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Harold Hamm speaks at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
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When fracking tycoon Harold Hamm took the stage at the 2016 Republican National Convention, he had a nearly $13 billion net worth and plenty of optimism for the future. “Donald Trump will restore America’s rightful place as the energy leader of the world!” Hamm exclaimed. Trump left office Wednesday, capping off a truly terrible four years for Hamm.
Despite years of praising and advising Trump, Hamm’s fortune fell more under his presidency than any other U.S. billionaire. From the time Trump took office to the end of his term, Hamm’s net worth nosedived by nearly $9 billion, Forbes estimates, fueled by a 60% drop in the share price of Hamm’s Continental Resources.
(There is one American billionaire whose fortune fell by more than Hamm’s: hedge fund tycoon George Soros. He’s worth about $16 billion less than he was at the start of Trump’s presidency—but largely due to charitable giving, rather than investment losses.)
Pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, global crude oil prices hit their lowest point in 20 years in May 2020. Unlike most other oil companies, Continental reportedly does not hedge its production, which producers began counting on as prices went negative for the first time in history last April. Continental’s shares dropped from approximately $52 apiece on January 20, 2017 to $19.93 on January 20, 2021. Hamm called on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to investigate the plunge in oil prices. Continental is also plagued by staggering debt of $5.6 billion — about twice its trailing 12 month revenues.
Russia and Saudi Arabia’s conflict contributed to an oversupply of oil with nowhere to store it, coinciding with a sharp drop in travel amid the pandemic that left little demand for gasoline and jet fuel. With global demand now on the uptick, Brent crude oil prices are expected to rise from an average of $50 a barrel in December 2020 to $56 a barrel this quarter.
Hamm, the 13th child of Oklahoma sharecroppers, picked cotton as a kid and started working at a gas station at age 16 to support his family. He started his own trucking business to haul water to and from the oilfields, and later got into the oil business.
Trump, who has called Hamm the “king of energy,” briefly reportedly considered Hamm for the position of energy secretary before settling on former Texas governor Rick Perry. Hamm informally advised Trump on energy matters throughout his presidency. He gave about $320,000 to Trump’s 2020 reelection effort.
Hamm’s net worth often fluctuates in lockstep with Continental’s volatile stock price (he owns about 80% of the publicly traded company). He was worth $5.1 billion in March 2016. By October 2018 his fortune had climbed to $17.2 billion, before sinking all the way to $2.4 billion in April 2020, near the depths of the Covid and oil war crises. Today, Forbes estimates Hamm to be worth $5.6 billion.