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Oil company American Energy Partners announced Wednesday that it is closing down this summer.The company has already laid off half of their 100 employees.In a statement on Wednesday, the company said the rest of the employees will be laid off over the next two to four months.American Energy Partners was founded by oil and gas pioneer Aubrey McClendon, who died in a car accident on March 2.Jonathan Willner, economics professor at Oklahoma City University, said he was not all that surprised when he heard the company was closing down.“He was the main driver of this, he had the charisma, he had the persuasive ability,” Willner said. “Without Aubrey McClendon it wasn’t clear that they had much of a way forward.”Willner said McClendon started the company at a time when oil prices were dropping.Not only was it not the best time to start a company, but Willner said other factors could have played into the company’s failure.While at Chesapeake Energy, Willner said McClendon was known for making questionable investments in real estate and creating personal interest in wells associated with certain companies.“You have seen the changes in terms of the layoffs, and the restructuring that Chesapeake is going through,” Willner said. “He seems to have taken the same approach with American Energy Partners.”Despite these questionable decisions, the economist said he ultimately thinks it was losing McClendon that led to the company’s closure.“Without that lead, they feel they really don’t have a way forward,” Willner said.American Energy Partners would not talk on camera, but they released this statement on Wednesday:"After considerable thought and discussion with Aubrey McClendon's family, and our employees, we have made a collective decision to wind down the operations of American Energy Partners, LP (AELP). Aubrey's vision was to incubate independent, stand-alone companies from this platform and we have achieved the successful launch of five independent oil and gas companies (consolidated from seven startups) which employ hundreds of Oklahomans. These companies, Ascent Resources, LLC, White Star Energy, LLC, Permian Resources, LLC, Traverse Midstream, LLC, and Heritage Resources Management, LLC, each have a bright future and will not be affected at all by this decision.We are proud to have had the opportunity to work with Aubrey. Through his strategic vision and tireless efforts along with the most dedicated employees in the industry, the numerous businesses we founded together have shown tremendous resiliency in the face of the historically difficult industry environment. Aubrey's legacy will be carried forward by each of these businesses as they continue to grow, by the numerous landmarks all over our city in which he had a hand in developing and by the many philanthropic organizations to which Aubrey gave generously. We owe a debt of gratitude to each of our hard-working employees and most importantly to our founder, friend and mentor, Aubrey K McClendon."