While most estimates of the size of the Bakken crude deposits are around 4-5 billion barrels, Hamm believes there are 24 billion barrels just waiting to be squeezed out of the ground. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in October 2011, Hamm said, “[T]he United States could be ‘completely energy independent by the end of the decade. We can be the Saudi Arabia of oil and natural gas in the 21st century.’” And Hamm appears willing to put his money where his mouth is.

But in March of this year, a company owned by Hamm and Continental’s President Jeff Hume sold 38,000 acres in the Bakken play to Continental for $340 million in stock. At the time of the sale, Hamm owned 123 million of Continental’s 180 million outstanding shares. Another 100,000 shares is a rounding error.

According to the company’s proxy statement:

Wheatland Oil Inc. (“Wheatland”) is owned 75% by the Hamm Revocable Trust and 25% by our President and Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Jeffrey B. Hume. Wheatland participates in several of the Company’s crude oil and natural gas properties located in the states of Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota and Oklahoma. The Wheatland interests generally range from 5% to 10% of the Company’s interests. During the year ended December 31, 2011, we disbursed net crude oil and natural gas revenues of approximately $36.7 million to Wheatland and were paid for billed costs of approximately $64.9 million by Wheatland. We also paid Wheatland approximately $5,000 in 2011 for their share of undeveloped leasehold adjustments. At December 31, 2011 $17.6 million was due from Wheatland and $3.5 million was due to Wheatland.

This does not sound much different from the Founder Well Participation Program that Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) had going with CEO Aubrey McClendon.

But investors do like insider buying. Continental’s shares are up nearly 6% in late morning trading today at $75.44 in a 52-week range of $42.43-$97.19.

Continental’s proxy filing detailing related party transactions is available here.

Paul Ausick

But a CEO wedding announcement on the following day? The answer that new shareholders should be concerned with is simple: “You knew you had a founding CEO who was able to do whatever he wants, even though he is now playing with your money. Now you know he WILL do whatever he wants whenever he wants.”

Magically announcing a wedding at what was supposed to be a graduation party is one thing. But within a day of an IPO of this magnitude? Shareholders now have every reason to be concerned. Oh, and by the way, if you do not like it your only way to make a statement is to sell your shares. You have no vote in the company at all because Zuckerberg has well over 50% of the share votes either under ownership or under control.

It is hard to imagine that Zuck would go take a three-week honeymoon, but he could do that at some point and the poor Facebook shareholders would just have to sit there and take it. Again, your only vote as a shareholder is to sell your shares. Even then, do you think a guy now worth $20 billion or so really cares?

We warned you that there were 18 big risks in chasing Facebook ahead of the IPO, and all of these risks are still present. We never thought that there were two more: 19) CEO decides to distract himself with his own marriage status as just a small deal, and 20) CEO could go take a long vacation/honeymoon immediately.

Who knows what Zuckerberg’s living situation will be now and who knows if he and his now-wife will decide to go take a great vacation and honeymoon. I would if I was in his shoes, at some point, but not the weekend after an IPO. Shareholders should care what this means, but they better remember over and over that they were warned about the corporate governance here as a controlled entity (over and over, and over).

As of 6:50 PM EST on Sunday night there have been “853,293 people like this” on Zuckerberg’s Facebook status page. If any of those people are shareholders liking this, well let’s just say that they have a conflict of interest over “liking” their own money.

Barron’s wrote about the new downside risks about Facebook shares falling if underwriters choose not to support the IPO like they did on Friday at the $38.00 share price. That was without considering the CEO would sneak out and get married the same weekend.

JON C. OGG

GSV Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: GSVC) owns Facebook shares and has for some time at what may be as much as a 50% profit.  The closed-end BDC has also raised capital on more than one occasion each time the stock popped up. Shares were at $19 earlier this week and the stock closed at $16.10 on Thursday.

Firsthand Technology Value Fund (NASDAQ: SVVC) was at $30.00 earlier in the week and it is already under $27.00 against a 52-week range of $14.12 to $46.50.  This one recently raised  $127.7 million via a secondary offering and it plans to invest the cash in portfolio companies.

