Judge: Chesapeake won't have to open books

Chesapeake Energy Corp. Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon will resign from the company he built into the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer after scrutiny of his personal finances and a corporate cash crunch erased as much as 43% of its market value last year.

Chesapeake Energy Corp reported quarterly profit that exceeded Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, as the U.S. oil and gas company produced more crude oil from shale basins like the Eagle Ford in Texas and expenses fell. Chesapeake, under the direction of a board handpicked by its largest investors and interim Chief Executive Steve Dixon, is focused on drilling its best properties and increasing output of more profitable crude oil while lowering spending.

(Reuters) - For 17 years, Tom Ward and Aubrey McClendon teamed up to build Chesapeake Energy Corp into the second-largest natural gas producer in the United States. The two Oklahoma City energy men were a study in contrasts. CEO McClendon was brash and aggressive; company president Ward came across as steady and soft-spoken. When Ward left in 2006 to start his own natural-gas company a few miles away, however, he borrowed from the Chesapeake playbook. At SandRidge Energy Inc, Ward adopted some of the same idiosyncratic business practices deployed by McClendon. ...

Chesapeake Energy Corp said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the company and Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon and had issued subpoenas for information and testimony. The company said on Friday it was advised by the SEC in December that an informal inquiry, launched by the regulator in May, was continuing as an investigation. Shares of Chesapeake, the No. 2 natural gas producer in the United States, were down 2 percent before the bell.