Land-and-royalty company Texas Pacific Land Corp. crashed the most since early Covid after the head of its largest shareholder unexpectedly died.
Bloomberg reports that Murray Stahl, CEO of Horizon Kinetics and a TPL board member, died on Thursday, sending shares spiraling lower by 17% in late-afternoon trading.
This marked the largest intraday decline in the stock since early 2020.
Stahl was described as a longtime believer in TPL, one of the largest private landowners in Texas, with most of its acreage concentrated in the oil-rich Permian Basin of West Texas.
TPL generates revenue by owning land, collecting oil and gas royalties from activity on that land, and selling or managing water-related services tied to drilling and production.
“His firm, Horizon Kinetics, along with its predecessors, had been TPL’s largest shareholder for many decades. Murray believed in the Company when it was still a thinly-traded, little-known trust that simply owned some land in west Texas,” TPL CEO Ty Glover wrote in a press release.
Bloomberg data show that Horizon Kinetics is TPL’s largest shareholder, owning 10.3 million shares, or about 14.99% of the tradable shares outstanding.
The cause of death was not immediately released by the family or TPL’s CEO.
The plunge in TPL shares following the death of its largest shareholder likely reflects uncertainty about the company’s future direction, as well as the possibility that Horizon could eventually reduce its stake. The volatility may also result from TPL’s tight float and thin trading, which can amplify price swings when unexpected news hits.
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