The one ETF we would be watching is Global X Social Media Index ETF (NASDAQ: SOCL), but only AFTER the Facebook IPO for a few days.  This ETF will ultimately include Facebook with likely a max of 10% weighting at the onset of the inclusion date.  Keep in mind that it does not own Facebook shares before the IPO.

Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) has still been trading as a busted IPO but it and Facebook have very deep revenue ties due to the social gaming.  Here is where you can spend real life money on virtual farm animals!

As a reminder, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) owns (with affiliates) over 65 million shares and it is selling more than 28 million shares.  Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) also owns 32.7 million shares, but those are of the Class B shares.

Tree Top Industries, Inc. (OTCBB:TTII.OB) rallied on news that it owned no less than $100,000 worth of Facebook shares.  The company calls itself a mini conglomerate based on Teledyne’s business model.  Oh boy!

Facebook is the new F-word on Wall Street.  Starting next week and the week after that, the financial media is going to have to find something new and hot to talk about all day long.

JON C. OGG

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was a large gain by Appaloosa Management, with a gain of more than 500,000 shares up to 685,000 shares worth some $303 million. This of course was worth more in April. Farallon put up a new position of just over 192,000 worth some $116 million. Janus only lowered its stake by 0.5% and Apple is still its largest holding at over $3.8 billion, while Vanguard lifted its stake by about 5% worth over $23 billion.

Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: CZR) was a strange position on the surface, but easy to explain later. Paulson & Co. was shown to have lifted its stake to 12.37 million shares from NO SHARES at the end of 2011. The problem is that Paulson owned Caesars shares already before the IPO but it was not public before the end of 2011.

Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) was a 2.4 million share stake by Greenlight Capital (under David Einhorn) worth $72 million, and that was a new position. With an activism flare, maybe this can light some fire under what has been a dead tech-value stock. Another firm, Highbridge Capital Management LLC, added more than 1 million shares as a new position in the first quarter.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) was a key addition of Warren Buffett’s Ted Weschler who grew his stake to 6,000,000 from almost 2.7 million shares. This was a doubling of the stake, but we would note that this stock has slid 10% since the end of the quarter. The overall position may be closer to break-even here, but this has a huge portion of the kidney dialysis market as of today.

Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) was a surprise for us considering that we thought Warren Buffett’s new manager Todd Coombs would have added to this position rather than cutting it. Maybe the valuation premium just became too much. The March 31 stake was 3.63 million shares versus the 4.497 million shares at the end of 2011.

El Paso Corporation (NYSE: EP) saw more than one move higher. Farallon Capital added another 50% or so to end with 22.49 million shares worth $235 million in the first quarter; Paulson & Co. doubled its stake in the first quarter to 8 million shares worth over $118 million.

Encana Corporation (NYSE: ECA) is a standout because it looks small, but it is a good whale watching stock. BP Capital’s T. Boone Pickens initiated a new position of more than 1.13 million shares worth some $22.3 million.

Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX) was a very large gain by Farallon Capital, where the position rose to over 5.65 million shares as of March 31 from only 1.17 million shares at the end of 2011. Paulson & Co. also doubled its stake in the first quarter to 3.24 million shares worth over $87 million shares. With the merger now closed, others have been looking at this despite Walgreen’s issues.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was another new position of 10 million shares worth more than $250 million. Frankly, we might have guess that Ford would have been chosen. Is it possible that this was a “politically motivated or influenced” as Buffett is such a supporter of Obama? That admittedly seems like a stretch, but if we were looking for auto exposure it would have probably been with Ford.

SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) saw SAC Capital grow from only over 3 million shares at the end of 2011 to 98.2 million shares worth almost $217 million in the first quarter, SAC wheels and deals in shares all the time, so they could have been in and out of a lot more or less shares before, during, and after that point.

Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) scored a new large stake in the first quarter by Maverick Capital. The new holdings came to over 5.8 million shares worth some $161 million at the end of the quarter, likely as an “Apple play.”

United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL) was hard not to miss in the whale hunting as well as Appaloosa grew its position by 500% or so up to over 7.9 million shares worth over $146 million.

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JON C. OGG

Also, keep in mind that portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler are still new and those new positions of under $200 million $300 million are likely tied to them.

