Exxon Mobil Posts Record Profits

[RedEarth]

Source: ap

HOUSTON (AP) - Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) on Friday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company - $40.6 billion - as the world's largest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at year's end.

Exxon also set a U.S. record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, besting its own mark of $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005.

The previous record for annual profit was $39.5 billion, which Exxon Mobil reported for 2006.



Read more: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080201/D8UHHQH81.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Whooopeee. Let's all celebrate the republicon economic suuuurge." - Commander AWOL

[hobbit709]

2. This is news???

[sattahipdeep]

12. US 'unable to defend its own soil'

US 'unable to defend its own soil'
Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:11:31

Analysts believe the US has overstretched its military throughout the
world, focusing on policing the world and the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq and is therefore putting the American nation at risk.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=41274§ionid=3510203

[Harper_is_Bush]

34. Why would you think it isn't?

Considering their documented involvement in global warming denial it's quite obviously worth looking at.

[Maestro]

3. Disgusting but not surprising.

And how much of this profit is going into R&D of alternative fuels, the clean production of these or is the profit just going into the pockets of execs who care for nothing except their luxurious lifestyles? :eyes:

[ixion]

4. gee, another year of record profits at our expense

who could have foreseen it? :eyes:

[boricua79]

5. Exxon Mobil posts record thefts

is how I read that headline. And we're pussified idiots for taking it laying down. The day we mean business, we'll elect leaders that will impose heavy fines on the petroleum industry to help fund a national Marshall-plan style move toward renewable energy vehicles.

Until then, we're talking crap and paying a lot and subsidizing these rich bastards.

[Amonester]

28. yeah, but the problem is these elected leaders will have to walk in

bullet-proof garment 24/7...

may be worth it, though.

[JNelson6563]

6. At least the Raymond family won't go hungry

Glad to know there's one retiree who won't go hungry this month. Oy.

Julie

[UpInArms]

7. gosh! I've seen that picture before - it was right by PIG in the dictionary

:hi:

[shanti]

16. between pig

and jabba the hut!

[llmart]

9. Please don't do that again.........

I almost lost my breakfast when that fat pig's picture showed up larger than life on my computer screen.

EEEwwwwwww........

[paparush]

11. His jowls could feed dozens of hungry children.

Just my Modest Proposal.

[madmom]

21. you'd think with all that money he'd fix his f*#cking teeth!

[Hawaii Hiker]

8. Now will they share some of the profits w/all their employees

or just the top brass...

Most of Exxon's employees will probably get 3-4% raises (along with a lecture from their boss as to that is all the company can afford at this time), while the top executives get 500% increases...

I'd love to know what kind of raises ALL staff is getting at Exxon....

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

10. Viva la Bush!

Next stop corporate HQ in Dubai....

[Javaman]

13. of course they did. nt

[Miss Chybil]

14. Cheney's "Energy Plan" is working.

It's very simple, really. Restrict the oil flow and make more money. If prices start to dip, start talking about bombing another oil producing country and don't stop until the prices go up again.

Produce less, make more. It's very ingenious.

[shanti]

15. anyone think they're gonna give this up???

gas isn't going down anytime soon! :grr: GREEDY BASTARDS!

[progressoid]

17. See? The economy is strong!!11!

[gravity]

18. Oil is $90 a barrel

When the price of oil goes up, you get more money for doing the exact same thing.

[hunter]

19. Peak Oil.

Doesn't matter how much money the oil companies throw at production any more -- past a certain point the effort is wasted. All that's left for them to do now is to sit back and enjoy the very profitable ride down the back slope.

[onehandle]

20. Mission Accomplished! nt

[George1984]

22. 10% Profit

Look at the profit margin before you look at the big 11.7 billion numbers. They sell 3 % of the entire world's oil production. What they do for research on alternative fuel and power options is really their business if you look at it from a small town, small business view. We don't ask the mom and pop hardware store to invent the world's next tools. We don't ask a grocery store to figure out better ways to farm. They provide a service, for a return. And in the world of business, and I'm sure there are many business folk here who own and run them, 10% is not worth the 18 hour days. I know it isn't in my world.

Now on that note, sure they are enabled by the government, but at the same time, if there wasn't a demand for their product they would go broke. We all need oil for everything we use day to day and we need to get it to us some way or another. It is up to us the citizens to provide the knowledge for change, they will change their direction when their product stops selling.

[AdHocSolver]

24. Let me guess: You are a criminal lawyer who specializes in defending mobsters. n/t

[Heywood J]

25. Exxon? Alternative fuel research?

Yeah, right. You mean the kind of "research" they did by buying up the patents on batteries for better electric cars.

When was the last time you saw Exxon bring people any kind of advance, in terms of better or alternative fuel? Even things like low-sulfur diesel had to be federally mandated - they couldn't even be bothered to better their own product, on their own time. They've sat on their asses when it comes to even building new refineries. Yes, I know about federal red tape, but you show me where they've even tried to do it. All this "innovation" from them is smoke being blown up people's asses to distract from the fact their pockets are being picked while Exxon reaps

Let's put it this way - many businesses operate on far less than 10% profit margins. Most retail shops are grateful to see 10%, especially this time of the year. Exxon is in it for Exxon, and no one else. Even when their profit margin is "only" 10%, if I credit you the figure, they're still consecutively posting the biggest annual and quarterly profit ever, for any company. They're so hard done by.

