Key player of 1980s deregulation era, George Keller, dies

The 84-year-old former chairman and chief executive of Chevron, George Keller, died Friday in Palo Alto.

A spokeswoman for the New York Times, Diane McNulty, has confirmed the news of Keller’s death.

Keller’s daughter-in-law, Emma Gilbey Keller - wife of his son Bill who is executive editor of the Times - said he died from complications of orthopedic surgery.

Keller was one of the key players in the 1980s era of deregulation, globalization, and the emergence of junk bond financing, when it seemed like no company was immune from hostile takeovers.

He was the chairman of the Standard Oil Company of California, when he executed the company’s takeover of Gulf Oil to form Chevron in 1984, with a fairly good price tag of $13.3 billion.

The deal came at a time when Gulf Oil was involved in a nasty, hostile takeover with T. Boone Pickens, who had the support of Mike Milken’s junk bonds. Since Gulf thought such a deal would be harmful for the long-term, resulting in enormous layoffs, it was on the outlook for a ‘white knight’, and Keller fitted the bill!

Though the deal was initially considered a staggering one, it was actually futuristic, boosting Standard Oil’s reserves significantly. Ever since then, the oil industry has undergone tremendous consolidation, with Keller’s Gulf deal becoming a model on how to do accomplish the uphill task.

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