[2][3][4] He worked as a managing director in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions at Merrill Lynch.
[3][4] In 1994, he started his career at Occidental Petroleum (OXY), a publicly-traded oil corporation then headquartered in Los Angeles, California and the fourth largest oil producer in the United States.
[5] According to a study by the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, under his leadship, OXY earned US$3.4 billion in profit in 2011, an increase of $1.6 billion from 2010, making him the value-generation business leader in Southern California.
[7] He was on the board of directors of the American Petroleum Institute, Lyondell Chemical Company, Premcor and Washington Mutual.
[4] As of August 2016, he was reported to be worth over US$128 million, due to his stock holdings in Occidental Petroleum and other companies.