Exxon Mobil to sell U.S. gas stations

[babylonsister]

Damn, not enough profit for them! How many people did 2,200 stations employ? Collateral damage. :eyes:


Exxon Mobil to sell U.S. gas stations
Atlanta Business Chronicle


Exxon Mobil Corp. said it plans to shed its U.S. retail gasoline business, like other major oil companies who've seen profit margins squeezed by high crude oil prices.

The Irving, Texas-based oil giant said it wants to sell the 820 service stations it operates and another 1,400 company-owned outlets over the next several years, according to media reports.

That's only about 25 percent of the roughly 12,000 Exxon Mobil-branded stations in the United States. The other 75 percent are owned by distributors who sell Exxon Mobil products and pay to use the name.

The company will keep the Exxon and Mobil brands, so consumers can still buy gasoline at stations that carry the Exxon and Mobil names.

more...

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/06/09/daily96.html

[Double T]

1. exxon mobil corp. represents the purest form of criminal corporate scum.

Profit at ALL COSTS even if it destroys their own nation.

[tridim]

2. Who the hell is going to buy a failing gas station?

[downwithjihad]

3. why is exxon selling?

But I thought they were making so much $$$? Why would they close that business?

[babylonsister]

5. You need to read the article, which is why it was posted. nt

[derby378]

4. I smell another big fat nine-figure severance package in the works...

The outgoing CEO buys a private island off the coast of Dubai in the shape of a Bentley. Meanwhile, the average American suffers...

[cynatnite]

6. A couple of Exxon stations here turned to Valero ones n/t

[lonestarnot]

7. "buoyed by its exploration and production business "

Our tax dollars so at work. I guess they make pretty good parachutes. From the looks of things they may be needed for both kinds.

[Willo]

8. Perhaps this is a plan to sidestep the windfall tax

Obama plans to implement.

[KharmaTrain]

9. Greed Marches On...

Running those stations was important back in the days when there were many other competitors, but now with only a handful of operators, the need for an Exxon/Mobil to be a retailer has decreased. There's a lot of overhead that can be shed and profits maximized as stations will be forced to accept "affiliation agreements" and take on the financial burdens the corporate helped with.

The end result is to hold onto your wallet or purse...many of these operators won't go out of business, but instead will pass along their new costs to the consumer. It puts another wall between the large oil companies and the consumer as well, thus giving them more excuses for not being able to control the price of gas and oil...and puts yet another bunch of hands in the pie. The oil companies will get a nice kickback from setting up a new "franchise" arrangement and then another kick-back from continuing to deliver products as most of these operators will either be locked into a deal or will have few other alternatives.