Noble Energy’s $5 Billion Chevron Deal Facing Investor Challenge

Noble Energy Inc.'s board and ex-CEO were hit with a Delaware lawsuit Wednesday claiming they forced through its $5 billion sale to Chevron Corp. last year—spurning a better offer—in the pursuit of severance bonuses that made them whole for pandemic-related losses.

“Defendants engaged in a process that was designed to trigger change-in-control payments for” top executives “who personally had lost millions of dollars of their equity compensation because of the temporary effect of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the complaint says.

The suit, filed in Delaware’s Chancery Court, accuses Noble’s senior managers and board at the time of accepting less for the...