short-term is over. they made this tremendous announcement on friday that chesapeake cannot sell. they cannot monetize, those assets they need to to stay solvent. that was trumped by goldman sachs' loan to them, a short-term loan of $3 billion. i don't know what the interest rate is on that. but it can't be good. all of that gets trumped by icahn who has made a career out of coming in and using his magic on chesapeake. he did it last year it went in december of 2010, he announced similarly that he was going to accumulate a stake. that was in the mid 20s. then he spoke on what i think he's going to do, the same kind of thing he'll do here. talk about asset sales, lowering debt, a couple of board seats for him and it

reason why ceo aubrey mcclendon apologizing for the controversy over his personal finances. looks like he's got more problems ahead. kate kelly has the latest. >> hey, tyler, amid revelations ceo aubrey mcclendon ran a hedge fund for four years. in an investor call that helped drive shares down 13%, the cost of insuring against a default on a company's debt has leapfrogged today to close to $700 for each $10 million in a 5-year note. it's the latest indication of bearishness on the company's positi position, which in a word issin debt and had struggling with rock bottom gas prices. mcclendon was put on the defensive about the asset sales, how it plans to lower spending and why it isn't repurchasing shares right now. everything essentially except for his personal controversy, to address that he apologized during his opening remarks for the "distractions" but also cautioned the group your mother told you not to believe everything you read or hear for good reason. we'll see, sue, if he can weather this particular fire storm. i don't think he's been under this kind of heat in a

active and icahn has disclosed a letter to the company that is an out and out assault on ceo aubrey mcclendonhe current director. he said that the board is to oversee management and hold them accountable. it's led the company through a high highly publicized spate. he believes this is beating down the shares. in the past he bought an opportunistic stake in chesapeake and ended up getting a stock out and now he's extremely disappointed in what happened and recently had dinner with mcclendon. he was essentially laughed off, maria. more to come. this is looking to be a bruising fight. >> it really is. last time he came on the show i asked about the situation in chesapeake. he was very coy anticipate wouldn't go there. good stuff, as always. $3 billion and counting, sheila bair is counting on dimon to break up his bank in order to protect banks and shareholders. she joins me in an exclusive to talk more about that. is breaking up chase and other banks the real solution here? has it really become a case too big to manage? >> i think it is. it certainly is suggested by their share prices. traded at

dimon, elevensohn and mcclendon making headlines almost on a daily basis and not the best of headlinest that. guy, you want to talk about what's facing aubry mcclendon here and chesapeake and the pressure to mean for you buying the stock or not? >> listen. i think clearly he's under tremendous pressure. i mean, he built this effectively from the ground up and might be time for the good of the company for him maybe to sort of pass the baton and i think if there's the case one of two things happen. extraordinarily buy their to me either there are tremendous skeletons in the closet which i don't really believe or carl icon is right and the stock with a significant rebound from here but i think it's dead money until i think he sort of moves aside and then you have a tremendous opportunity. my sense is if he steps aside the stock goes up a quick 10% to 15%. >> weiss, the call on jamie dimon with a position in jc penney. did you say you shorted -- i'm sorry. in jp morgan. obviously, duh. what i'm talking about. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. jp morgan, i bought more yesterday and more this morning and

mcclendon is quoted in "the new york times" today, aubrey mcclendon, that is.at he said, and i think this is a little bit of the concern that is out there today. "there are lots of options and lots of levers to pull. we will get our asset sales done." deja vu. carl, where did we hear similar sentiment in an overleveraged story? take you back to 2008, lehman brothers. we can make those sales, we can delever the balance sheet. i think the bond market, which is always smarter than the stock market, is telling you the asset sales aren't going as smooth as mcclendon has led people to believe here. we'll have more on chesapeake and another issue that one of our colleagues actually broke the story yesterday, later in the program. >> does icahn change the game here, the narrative at all? >> no. as i said yesterday on this program, i think carl is looking at the situation as i made a lot of money in the past, traders always have an instinct to go back to a game they made a lot of money in. it's a different situation now. i don't think carl understood that this is a high

aubrey mcclendon came to light earlier this month. icahn is the company's third largest shareholder. >> tom: june 7 is circled on jamie dimon's calendar. the j.p. morgan chase c.e.o. has been invited to testify before the senate banking panel that day. he's been called to washington to explain how a trading unit at his company lost over $2 billion on complex financial derivatives tied to corporate bonds. so far, dimon's office is not commenting about what he might say. last week, a spokesperson said dimon had agreed to testify, but had yet to be formally invited. >> susie: meanwhile apple's c.e.o. is mastering the art of employee relations. apple says tim cook will forgo $75 million dividend payout. that comes as the maker of iphones, and ipads says it will allow employees the same dividend as other apple investors. in an unusual move, apple is awarding them a $2.65 a share quarterly dividend on their restricted stock units. tom, you surely remember that apple announced the dividend payout back in april. the stock at that time was aro

aubrey mcclendon continues under fire for personally owned portions of wells owned by the company. the stock fell almost 14% on heavy volume. the selling takes shares to a new three year low. in our exchange traded fund market flash, you can see the impact of j.p. morgan with the financial sector fund falling more than 1%. the emerging markets fund also shed more than 1%. and that's tonight's market focus. >> susie: all week we've been looking at the summer job market for america's youngest workers: teenagers. tonight, we ratchet up the age and pay grade and focus on m.b.a. students. the summer between the two years it takes to earn a graduate business degree is critical. suzanne pratt tells us why. >> reporter: at columbia business school, summer break is just days away. but, first year m.b.a. students are gearing up for summer internships, not summer fun. and, even though more firms are employing future m.b.a.s, this year than in the recent past, finding that job is no easy "a." julia werb says her search took six months from start to offer. >> i think it was a little bit more ti

