Exxon Mobil Makes Monster Profit

Oil Giant Raked In $40.6B In 2007 - Biggest Annual Profit In History For U.S. Company

(AP)  Exxon Mobil Corp. 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 Mobil 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.

The eye-popping results weren't a surprise given record prices for a barrel of oil at the end of 2007. For much of the fourth quarter, they hovered around $90 a barrel, more than 50 percent higher than a year ago.

Crude prices reached an all-time trading high of $100.09 on Jan. 3 but have fallen about 10 percent since.

The record profit for the October-December period amounted to $2.13 a share versus $1.76 a share in 2006. Year-ago net income was $10.25 billion.

Also extraordinary was Exxon Mobil's revenue, which rose 30 percent in the fourth quarter to $116.6 billion from $90 billion a year ago.

For the year, sales rose to $404.5 billion - the most ever for the Irving, Texas-based company - from the $377.64 billion it posted in 2006.

In a statement, Exxon Mobil Chairman Rex Tillerson said the company continued to meet the world's energy needs through its "globally diverse resource base."

"Our long-term investment program, in projects often far from major consuming nations, continued to provide resources essential to the increasingly interdependent global energy supply network," Tillerson said.

Exxon Mobil produces about 3 percent of the world's oil.

[burneb]

Most providers of any commodity charge what their market will bear. Since Americans lack the political will to throw out the bums who cravenly block better fuel standards, like those achieved by Toyota 11 years ago, apparently the American market will bear a lot.

It must be because we like seeing lard ***** waddle into the malls from their SUVs.

[jt_lancer]

MyIDonCBS: "If you''re selling something they can''t exist without, and they are having to give up entertainment or food or clothing, shelter, etc., to pay for that thing, then it is absolutely IMMORAL to charge so much."

You are making som false assumptions, in my opinion. First of all, you are making the assumption that people are entitled to buy gas at some undetermined ''reasonable price'' without giving any consideration to supply and demand, investment risk by oil companies and shareholders, etc.

Noone was looking to bail out the oil companies when gas was $1.25 a gallon (and they were losing alot of money) just a few years ago - and they shouldn''t be bailed out.

At the same time, they should not be denied profits simply because someone judges them to be ''excessive'', whatever that means.

The oil companies (and their shareholders) are the ones that assume the investment risks. They spend alot of money to bring a product to market that everyone wants. You are NOT ''entitled'' to that product. If gas prices are too high, buy a car (or a motorcycle) that gets better gas mileage.

The federal government takes more in gas taxes per gallon of gas than the oil companies make in profits. Is it immoral for the govt to do this? After all, eliminate the gas taxes, and the price of gas drops, on average, 40 to 50 cents per gallon.

[myidoncbs]

Someone asked, "Is a 10% profit ''obscene''? Is a 10% profit ''price gouging''?"

The answer depends on how much of what you are selling. If you are selling something to everyone in the country, then you don''t need to make a very high PERCENTAGE of profit on each sale because the sales add up to BIG profits. If you''re selling something they can''t exist without, and they are having to give up entertainment or food or clothing, shelter, etc., to pay for that thing, then it is absolutely IMMORAL to charge so much.

So, the answers to your questions are "Yes" and "Yes" again.

[harp1963]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml

[harp1963]

And America wonders why we invaded Iraq. Greed and the love of money.

[mediapreachr]

Posted by JT_Lancer at 02:54 PM : Feb 03, 2008
You guys crack me up...How long do you think this is going to go on?Oil,coal,energy in general is a state asset.It is only a matter of time before exxon and co.gets back under gov control.

[hungry1968]

Isn''t it ironic that both this story and the one about "U.S. Economy Suffers Another Body Blow" appear?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/01/national/main3778228.shtml

[jt_lancer]

Let''s see... $40 billion profit on sales of $404 billion... If my math is right, that''s less than a 10% profit. Is a 10% profit ''obscene''? Is a 10% profit ''price gouging''?

All of you E-bay users out there who sell stuff are probably making more than a 10% profit. Are you ''price gouging''? Are you earning ''obscene'' profits? Are you ''greedy''?