24/7 Wall St. has gone through line by line of each position to see which stocks have been bought and sold as new positions, as well as having added in whether or not the number of shares grew or shrank on each since the prior quarter. We had added some color in on some of the positions if applicable.

Be advised that the number of subsidiaries that this filing covers is 14 entities rather than 18 entities in the prior quarter. There is also a note in the 13F filing showing that the SEC has granted “Confidential Treatment” on some Berkshire stock holdings and that likely suggests that Buffett is still acquiring a position he does not want the public to know about yet. This filing does not signal the half-dozen or more European shares that Buffett said he bought so that remains an outstanding issue as well.

The value of the stock portfolio was $66,151,587,000 at the end of 2011 and this was listed as $75,300,250,000 at the end of March 2012.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was over 151.6 million shares, SAME AS last quarter.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) is now 5.6 million shares, HIGHER THAN the 1,793,915 shares last quarter.

CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) is the SAME SIZE at 7.106 million shares after having been a new holding in a recent quarter and having been raised one quarter ago.

Coca Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) was right at 200 million shares, SAME AS BEFORE.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is roughly 29.1 million shares, roughly the SAME AS BEFORE but it is still lower than previous quarters in past reports.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) 4,333,363 Shares, SAME AS last quarter after having lowered it before.

Da Vita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) is now 6 million shares worth $541 million and that LARGER THAN BEFORE after having been a new position of 2.684 million shares.

DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is a LARGER POSITION listed at 22.999 million worth over $1.13 billion. This one had been 20.348 million shares worth $870 million one quarter earlier and it had been a new position just two quarters ago at 4.249 million shares.

The fear of a regionwide fallout from a Greek default, an upcoming referendum in Ireland over whether it will accept the terms of a bailout, and a believe that the financial crisis could spread to Portugal and Spain, all sent the markets into tail spins.

The French CAC 40 was down more than 2%, not much of a vote of confidence in the plans of President Hollande. The Germany Dax was down over 2% as Angela Merkel’s party was defeated in a key regional election and the most powerful nation in the region, economically, has been repeated called upon to relent on the severity of austerity pressed upon its neighbors.

The FTSE 100 fell 1.6%. Austerity measures are only partially in place. Many economist believe that once they are in full force, the economy, already in recession, will move toward a vicious double dip.

All of this news has weighed on U.S. futures and American equities are likely to sell of sharply at the open.

Douglas A. McIntyre

If you go all the way to page 14 under the “Transactions with Related Persons” section after the disclosure about the Oklahoma City Thunder that is where you find the goodies. This is the “Founder Well Participation Program” and it shows the sums that Aubrey McClendon got from the well participation program.  After that, it also shows that the Map Sale was rescinded.

In order to avoid any data confusion and in order to avoid any contextual issues, we have run this verbatim from the proxy materials.  The proxy noted, “The Board and Aubrey voluntarily renegotiated the terms of the FWPP to provide for early termination on June 30, 2014, 18 months before the previous termination date of December 31, 2015, pursuant to a letter agreement previously filed with the SEC. Aubrey will receive no compensation of any kind in connection with the early termination of the FWPP. Further, to address requests for more information, Aubrey voluntarily disclosed personal financial and operational information regarding his oil and gas investments through the FWPP.”

The company has reaffirmed that it plans to nominate an independent non-Executive Chairman.  Here are the full details of the WELL PARTICIPATION PLAN as follows:

The FWPP permits Mr. McClendon, the Company’s co-founder, to participate and invest as a working interest owner in new wells drilled by the Company. In 2005, the FWPP was documented as a formal plan containing substantially the same terms as prior agreements with the Company’s two co-founders that had been in place since the Company’s initial public offering in 1993. Shareholders approved the FWPP on June 10, 2005. The participation of co-founder Tom L. Ward terminated following his separation from the Company in 2006. The Company believes the FWPP fosters and promotes the development and execution of the Company’s business by aligning the interests of Mr. McClendon and the Company. Mr. McClendon has continually participated in the FWPP since the Company’s initial public offering in 1993, except during the five-quarter period from January 1, 1999 to March 31, 2000. The Board and Mr. McClendon recently renegotiated the terms of the FWPP to provide for the early termination of the FWPP on June 30, 2014, 18 months before the end of its current term on December 31, 2015, pursuant to a letter agreement previously filed with the SEC on the Company’s Form 8-K on May 2, 2012. Mr. McClendon will receive no compensation of any kind in connection with the early termination of the FWPP.

