Kinder Morgan

Richard Kinder became president and chief operating officer of Enron in 1990 and later quit. In February 1997 he and William Morgan created Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) after a $40 million deal for Enron Liquids Pipeline, L.P.⁠[1]

The partnership was formed in 1992; Kinder and Morgan acquired its general partner in 1997.⁠[2]

The new venture used the master limited partnership structure to grow and started with 175 employees and an enterprise value of $325 million.⁠[3]

In a 1999 reverse merger, KN Energy acquired KMI for $506 million in stock. It became Kinder Morgan, Inc. in October 1999 and joined the S&P 500S&P 500The S&P 500 is a U.S. large-cap equity index compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It includes 500 leading companies, covers about 80% of available market capitalization and is described by S&P DJI as “widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities.”Open the full entry in late 2000.⁠[1]

On May 28, 2006, a group led by Chairman and CEO Richard Kinder proposed buying the company for $100 a share. In August the price was raised to $107.50 a share, about 27% above the May 26 close. Kinder was expected to reinvest all of his roughly 24 million shares, about 18% of those outstanding.⁠[4]

The agreement signed on August 28, 2006, valued the company at about $22 billion, including the assumption of about $7 billion of debt. Besides management, the buyers included co-founder Bill Morgan, directors Fayez Sarofim and Mike Morgan, Goldman SachsGoldman SachsGoldman Sachs is an American financial services group headquartered in New York whose businesses include investment banking, securities trading, asset management, and wealth management. It traces its origins to the commercial paper business Marcus Goldman founded in 1869; it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999 under the ticker GS and became a bank holding company in 2008. David Solomon serves as chairman and chief executive officer.Open the full entry Capital Partners, The Carlyle Group, Riverstone Holdings and funds managed by AIG.⁠[5]

The going-private transaction closed on May 31, 2007. The new holding company, formed in 2006 for the transaction, was owned by Richard D. Kinder and investors including funds affiliated with Goldman Sachs, Highstar Capital, The Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings. The former Kinder Morgan, Inc. was renamed Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc. before the 2011 offering.⁠[6]

On February 10, 2011, Kinder Morgan, Inc. priced its initial public offering of 95,466,600 shares at $30 each, listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KMI. All shares were sold by existing investors, and the company received no proceeds. After the offering Richard D. Kinder held 30.6% of the common stock on a fully converted basis.⁠[7]

On October 16, 2011, Kinder Morgan and El Paso signed a merger agreement. About 57% of the merger consideration, excluding warrants, was payable in cash and the rest in Kinder Morgan Class P common stock, and each El Paso share also received 0.640 of a warrant with a $40.00 exercise price.⁠[8]

The acquisition took effect on May 25, 2012, giving the combined company about 75,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals and making it North America’s largest midstream and fourth-largest energy company by combined enterprise value. The roughly $7.15 billion sale of El Paso’s exploration and production business, EP Energy, also closed. “We are bullish on the future of natural gas,” Richard Kinder said.⁠[9]

S&P Indices announced on May 17, 2012, that Kinder Morgan would replace El Paso Corp. in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on May 24.⁠[10]

On October 21, 2011, El Paso shareholders sued in the Delaware Court of Chancery, alleging fiduciary breaches by the board and arguing that Goldman Sachs, which held about 19% of Kinder Morgan, could not give impartial advice. On February 29, 2012, the court found the merger likely “tainted by disloyalty” but denied a preliminary injunction. The case settled for $110 million.⁠[11]

Chancellor Leo Strine Jr. approved the settlement after a hearing on December 3, 2012.⁠[12]

On August 9, 2014, KMI, KMP and related parties signed the KMP merger agreement, part of a larger series of mergers between KMI and its three principal subsidiaries.⁠[13]

On November 26, 2014, KMI completed, under three merger agreements, the acquisition of all KMP and EPB common units and KMR shares it did not already own, in transactions valued at about $77 billion that included about $3.9 billion in cash to public KMP and EPB unitholders. The incentive distribution rights held by KMP’s general partner were eliminated. On January 1, 2015, EPB merged into KMP.⁠[14]

Each KMR share was converted into 2.4849 shares of KMI common stock. KMP unitholders could elect $10.77 in cash plus 2.1931 KMI shares, $91.72 in cash, or 2.4849 KMI shares per unit, subject to proration.⁠[15]

On January 21, 2015, the board announced that Steve Kean would become CEO effective June 1, 2015, with Rich Kinder becoming Executive Chairman. The company also reaffirmed its expectation to declare dividends of $2.00 per share for 2015.⁠[16]

After the close of trading on March 20, 2015, Kinder Morgan joined the S&P 100 along with Celgene and Actavis, replacing Freeport-McMoRanFreeport-McMoRanFreeport-McMoRan Inc. is an international metals company headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, with the objective of being foremost in copper. Its assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia.Open the full entry, National Oilwell Varco and Apache.⁠[17]

On December 8, 2015, Kinder Morgan cut its dividend by 75 percent.⁠[18]

The move cut the annual dividend to 50 cents a share from about $2. The heavily indebted company said it would use the cash for expansion, avoid issuing more shares “for the foreseeable future” and keep a “solid” investment grade credit rating.⁠[19]

In 2018 the Government of Canada agreed to buy the Trans Mountain Pipeline system from Kinder Morgan Canada Limited (KML) for C$4.5 billion. KMI expected its share of the after-tax proceeds to be about $2 billion and intended to use proceeds from its KML interest to pay down debt.⁠[20]

The transaction closed on August 31, 2018, when Trans Mountain Corporation, a subsidiary of the Canada Development Investment Corporation, indirectly acquired the pipeline and its expansion project.⁠[21]

On January 18, 2023, the company announced that Steve Kean would step down as CEO effective August 1, 2023, while remaining on the board, and that President Kim Dang would succeed him. “We have great faith in Kim as Steve’s successor,” Executive Chairman Richard D. Kinder said.⁠[22]

In 2025 the company had revenues of $16,937 million (2024: $15,100 million) and net income attributable to Kinder Morgan, Inc. of $3,056 million, up 17% from $2,613 million in 2024, with record annual net income and Adjusted EBITDA.⁠[23]

As of December 31, 2025, the company owned an interest in or operated about 78,000 miles of pipelines, 136 terminals and about 706 Bcf of working natural gas storage capacity, and employed 11,028 full-time personnel.⁠[24]