OIL giant BP’s value has fallen by £2bn after its boss was sacked in disgrace.
Bernard Looney, 53, was shown the door for failing to come clean about a string of workplace relationships.
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BP boss Bernard Looney’s workplace romances cost the oil giant £2bn after shares tumbleCredit: AP
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Looney was married for two years to life coach Jacqueline Hurst, who wrote in her book ‘How to Do You’ that her ex-husband left her via WhatsApp message.Credit: Instagram
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Mr Looney joined the company aged just 21 as a drill engineer
BP is now under pressure to return millions in bonuses paid to the chief executive.
A huge amount was wiped off the oil giant’s share price as investors reeled from his shock departure.
BP’s market valuation fell from £90.8bn to £88.2bn after the scandal — dragging London’s FTSE 100 lower.
The fall in shares also dealt a blow to the UK’s biggest pension funds, which have around £500m invested in BP. It falls in value when stocks fall.
Mr. Looney joined the company at the age of 21 as a drill engineer.
Friends pointed to his workaholic nature and three decades at the company as reasons for workplace relations.
He was married for two years to life coach Jacqueline Hurst, who wrote in her book How to Do You that her ex-husband left her via WhatsApp message.
She wrote: “I later found out that he only married me because he wanted to move up the seniority level at the company he worked for and he had to be seen to be married in order to get a promotion.”
Mr Looney pocketed £10m last year as the war in Ukraine drove up energy prices and led to a fortune of £23.4bn in profits.
He angered Britons struggling with heating bills by comparing the job to an “ATM”.
BP — which has boosted its ESG (environmental, social, governance) credentials under his leadership — now faces questions about its company culture and what it knows about its relationships.
Ireland’s Mr Looney admitted he had not been “completely transparent” with the company about previous workplace mergers.
Late on Tuesday, BP revealed it had launched an investigation into Mr Looney’s dealings with staff last year.
At a time when the board was satisfied that there had been no misconduct.
He was understood to have received affidavits from Mr Looney about the nature of some of those relationships and a promise about his future conduct as chief executive.
But a whistleblower recently made new claims about multiple affairs while running BP’s oil and gas business.
One senior industry source said Mr Looney was frequently gossiped about on WhatsApp. BP is now working with the law firm to investigate the new allegations.
It has been said: “In particular, all leaders are expected to be role models and exercise good judgment.”
Mr. Looney was unusually upbeat for the boss of an oil giant.
He advocated for gender equality and used Instagram to host question-and-answer sessions and respond to eco-critics.
And he regularly posted pictures of female colleagues he met on his travels, including what he called BP’s “brilliant female engineers.”
His attempt to radically change BP’s strategy with a promise to become net zero by 2050 had a mixed reception. Last year, he was forced to soften his plan and admit that the company will still have to invest in oil and gas production.
His workplace romances could mean he is forced to hand back some of his bonuses if an investigation uncovers evidence of misconduct.
A dramatic drop in the value of the oil giant
Former Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable, who introduced the clawback rules when he was business secretary in the coalition government, called on BP to force Looney to pay back his bonuses.
He said: “It is an absolute duty for the chairman of the board and the board to crack down and deal with abuses.”
A BP spokesman said no decision on refunds would be made until the investigation was complete.
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BERNARD Looney is not the first business boss to lose his job for mixing work and pleasure.
Briton Steve Easterbrook was fired as CEO of McDonald’s in 2019 after sexting a colleague.
The fast food giant has clawed back £78m in bonuses and benefits after revealing he had affairs with other staff.
He was also fined £330,000 by US regulators in January for concealing the relationship, which affected McDonald’s share price.
Married CFO David Egan left British electronics retailer RS Group in May after admitting a “personal relationship with a colleague”. He was with the company for seven years.
And Jeff Shell, head of Comcast-owned U.S. broadcaster NBC Universal, was fired after an internal investigation into a relationship with an NBC correspondent and allegations of sexual harassment.
Mr. Shell was fired and lost $43 million in stock awards.
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