Post by: Manedwolf on March 11, 2007, 08:36:44 AM
From the Wall Street Journal:
Quote
Halliburton to Move Headquarters To Dubai, Keeping Office in Houston
DUBAI -- U.S. oil services giant Halliburton Co. will shift its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai, Chief Executive Dave Lesar said Sunday.
DUBAI -- U.S. oil services giant Halliburton Co. will shift its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai, Chief Executive Dave Lesar said Sunday.
Quote
Halliburton will maintain a corporate office in Houston, but the company will be controlled from its office in the United Arab Emirates, company spokeswoman Cathy Mann explained.
"Halliburton is opening its corporate headquarters in Dubai while maintaining a corporate office in Houston," Ms. Mann said in an email to the Associated Press. "The chairman, president and CEO will office from and be based in Dubai to run the company from the UAE." She clarified "he will work from and his office will be in Dubai."
"Halliburton is opening its corporate headquarters in Dubai while maintaining a corporate office in Houston," Ms. Mann said in an email to the Associated Press. "The chairman, president and CEO will office from and be based in Dubai to run the company from the UAE." She clarified "he will work from and his office will be in Dubai."
http://users1.wsj.com/lmda/do/checkLogin?mg=wsj-users1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB117362760997733466.html%3Fmod%3Ddjemalert
Post by: Unisaw on March 11, 2007, 10:13:51 AM
CEO to Spend More Time in Dubai
By RUSSELL GOLD and SUSAN WARREN
March 11, 2007 2:44 p.m.
Halliburton Co. is making a big push to expand its presence in the Middle East, with Chief Executive Officer Dave Lesar spending a substantial part of his time running the company from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Lesar said that from his Dubai office he will be concentrating on building the Houston-based oil-services company's business with national oil companies in the Eastern Hemisphere, including Asia, Africa and the Middle East. "Growing our business here will bring more balance to Halliburton's overall portfolio," Mr. Lesar said in a statement. (Read the company's full statement1)
Halliburton's decision is another sign of shifting alignments in the global oil order. While Houston remains the center of the global oil trade among Western companies, Dubai in recent years has grown as a rival -- a hub for trade, investment and oil-patch deals, especially for national oil companies expanding outside their home turf. Dubai's location in the Middle East puts it close to the world's richest oil reservoirs, and it has proven itself more open and friendly to Westerners than some of its neighbors.
Halliburton needs to make up ground it has lost in recent years to Western competitors and increasingly ambitious Chinese oilfield-service firms. Halliburton operates in 70 countries with about 45,000 employees. The company -- and its red-clad workers -- is the dominant oilfield-service company in North America, generating 60% of its operating income, or $2.03 billion, last year in the region.
But North America is a mature oilfield province and most of the industry's growth is occurring elsewhere. Halliburton reported a 40% decline in fourth-quarter net income, with a drop in North American revenue heightening concerns about a slowdown in drilling.
Meanwhile, Halliburton's competitors are more dominant outside of North America. Many of the worlds' best new oil and natural gas production opportunities are in oil-rich regions of the Middle East and Africa, while much of the growth in demand is coming from Asia.
Schlumberger Ltd., the largest oilfield-service firm by revenue, earned two-thirds of its net income from continuing operations last year, or $3 billion outside of North America.
Halliburton has faced numerous distractions in recent years that have taken its attention away from its core oilfield-services business. It paid a steep price to extricate itself from enormous damages in asbestos litigation and avoid bankruptcy for the entire firm. Then a logistics contract for the U.S. military ballooned unexpectedly, taxing the company's ability to keep pace with demands of the Iraq war. Halliburton recently took steps to complete its spin-off of KBR Inc., its logistics and engineering division, in order to focus on its dominant oilfield business.
I just copied the above from the WSJ online edition. Bloomberg is reporting this as Halliburton opening a regional head off in Dubai from which the CEO will spend most of his time. I'm skeptical that this has anything to do with evading investigators.
Post by: Waitone on March 11, 2007, 11:13:49 AM
Post by: RevDisk on March 11, 2007, 01:57:31 PM
Go to where the business growth is. Nothing mysterious here. KBR will be tossed under the bus for its adventures in Iraq. Meanwhile, we have here a sterling example of a multinational corporation. It has no allegiances other than to its stockholders. The US gums up its markets with environmental restrictions etc, the response is to simply go somewhere else. Markets go to where capital is best treated. For all the pontification the US does about "capitalism", we surely don't do a good job of practicing it. The US is rapidly making itself irrelevant to the future.
KBR execs should be lined up against the wall and shot. Ask anyone who got repeated food poisoning from their mess halls.
As for the trade restrictions, yes. There is a ton of red tape doing international business these days. It's costing us a lot in lost productivity and revenue.
Post by: Balog on March 12, 2007, 09:05:19 AM
Quote
Lesar ' s announcement appears to signal one of the highest-profile moves by a U.S. corporate leader to Dubai , an Arab boomtown where free-market capitalism has been paired with some of the world ' s most liberal tax, investment and residency laws.
