Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, has announced an additional $100 million investment into Comstock Resources Inc., a Frisco-based natural gas company he controls. This investment involves acquiring 12.5 million shares of the company’s stock at $8.036 per share, reflecting the average closing prices for the last five trading days. Jones’ ownership stake in the company will increase to 67% as a result of this investment.
The capital infusion will be utilized by Comstock to partially pay down bank debt, which was incurred during the acquisition of 200,000 undeveloped acres in the Western Haynesville shale play for $58.7 million.
This move follows Jones’ previous major investments in Comstock. In 2018, he acquired a majority stake in the company by exchanging $620 million in oil-producing properties. Subsequently, in the following year, he invested an additional $475 million when Comstock acquired rival Covey Park Energy in a $2.2 billion deal.
The Haynesville Shale, located in East Texas and northwest Louisiana, is noted as the third-largest natural gas producer in the United States according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Comstock Resources Inc. faced challenges due to weakened natural gas prices, significantly impacting its financial performance in the last quarter of 2023. Natural gas prices experienced a decline from $3.57 in October to $1.70 by the time of the announcement. Consequently, the company’s quarterly sales decreased to $354 million compared to nearly $558 million for the corresponding period in the previous year. Overall, Comstock’s revenue for 2023 amounted to $1.56 billion, down from $3.6 billion in 2022, with profits totaling approximately $212 million.
