History
Diamondback grew from a Delaware Basin entrant into a Permian giant through a string of share-funded deals, culminating in the $26 billion Endeavor merger in 2024.
2016-2017: Buying into the Delaware Basin
The record opens in mid-2016, when Diamondback was already an established Permian Basin producer with a credit agreement dating from 2013. In July 2016 it raised about $552 million by selling new shares to fund its first big push into the Delaware Basin, a $560 million deal for oil and gas leases in Reeves and Ward counties, Texas.
A much larger step followed in December. Diamondback agreed to buy Brigham Resources' Delaware Basin assets in Pecos and Reeves counties, at about $2.43 billion in the first announcement: $1.62 billion in cash plus 7.69 million new shares. To pay for it, it launched a 10.5 million-share public offering and a proposed $250 million bond offering due 2025. A week later it reported about $1.15 billion of net proceeds from the stock sale and $500 million of 5.375% senior notes due 2025. The deal closed at the end of February 2017 at a stated value of $2.55 billion, including leasehold and midstream assets (the pipes and facilities that move oil and gas). Shares on issue rose from about 67 million at the end of 2015 to about 90 million at the end of 2016 and 98 million a year later.
2018-2019: Energen and the midstream spin-off
In August 2018 Diamondback agreed to buy Energen Corporation in an all-stock deal worth about $9.2 billion including net debt. The combined company would hold over 266,000 net Tier One Permian acres, up 57%, and 390,000 net acres across the Midland and Delaware basins, up 85%. Shareholders received 0.6442 Diamondback shares per Energen share, about $84.95 each when signed. The filings show Diamondback raised its bid from an implied $85 to roughly $87 in the first days of August, and it would have owed a $400 million break fee had it walked away.
The deal closed in late November 2018. Diamondback repaid $560 million of Energen's debt and took on its remaining $530 million of older bonds. The share count jumped from about 98 million to about 164 million over the year, reflecting the stock paid for Energen and other acquisitions.
In 2019 the company turned to funding. Its midstream subsidiary, Rattler Midstream LP, sold 38 million units to the public for about $626.5 million, with the proceeds passed up to Diamondback to reimburse capital spending. In November Diamondback raised $3.0 billion through three bond issues to refinance its 4.75% notes and pay down revolving debt, pushing maturities out to 2029.
2020-2022: Bolt-ons and bringing Rattler home
On one day in December 2020 Diamondback announced two Midland Basin deals: an all-stock merger with QEP Resources, Inc., and a $375 million cash-plus-stock purchase of Guidon Operating LLC's roughly 32,500 net acres. QEP holders were to receive a fixed 0.050 Diamondback share per QEP share, so they carried the price risk until closing. In February 2021 Diamondback raised its annual dividend 6.7% to $1.60 per share. The QEP merger closed on 17 March 2021, and QEP was delisted from the NYSE.
In 2022 Diamondback moved to buy out the public holders of Rattler Midstream, the gathering and water business it had spun off in 2019. It offered 0.113 Diamondback shares per unit, roughly a 17% premium when announced. Diamondback already held about 74% of the economics, so unitholders received an information statement rather than a vote. A unitholder sued, and by July a fall in Diamondback's share price had cut the offer's value from $15.08 to $12.71 a unit, against Rattler's own market price of $12.64. The buyout was completed on 24 August 2022.
In August the company posted a record $1.3 billion of quarterly free cash flow, raised its dividend 7% and expanded its share buyback authorization to $4 billion. In the autumn it agreed two more Midland Basin purchases: FireBird Energy for $775 million cash plus 5.86 million shares, and Lario Permian for $850 million cash plus about 4.18 million shares. Together they were to add about 83,000 net acres. It also sold non-core Delaware Basin acreage for $155 million and set a target to sell at least $500 million of non-core assets by the end of 2023. The record does not say whether that target was met.
2024-2025: Endeavor and beyond
The record is quiet through 2023. In February 2024 Diamondback agreed to merge with privately held Endeavor Energy Resources, L.P. in a $26 billion deal, by far its largest, paying $8.0 billion cash plus about 117.3 million shares. Existing holders were to own about 60.5% of the combined company. The deal required raising authorized shares from 400 million to 800 million. In April Diamondback raised $5.5 billion across five bond tranches to fund the cash portion and repay Endeavor's debt. Shareholders approved the share issuance at the special meeting in late April, and the merger closed on 10 September 2024. Lance Robertson, Charles Meloy and Robert Reeves were added to the board, which grew to twelve. Shares on issue rose from about 179 million at the end of 2023 to about 291 million at the end of 2024.
In February 2025 Diamondback agreed to buy three subsidiaries of Double Eagle IV Midco, LLC for $3.0 billion cash plus about 6.9 million shares. The asset is about 40,000 net Midland Basin acres producing roughly 27 MBo/d (thousand barrels of oil a day), according to the company, which expected a 1 April close. It also committed to sell at least $1.5 billion of non-core assets and expected to reduce net debt to $10 billion. In March it priced $1.2 billion of bonds due 2035 and lined up a $1.5 billion two-year term loan, undrawn until closing.
By the latest beat, on 4 June 2025, Diamondback's publicly traded minerals subsidiary, Viper Energy, had agreed to acquire Sitio Royalties Corp. in an all-stock deal worth about $4.1 billion, with Diamondback backing it as Viper's controlling shareholder.
Written from the 30 story beats below (2016 to 4 June 2025), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.