Bryan Sheffield – Billionaire

Bryan Sheffield founded Parsley Energy during oil’s record run in 2008 after taking over 109 old wells that his grandfather Joe Parsley had drilled around Midland, Texas in the 1960s and ’70s. Parsley picked up more leases for a song during the brief price crash of 2009. By early 2014 Sheffield, assisted by higher prices and advances in fracking, had grown the company enough to hold an IPO. His 20% stake nearly made him a billionaire. Then oil plunged; the 2014 bust sent Parsley shares down by more than half. Yet while dozens of other oil companies have gone bankrupt, Parsley has thrived. It turns out old Grandpa Joe’s wells were smack dab in what’s now considered to be the best place left to drill for oil in America. Parsley sold more than $1 billion of new stock in 2015 and 2016, deploying the proceeds to assemble 120,000 acres in the Permian Basin. Sheffield now owns about 15% of Parsley Energy stock.

Source:forbes