Thanks to government indoctrination in public schools, people have been programmed to abhor success and wealth creation while championing poverty and sloth.

Public schools have also created a generation of economic illiterates - all the better for the populist politicians seeking to redistribute wealth.

To have $400 billion in annual sales, a company must be selling a helluva lot of product to customers who VOLUNTARILY purchase it. Meeting the needs of consumers should be lauded, not chastized.

Unlike the government, private companies cannot force anyone to pay for their goods and services (without help from the govt, of course, via tariffs, regulations, etc.)

If you are so convinced that these companies are ''price gouging'' just quit buying their products.

Besides, if you think $3 per gallon is high, consider Britain where a gallon of gas goes for $7-$8 or more. Of course, that is due to the 75% tax to pay for ''free'' health care.

Alas, nothing is ''free'', is it?

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by IRLiberal at 10:25 AM

agreed!

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by pittsnoggle2 at 10:31 AM

Pervert. Spend much time in bathroom stalls, do you?

[mediapreachr]

I for one I''m glad they make money.The more they make the more we going to take back.

[irliberal]

Posted by pittsnoggle2 at 10:31 AM

Wow... and a bigot too. I''m shocked! Lol... not really. Typical.

[pittsnoggle2]

Easy solution. All liberals and their "partners" should stop buying gas. Just ride each other.

[irliberal]

Easy solution. All Exxon shareholders should donate all their shares to fund the deficit caused by the Iraq War. Whee!

[pittsnoggle2]

Good for Exxon.

Those of you who think that they are criminals and are "price gouging" are absolutely ridiculous. The market sets the price. Period. They are more than happy to profit off of that price when it is like that just as they are sad to take big losses when oil is at $20/barrel.

Where were you complaining about the homebuilders when home prices were going up at 10-15% per year? Were they gouging? No, they were riding a market wave.

Those of you who think they are criminals should go spend some time with your comrades in Cuba and then tell us which system you prefer.

Good for you, Exxon. I am proud to be a shareholder. Keep up the good work.

[uscitizenvet]

It''s way past time for these "thieves" to be held accountable ! With crude prices rising to $100.00 a barrel and gas at the pumps to around $3.00 a gallon, it''s price gouging....plain and simple and the proof is in their profits. But it''s not just Exxon-Mobile, it''s all the others as well. They all should be "made to lower prices at the pumps to no more than $1.50 per gallon for at least 2 years !

[beehive21-2009]

We need to put these crooks and jail for protection ,the people are going to hang em all,soon,greedy pigs.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by JT_Lancer at 01:00 AM

Keep consoling yourself with whatever bull you like, but in the end, this price gauging is killing the economy and you know it.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by JT_Lancer

One could take it you are an oil man. People don''t voluntarily buy their product, they are forced to. whether you buy shell, mobil, BP, citgo, of any others, they all buy it from the refineries, slap their brand on it, and sell it. As for the 10% profit, you don''t even consider the almost certainty of cooked accounting, embezzlement, deliberately understated earnings done to avoid taxes, and also to cheat stockholders out of dividends, and "business expenses" like political bribery.

You think they don''t do it? if so, you must be a very young man.

[jt_lancer]

$40 billion profit on $404 billion in sales?

That''s less than a 10% profit - not ''excessive'' by any measure.

Record sales means they provided goods to a helluva lot of customers - customers that VOLUNTARILY purchased their products. Why should they be criticized for that?

Also, how is it a ''ripoff'' when the company''s only making a 10% profit margin? In fact, state and federal taxes collect an amount that''s far greater than the profit made by oil companies on gasoline sales.

Besides, there are more mundane reasons for the differing gas prices in different regions of the country, as opposed to the ''blatant price fixing and collusion by gasoline wholesalers''.

For one, the state gas tax is different from state to state. For example, I live near the NC/SC border, and gas on the SC side is about 10 cents/gallon cheaper due to lower taxes.

Also, distance from refineries (delivery costs) will impact prices as well.