[originalpckelly]

27. I know, when you consider it, many other companies have much higher profit margins.

The record profit is in absolute dollar value not percentage, because ExxonMobil has the largest market capitalization/revenue of any company in the world. The best they could do is lower their prices 10% on average. Is that really going to help us much? IT doesn't seem like they are the sole source of our problems.

[melm00se]

32. Bingo

take a look at some other, blue companies, that have higher profit margins:

Adobe
Apple
Coach
Colgate Palmolive
Danaher Corporation
Qualcomm
Stryker Corporation
(these are from the Blue Fund Large Cap Fund, which invests in companies which "act blue" and "give blue")

All of these companies, if their revenues matched Exxon's, their profits would have been more:

Adobe Systems Incorporated: 23% (scales to $93 billion)
Apple Computer, Inc: 14.5% ($59 billion)
Coach, Inc.: 25% ($101 billion)
Colgate-Palmolive Company: 11% ($44.4 billion)
Danaher Corporation: 11.7% ($47 billion)
Qualcomm: 37% ($149 billion)
Stryker Corporation: 14.4% ($58 billion)

These are business fundamentals...

[libodem]

23. the mofo's

owe it back to us for funding their expedition into Iraq. It should be placed into our national treasury.

[McHatin]

26. They post record profits

because the demand for oil is going up in the world due to developing nations such as China.

It really doesn't have anything to do with Iraq.

[tabasco]

29. Riiiiight.

Putting the US Army on top of the world's second-largest oil reserves had nothing to do with the price increase.

You're dumb as a box of rocks. You probably believed Iraq had WMD too.

Stupid citizens like you will be the downfall of this Nation.

[George1984]

31. Good thing smart citizens like you are around then

to show the good people the ways you live without oil everyday. I'm sure you ride your bike to work, and your computer doesn't have an ounce of plastic in it. We are all to blame for the dependance, thus we all have an obligation to do something about it. Bitching about big companies that don't change the world for you, really isnt a solution.

For the record Iraq is not the second largest reserve in the world, Canada is and we have hitched our wagon to the U.S., which in the grand scheme of things doesn't look good at the moment. Both of our economies are headed for a serious bum rush.

Second the downfall of the U.S is trying to clear the world of the bad muslims for good ol' democracy. The downfall of the U.S is the republican owned media. The downfall of the U.S is a republican president who for some reason was allowed to steal not one but two elections. Sure, go after the guys who caused 9/11 and then circle the wagons, I'm all for it, but when you have 3 out of every 1500 cargo containers entering the country being looked at, there must be a problem at home that the billion a day spent in Iraq could do some good for. What is in the other 1497 containers that could harm the country? Why not secure the backyard first.

Third, the U.S daily use of oil consumed amounts to approximately 26 million barrels. The entire world uses 85 million, so who does the U.S have to blame for the price of oil? Supply and demand dictates, and being the single largest user, with only 5% of the worlds population, the U.S could change that oil price by lowering their own demand. Exxon or any of these other American companies produce a barrel of oil for anywhere from $7 - $15 a barrel. That does not include transport or refining, just the actual costs of drilling and paying people to get it out of the ground. So when it goes from $60 to $95, their profit goes up, who's to blame? Should they give it to the employees, sure, but they don't have to. As for the refining, and the price of gasoline the profit margin is less than 2%, hence the lack of any new refineries built in the U.S since 1973. The government could build more refineries and operate them at a breakeven point, which would surely bring down fuel costs, but the corporate world wouldn't have that. The taxes put on by the government add nearly 40% to the price in Canada, I apologise for being a stupid citizen and I do not know what it averages out to in various states. But without all of those tax dollars you don't have roads to drive on, so it is a bit of a catch 22.

Again there is a thread floating around about various businesses earnings and Exxon % is low, yes the numbers are large, but that is because their product is in demand. And no, I am not a criminal lawyer, nor am I a republican, nor do I work for big oil. I am a small business owner who would not sacrifice the long hours out of the day for a return that small. You can't pay off the business debt and set up a retirement plan on 10%. So claiming others are stupid seems childish without backing that statement up with something other than "you're dumb as a box of rocks" T

[melm00se]

33. Do you know where the profits go?

what they do?

If you review their financial statements you would see:

$29 billion bought back stock: remember for every buyer there is a seller - from the institutional investor (among them supporting pension funds and other retirement instruments - most 401k fund options have a position in XOM)all the down to "Bob" and "Sally" individuals who bought shares via DRIPs and ESPPs)
$8.2 billion in dividends

But, I guess it would be far better to just take that money out of the hands of individual people.

[World Traveller]

30. They're not sharing it with employees!

I retired from ExxonMobil recently. Here's the story...

Salaries for most employees are average. There's a ranking system which very much resembles U.S. income distribution in how raises are awarded. Example, in a group of 20 employees, annually everyone gets ranked from 1 to 20. Great to very good raises go to numbers 1 to 5. Average salaries and raises for numbers 6 to 20, the lower the number the lower the raise.

Starting in 2002, there have been major projects to move work offshore. New business centers were set up in offshore sites in Latin America, East Europe, and Asia. Since fall 2002, there have been rolling downsizings, where U.S.-based employees have been fired or forced to retire. Major support business functions have been moved to these offshore sites.

And what are the pay scales at these offshore sites?? A lot less than in the U.S.

On the positive side, ExxonMobil has a good benefits plan and a company pension system in addition to a 401K type plan.

A sad comment on the state of America today is that ExxonMobil is still probably a better place to work than many American companies.