Q1 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc, Also read Lear Capital: Financial Products You Should Avoid? In 2006, Tom Ward, co-founder of Chesapeake Energy, purchased Riata Energy from Mitchell Malone, an Oklahoma oilman who had gathered several assets in various basins since 1984. The company was renamed Sandridge Energy and soon thereafter, Ward purchased National Energy Group from Carl Icahn for $1.5 billion to make most of what is the current Sandridge platform. Following a debt fueled acquisition spree, in 2013 Ward was ousted by Activist investors and then CFO, James Bennett, was instituted as CEO.