Briefing | The new American capitalism
A mutation in the way companies are financed and managed will change the distribution of the wealth they create
|NEW YORK |13 min read
AT THE beginning of the 1980s capital was flooding into the American oil and gas industry. Apache Corporation, an erstwhile conglomerate spanning steel, dude-ranching and car sales, sought to tap into the flow in a novel way. It wrapped a bunch of private oil and gas assets into a new ownership structure that was akin to a partnership but was publicly listed. It was a useful idea—until steep declines in tax rates and energy prices put the Apache Petroleum Company to rest in 1987.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Rise of the distorporation”
From the October 26th 2013 edition
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