Sounds like an interesting place to live. Wonder how their gun laws are?
Post by: Brad Johnson on March 12, 2007, 09:10:28 AM
Never fails to amaze me that people will scream, yell, and generally crawl all over a company trying to get its profits down, its business regulated, and its influence minimized, then scream, yell, and generally crawl all over the same company when it moves to someplace a bit more business friendly.
Brad
Post by: Vodka7 on March 12, 2007, 09:44:22 AM
Sounds like an interesting place to live. Wonder how their gun laws are?
Giving how crazy their licenses are (for just a car!), I wouldn't hold out much hope for their gun laws. Dubai's an extrememly rich city-state that's world renowned for their anti-immigration practices. If you're not A) from Dubai, B) teaching their kids (temporarily, mind you--you're shipping out eventually), or C) filthy, dirty rich (which I guess everyone in Halliburton is), living in Dubai is not a good idea.
Post by: El Tejon on March 12, 2007, 09:48:17 AM
Post by: Eleven Mike on March 12, 2007, 09:48:58 AM
Never fails to amaze me that people will scream, yell, and generally crawl all over a company trying to get its profits down, its business regulated, and its influence minimized, then scream, yell, and generally crawl all over the same company when it moves to someplace a bit more business friendly.
Or if the company stays in place but downsizes, they'll complain about that, too. And they complain when prices go up. All the while trying to artificially raise the cost of labor.
Post by: The Rabbi on March 12, 2007, 10:58:46 AM
Halliburton is not running any mess halls.
They are still subject to U.S. laws since they are still incorporated in the U.S. Some people need to put away the tin foil hat.
Post by: Eleven Mike on March 12, 2007, 11:34:26 AM
Some people need to put away the tin foil hat.
But it helps me to feel safe.
Can I hide under my space blanket, then?
Post by: The Rabbi on March 12, 2007, 11:38:40 AM
Some people need to put away the tin foil hat.
But it helps me to feel safe.
Can I hide under my space blanket, then? Are you mad?? How do you think they hone in on your thoughts?
Rabbit hair, think rabbit hair.
Post by: Eleven Mike on March 12, 2007, 11:41:31 AM
Post by: The Rabbi on March 12, 2007, 11:44:23 AM
Post by: Waitone on March 12, 2007, 12:19:57 PM
Post by: RadioFreeSeaLab on March 12, 2007, 12:26:43 PM
Post by: Matthew Carberry on March 12, 2007, 12:51:49 PM
Good for them. The free market is a beautiful thing, and it's about time we embraced it as a company. If we make it easy and profitable for businesses to do business here in the US, they'll stay here in the US. If not, well they move to Dubai.
Freudian slip? You unreconstructed capitalist you!
Post by: Eleven Mike on March 12, 2007, 01:00:22 PM
Reminds me of the joke about the non-Jew who goes into a deli and asks the owner why Jews are so smart.
And?
Post by: Matthew Carberry on March 12, 2007, 01:13:13 PM
Reminds me of the joke about the non-Jew who goes into a deli and asks the owner why Jews are so smart.
And?
I'm just pretending to get it.
Post by: The Rabbi on March 12, 2007, 01:14:35 PM
Reminds me of the joke about the non-Jew who goes into a deli and asks the owner why Jews are so smart.
And?
I was hoping you'd ask.
So the owner whispers and says "it's herring. We Jews eat it all the time. Fish is brain food and this is why."
So the non-Jew proceeds to buy a quart of herring every week and he goes home and eats it.
After a month he comes back. The owner asks him, so how's it going?
"Ok," the non-Jew says. "But I notice that I'm paying $5.25 a quart for the herring but Goldberg down the street sells it for $4.99."
"Aha!" says the owner, "see, you're smarter already!"
Post by: Matthew Carberry on March 12, 2007, 01:17:49 PM
On ethnic jokes, so help me, I like to do the accents.
Post by: RadioFreeSeaLab on March 12, 2007, 01:33:12 PM
Good for them. The free market is a beautiful thing, and it's about time we embraced it as a company. If we make it easy and profitable for businesses to do business here in the US, they'll stay here in the US. If not, well they move to Dubai.
Freudian slip? You unreconstructed capitalist you!
Country! I meant country!
Post by: doczinn on March 12, 2007, 06:21:35 PM
Quote
On ethnic jokes, so help me, I like to do the accents.
Me too, and that one:Quote
"Aha!" says the owner, "see, you're smarter already!"
works great.
Post by: RadioFreeSeaLab on March 12, 2007, 08:38:32 PM
If that's the case, I say more power to them. Our tax laws are ridiculous anyways.
Post by: wingnutx on March 13, 2007, 08:21:33 AM
They are putting the honchos nearer to the customer base.
It will have no effect on their taxes.
Post by: RadioFreeSeaLab on March 13, 2007, 08:52:00 AM