Harold Glenn Hamm[1] (born December 11, 1945) is an American business magnate in the oil and gas business. He is known for pioneering fracking of shale oil resources.[2][3] As of February 4, 2022[update], Hamm's net worth is estimated to be US$18.5billion, making him the 63rd wealthiest person in the world.[4] He is the founder and chairman of Continental Resources.
In 2012, presidential candidate Mitt Romney named Hamm as his energy advisor,[5] and Hamm was a donor to the Romney campaign. Hamm was a fundraiser and donor to Donald Trump's 2016,[6]2020,[7] and 2024 presidential campaigns.[8]
In 1967, he founded Shelly Dean Oil Company,[11] which would later become Continental Resources.[12] The company pioneered the development of the Bakken oil field in North Dakota and Montana using horizontally drilled wells and hydraulic fracturing. When Continental Resources grew into a major oil producer, Hamm became a billionaire.[3][13] Continental Resources, known for its use of shale oil, was previously Oklahoma's fourth-largest public company.[14][15][16]
In 2007, Hamm was named the Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year". Hamm was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2011.[17] In 2012, Time magazine named Hamm one of the "World's 100 Most Influential People."[18]Forbes featured him on its cover in May 2014, publishing the story "Harold Hamm: The Billionaire Oilman Fueling America's Recovery."[19]
In January 2016, Hamm claimed that Saudi Arabia was unsuccessfully attempting to "flood the crude market at a time of oversupply."[22] OPEC, joined now by Russia, forming OPEC+, ceded the contest, making its first production cut since the financial crisis of 2008, in a bow to the demonstrated price resilience of U.S. shale producers.[23]
Hamm has been a critic of the Joe Biden administration's energy and environmental policies.[8]
In April 2024, Hamm organized an event at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort where oil industry leaders and lobbyists were invited to donate one billion dollars to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign with the expectation that environmental protections would be curtailed should Trump be re-elected.[27]
Involvement in education
The Harold Hamm Diabetes Center at the University of Oklahoma was named after Hamm, who has type 2 diabetes.[28] To create the center, the Harold and Sue Ann Hamm Foundation donated $10 million.[12] Hamm is a member of the Global Leadership Council at the Offutt School of Business of Concordia College, Moorhead, MN.[29]
Hamm and Continental Resources donated $10 million to the University of North Dakota's College of Engineering and Mines to create the Harold Hamm School of Geology and Geological Engineering. This was believed to be the largest gift given to the Grand Forks, North Dakota university by a non-alumnus.[30]
On February 1, 2022, the Harold Hamm Foundation and Continental Resources announced a $12 million gift to the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, to establish the Hamm School of Engineering and endow a "Continental Resources | Monsignor James Shea Chair of Engineering" at the private, Catholic university. It is believed to be the largest philanthropic single gift given to education in the region of western North Dakota and eastern Montana, the footprint of the Bakken formation.[31]
Personal life
Hamm's first wife was Judith Ann; they had three children. They divorced in 1987.[9][32]
In April 1988, Hamm married Sue Ann Arnall, with whom he had two children, Jane and Hilary.[9] Sue Ann is an economist and lawyer,[33] and has been an executive at Continental Resources. She filed for divorce on May 19, 2012,[9][34] but Hamm said that he separated from her in 2005.[9] Several media outlets reported that up to half of Hamm's estimated $20 billion fortune could be transferred to his wife, which would become a world record for most money transferred in a divorce.[35] While a judge ruled that his ex-wife would receive $1 billion, she rejected the settlement, seeking a greater sum.[36] According to CNBC, Arnall deposited a US$974,790,317.77[36] settlement check in 2015 (equivalent to $1,253,008,584.8 in 2023).[37]
^Mayer, Jane (2017). "Introduction. The Investors". Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Doubleday. p. 16.
^Hamm, Harold (July 21, 2016). Full speech, day 3 (Speech). 2016 Republican National Convention. Cleveland, Ohio. Retrieved December 11, 2016 – via YouTube.
^ abAilworth, Erin (January 7, 2015). "Harold Hamm's Ex-Wife Rejects $975 Million Divorce Settlement Check". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN0099-9660. OCLC781541372. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved February 5, 2022. An Oklahoma judge ordered Mr. Hamm, the chief executive of Continental Resources Inc., to pay his former wife, Sue Ann Arnall, nearly $1 billion to settle the couple's contentious 2 ½ year divorce. But on Monday, she rejected the check, lawyers for Mr. Hamm and Ms. Arnall confirmed Tuesday.
^Cordova, Elisabeth Butler (January 8, 2015). "Harold Hamm's ex cashes the big check after all". CNBC. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2022. Cha-ching! That's the sound of a massive check hitting Sue Ann Arnall's bank account. She has just cashed a personal check for $974.8 million, written by one Harold Hamm, her billionaire ex-husband and chief executive of oil driller Continental Resources, Michael Burrage, Hamm's attorney, told CNBC.
