Icahn admits main role in Souki ouster

Billionaire shareholder Carl Icahn says he was instrumental in the ouster of Charif Souki as chief executive of Cheniere Energy, and he cited Souki’s “harebrained ideas” as the reason. Souki was a co-founder of Cheniere, the Houston-based company that’s the first to export U.S. shale gas. He was removed as CEO by the board in December, two months before the first shipment of shale gas set sail. At the time, Souki said he lost his job because he planned to speed up development of liquefied natural gas projects, a strategy opposed by Icahn.

“I was very instrumental in getting him out — no question about it,” Icahn said in an interview on CNBC on Thursday. “I take full responsibility for it.”

It’s the first time Icahn confirmed his role in the leadership change, and his comments signal the influence he may wield in selecting the exporter’s next leader.

In an April 25 interview with Bloomberg TV, Cheniere’s interim CEO, Neal Shear, said he expects the board to announce a replacement before summer. Since February, the company has shipped six more cargoes of LNG overseas.

Souki was “taking $80 million out, and any stock he could sell he sold,” Icahn said in the CNBC interview. “So here he is doing this, going in with one idea after another. I looked at this and said, ‘This is insane. This is the problem.’”

He knew how to go almost bankrupt, because that’s what happened to him.

Within weeks of Souki’s departure, Cheniere scaled back its capital spending plan to about $30 billion from more than $50 billion, ending plans to partner with Parallax Enterprises LLC to build more liquefaction capacity, according to company presentations.

Souki had “all these — I hate to say it — harebrained ideas,” including buying oil companies, Icahn said. “He knew how to go almost bankrupt, because that’s what happened to him.”