SPECIAL PRICE - Getty Petroleum Corp. - Similar to Getty Oil Corp. - Very Rare Type Stock Certificate

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Getty Petroleum Corporation traces its origins to the oil empire founded by J. Paul Getty. In 1916, he co-founded the original Getty Oil Company with his father. Through strategic acquisitions of companies like Tidewater Oil and Skelly Oil, and a high-stakes gamble on a Saudi Arabian oil concession, Getty built one of America’s largest corporations. By the late 1950s, he was widely regarded as the world’s wealthiest private individual. The company was a fully integrated oil operation, encompassing exploration, refineries, a massive tanker fleet, and gas stations. However, after J. Paul Getty’s death in 1976, control of the company ultimately passed to the J. Paul Getty Trust and his family members, setting the stage for future conflicts.

The independent existence of the original Getty Oil came to an end in a dramatic and complex takeover battle in the early 1980s. Internal family disputes and pressure from corporate raiders led to the company’s acquisition by Texaco in 1984 for a staggering $10 billion, one of the largest mergers in history at the time. This transaction triggered a landmark legal battle with Pennzoil, which claimed it had a prior binding contract to buy Getty. Pennzoil emerged victorious, securing a massive $10.53 billion verdict against Texaco, forcing the latter into bankruptcy proceedings. Despite the corporate breakup and asset sales, the Getty brand name endured. The downstream marketing and real estate operations continued to exist as separate entities, most notably Getty Realty and Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc., which was later acquired by the Russian oil giant Lukoil in 2000. However, Getty Petroleum Marketing ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011.