Under the FWPP, Mr. McClendon has the right to participate in either all or none of the wells spudded by or on behalf of the Company during each calendar year. Prior to the beginning of each year, Mr. McClendon must provide written notice to the members of the Compensation Committee of his election to participate in the FWPP and his proposed working interest percentage for that year. His working interest percentage may not exceed a 2.5% working interest in a well and is not effective for any well where the Company’s working interest after Mr. McClendon’s participation election would be reduced to below 12.5%. Subject to these limitations, if Mr. McClendon elects to participate in the FWPP, he must participate in all wells spudded by or on behalf of the Company during the given calendar year and cannot elect to participate on a well-by-well basis. In September 2011, Mr. McClendon elected to participate in the FWPP for the 2012 calendar year at the maximum 2.5% working interest permitted, the same participation percentage that Mr. McClendon has elected for the past nine years.

GSV said that this will raise $97.5 million in gross proceeds. As for the use of proceeds this was said to be ” to invest in portfolio companies in accordance with its investment objective and strategies, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.”

Citigroup was acting as the sole book-running manager for the share offering; and co-managers are listed as Ladenburg Thalmann, Lazard Capital Markets, National Securities, Aegis Capital, Maxim Group, and CICC HK Securities.  These underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 900,000 shares of common stock to cover overallotments.

GSV has sold shares before.  It sold 6.9 million shares in early 2012 and it sold 1.9 million shares last September.  Raising capital to buy more shares is probably an acceptable move for a business development company, but the company might want to consider that it is going to get a reputation for selling more stock each time its shares rise.  That would not be very popular for the investing community because they can wake up and find their shares down 5% to 10% overnight.

As a reminder, GSV is a company which owns shares of Facebook, Twitter, and other companies which are soon to come public.  This was even listed as one of the ways to play the Facebook IPO.  Shares are down 8.2% at $16.73 after closing at $18.23 on Thursday.  The 52-week trading range is $9.75 to $20.89.

JON C. OGG

The move joins Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) because the conglomerate owns a stake of 636,000 shares of its common stock.  That Berkshire stake is still way down from prior reports but was the same stake as of the end of 2011.

Peltz said in a SEC filing that shares are currently undervalued and the fund wants to communicate its view that things could be better if the company would look at various strategic alternatives including a restructuring of its key business segments.

Ingersoll-Rand is in the design, manufacturing, sales, and servicing of a diverse portfolio of industrial and commercial products in the United States and internationally.  Under the current Euro worries, it is worth noting that the company’s official headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland.

It is interesting that the reaction is so muted, but that may be because the DJIA is down another 100 points or so and with international markets on the skid again.  The reaction has Ingersoll-Rand shares up 1.4% at $42.83 against a 52-week range of $25.86 to $52.06.

JON C. OGG

Chairman and founder Robert Stiller is out.  Green Mountain has appointed Michael J. Mardy, a director and chair of the Company’s Audit and Finance Committee, as interim Chairman of the Board.  Ms. Hinda S. Miller, who is chair of the Company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, has been appointed as Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee.

Robert Stiller sold 5 million shares to meet a margin call and the Form 4 filing noted, “The sales of Common Stock were effected by a financial institution pursuant to a margin call because the reporting person’s account did not satisfy the minimum margin requirements under various margin loans. The total number of shares reported as sold on this Form 4 is 5,000,000.”  The problem here is that Stiller is the founder and chairman of Green Mountain.

The full release has all of the details but this is something that may be far from over.  Both members who are being booted will remain on the board but will not receive their normal compensation until the company’s review of the situation is over.

Green Mountain shares are down only 1.6% at $25.95 in pre-market trading and the 52-week range is $24.03 to $115.98.

JON C. OGG