John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company (now ExxonMobil) in 1870 and became the United States' first billionaire.<sup>1</sup>
What does this have to do with going green?
In 2007, ExxonMobil delivered a record $40.6 billion in net income, with each of our businesses - Upstream, Downstream, and Chemical - achieving record earnings performance. Return on average capital employed was 32 percent and cash flow from operations and asset sales was $56 billion. These exceptional results reflect the fundamental strength of our integrated businesses in a year of robust industry conditions.2But not all shareholders are happy. Robert Monks may be a "corporate gadfly", as the Wall Street Journal describes him, but now he has the support of Rockefeller's heirs for a shareholder resolution to split the role of board chairman and chief executive at ExxonMobil.
What does this have to do with going green?
Although ExxonMobil is the most profitable of the major integrated energy companies, the Irving, Texas, company has been criticized for its reticence in acknowledging climate change and global warming's possible consequences on its business.A CEO/Board Chairman split at ExxonMobil won't make it green overnight, but the Rockefeller family statement suggests that ExxonMobil will be changing direction, and that direction is likely to be towards finding ways that ExxonMobil can adapt to a world that is trying to wean itself from oil.
In addition, while other Big Oil chief executives have lent credence to the idea that global oil reserves are dwindling, ExxonMobil executives say the world has ample hydrocarbon reserves, and supplies are constricted due to a lack of access to those reserves.
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"A majority of the family is now so concerned about the direction of ExxonMobil that it is urging a major change in corporate governance in the form of an independent chairman of the board and a bigger leadership role for the oil company's board of directors," members of the Rockefeller family said in a statement.3
1See the Wikipedia entry on Rockefeller for this and other information about him.
22007 2007 Summary Annual report of ExxonMobil Corporation.
3Rockefeller Family Supports CEO,Board Chairman Split At Exxon, money.cnn.com
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