Halliburton

Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. said they will fight Justice Department efforts to block their pending $34.6 billion merger, claiming government officials reached the wrong conclusion in assessing the transaction and charged the action is counterproductive in light of the challenges now being experienced by the global energy industry.

An investment firm that took $2.6 billion in stakes in Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. after they had agreed to merge, with the intent to formulate merger strategies with the companies, was sued Monday by the Justice Department.

Halliburton Co. confirmed Thursday that base salaries and bonuses for senior management have been reduced, while annual pay increases for the entire workforce have been suspended to contend with the current market decline.

Halliburton Co., in survival mode as oilfields are shunned worldwide, is sending another 5,000 people home, slashing its workforce by another 8%, the company confirmed on Thursday.

Industry bellwether Halliburton Co., the largest pressure pumper in North America, reported revenue in its combined U.S.-Canadian operations slumped 54% in the final three months of 2015, and it has little visibility from customers that it’s going to be any better going forward.

European regulators have launched the second phase of an antitrust investigation concerning the mega-merger of Halliburton Ltd. and Baker Hughes Inc.

Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. said Tuesday they now are uncertain that their merger will be completed because a timing agreement with the antitrust division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is going to expire before reaching a settlement.

A San Francisco-based activist hedge fund, which holds considerable stakes in Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc., told investors that it expects the mega-merger to be finalized because the partners are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve antitrust compliance.

Demand for onshore pressure pumping services has all but evaporated, but conditions may deteriorate further by late November into the first quarter of 2016, Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar said Monday.