Chesapeake Energy shares tumble with energy prices

The stock slid $1.19, or 6.7 percent, to close at $16.52. Earlier in the session shares fell as low as $11.99, or 32 percent--a level not seen since February 2004.

Meanwhile on the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude for December delivery ended the day $8.89 lower at $77.70 a barrel. Prices have dropped sharply since July when they flirted with the $150 mark.

Natural gas for November delivery fell 29 cents to settle at $6.535 per 1,000 cubic feet.

On Wall Street, leading indices dropped sharply just after the opening bell, only to regain some lost ground as the day progressed. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 128.00, or 1.49 percent, to 8,451.49.

So far this year shares of Chesapeake are down 58 percent.

Meanwhile, Aubrey K. McClendon, the billionaire chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corp., has sold "substantially all" of his stock in the company over the past three days in order to meet margin loan calls, the company said late Friday.