Harold Glenn Hamm (born December 11, 1945) is an American entrepreneur primarily involved in the oil and gas business who is best known for pioneering the development of the large shale oil resources of the Bakken formation. On June 24, 2016, Hamm was ranked by Forbes magazine as the 39th richest person in United States and 98th richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated at $11.3 billion. Hamm’s net worth peaked at $18.7 billion in September 2014, but decreased to $9.3 billion by 2015. In 2012, presidential candidate Mitt Romney named Hamm as his energy advisor[4] and thereafter Hamm made substantial monetary and advisory contributions to the election effort.
Early life
Hamm was born in Lexington, Oklahoma, the 13th and youngest child of Oklahoma cotton sharecroppers, Jane Elizabeth (née Sparks) and Leland Albert Hamm.
Career
Hamm is a key player in Hiland Partners and Hiland Holdings as well as the shale oil-exploration company Continental Resources, Oklahoma’s fourth largest public company. Continental Resources moved from the Continental Towers in Enid, Oklahoma, to Oklahoma City in 2012. Hamm was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2011.
Hamm worked his way up from pumping gas and repairing cars to becoming CEO of his own billion-dollar company. He has been the CEO of Continental Resources since 1967, when the company was called Shelly Dean Oil Company. Hamm and Continental Resources pioneered the development of the Bakken Oil Field in Montana and North Dakota using both horizontal drilled wells and Hydraulic fracturing. He became a billionaire and Continental Resources became a major oil producer. Hamm was given honorary degrees from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma.
The Harold Hamm Diabetes Center at the University of Oklahoma was named after Hamm, who has type 2 diabetes. The Harold and Sue Ann Hamm Foundation donated 10 million dollars to create the center.
Hamm is a member of the Global Leadership Council at Concordia College, Moorhead, Offutt School of Business.
Hamm appeared on the cover of Forbes in May 2014 in a story entitled “Harold Hamm: The Billionaire Oilman Fueling America’s Recovery”.
In January 2016, Hamm stated that Saudi Arabia’s attempt to flood the crude market at a time of oversupply and concerns about weakening demand is not working, believing that oil prices will double by year-end 2016, as Shawn Baldwin, Chairman of alternative investment firm The AIA Group, concurred with these statements.
Harold Hamm net worth: Harold Hamm is an American oilman/businessman who has a net worth of $17 billion. Harold Hamm has built his net worth as a key player in Hiland Partners and Hiland Holdings as well as the Oil-exploration Company Continental Resources. This self-made billionaire is the richest person in Oklahoma and one of the richest people in America. In March of 2013, various news outlets reported that Harold and his wife Sue Ann Hamm was seeking what could have potentially been the most expensive divorce in human history. Sue Ann filed for divorce in Oklahoma on May 19, 2012 after being married for nearly 25 years. The couple has two children who are both over the age of 18. Sue Ann reportedly filed for divorce after catching Harold cheating. Sue Ann was seeking half of Harold’s fortune which reached as high as $20 billion during the proceedings. Some analysts thought Sue Ann could have been entitled to $8-9 billion dollars! That would have been more than four times bigger than the current largest divorce of all time, Rupert Murdoch’s $1.7 billion settlement with ex-wife Anna Murdoch. In November 2014, an Oklahoma judge put an end to the case and ordered Harold to pay Sue Ann $1 billion. Harold was ordered to pay $300 million in cash by the end of 2014 and the remaining balance in monthly installments with interest.
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