look at mcclendon now at chesapeake. look at lehman. a ceo can get a sophisticated board to look the other way and do some dumb things. >> well. >> got to leave it there. as always a great conversation. let's get to another market splash out there. what's up? >> fight over ancestry.com. acom, because nbc you might have heard of that network, saying it will not renew the fourth season of "who do you think you are?" which uses ancestry.com technology, and of course they get a big push from that. but you got two people out defending the company, goldman sachs as well as u known muenster of piper jaffray saying buy on weakness. apparently people are, stock down 14%. >> thank you very much. got to check in with gary kaminsky our capital markets editor with his own take on what's going on at jpmorgan and yah yahoo. the shareholder meeting for jpmorgan is tomorrow. do you expect any bomb shells? >> let's get to that in a second melissa. let's first faulk about what, if you are thinking about jpmorgan right now what i think you should be thinki

bars there's a lot of other people that are taking advantage we've been writing a lot about aubrey mcclendonover a chesapeake there's a lot of people with their heads a think that they can get away with stuff and they're right they're getting away with stuff right now hedge funds of course sense blood in the water there's a bit of a conflict with the hedge fund community because they rely on morgan for the cheap credit to fuel their speculative bets but at some point one of them is going to break ranks and just go whole hawg in and start to dismantle this take at some point they're all going to follow suit according to game theory isn't that correct i would agree and i think that it's not necessarily true that we should look at some of the other banks and ceiling to see if they're taking advantage of these holes in the regulatory infrastructure to their taking advantage of cheap money from the fed and they're making big bets because they're all in a race to take advantage of it while the window still open a lot of people make a comparison to george soros that is bet against the british pound

aubrey mcclendon came on here and explained what he did. as he did when he got blown out by that margin trading. he stood right here. stand over right here again. maybe over here because he was over here this time. give him better luck which matters when you're a gambler. with natural gas so low, chesapeake needs rely on the kindness of other bidders coming in to buy acreage at premium prices and the kindness of bankers who will charge exorbitant rates to refinance debts. right now it feels like an oil and gas jpmorgan. then there's yahoo!. remember one time this was a play on search and display advertising. but facebook and google have crushed it. the company has no mobile strategy, social or cloud strategy. using market shares. what is it? now it's a breakup story. i don't a breakup story where i need others to come in and buying a declining asset. i don't want to fool people. i want a proprietary business. yahoo! is a revolving door company. who the heck knows how to value this company? i certainly can't. the bottom line, at a difficult

reuters reporting aubrey mcclendon ran a $2 million nat gas hedge fund on the side.about the trials and tribulations of his company in the past two weeks earlier this morning. >>> a day after the dow reached its highest lows in over four years, futures are reversing course, slipping slightly today on that weaker than expected adp number. as jobs friday looms and european fears come back into play, what's the next move for the markets? we'll talk to the two five-star fund managers to get their take. >>> research in motion not feeling the love from the street today on the back of that blackberry 10 announcement. what does r.i.m. need to do to turn the tide? we'll break it all down. >>> sears hosting its annual shareholder meeting today. what are shareholders hoping to hear? we'll talk to one and get his take on sears prush fush for re-invention. >>> a quick market flash. >> look at shares of nike here. those shares hitting another all-time high today. if you take a look at this chart over not only intraday period but a five-year, a stock that continues to hit higher hi

also, "the wall street journal" reported that aubrey mcclendon made $8 million on the shares that were that stock is down sharply. radio shack, we're talking 26 years in terms of lows for rsh. pretty unbelievable. 4.67. >> we just spoke with sheila bair renewing her call to break up the big banks. we talked to her because of jpmorgan's $2 billion trading blunder. >> and now we're talking to someone who has taken an object sit stance. he says breaking up the big banks will not fix that problem. mark, thanks for joining us. >> nice to be here. >> when i started at krns cnbc e 1990s, i was covering the fdic crisis. >> i would say so many of our financial crisises, whether you look at the s&l or 1930s, small banks get into trouble. of course we need to be concerned about the big banks but it's not a lot better than having a huge large banks. what we need to do is to the extent that subsidies are distorting the marketplace, we need to roll back that safety net. even in this crisis, you have over 300 small banks that have failed so far. that's had a knock-off effect on the economy. so, again

bob stiller was essentially sanksed yesterday for doing exactly the same thing that aubrey mcclendonad to do back in 2008. sold upwards of 90% at the worst possible time for the economy. >> and just an absolutely incredible point by kate. what happened at green mountain coffee is the same thing that happened at chesapeake and it goes to show the difference. what happened is given the exact same thing, it took place at chesapeake. >> people are seeming very fed up, it feels that way, any way. >> people fed up for investors, that's a good thing. you want those activists to create change. it's a good thing. >> absolutely. you're seeing passive investors and dan loeb, who hadn't been active in more than five years getting extremely active. one more thing, they said we are seeking permanent capital because we need control of our invest noticements. it's a problem for us. >> yes, definitely needs control for sure. thank you very much sha, kate. thank you. >>> is it time for uncle sam to close the door on aid to the housing market? fannie mae is saying that they don't need more help. is it