Tech & Biz

Exxon Reports Record Profits

by Jordan Yerman | February 1, 2008 at 06:43 am

815 views | 2 Recommendations | 3 comments

Why am I not surprised?

Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company.

Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) shares gained nearly 2% in pre-market trading on the results, which were underpinned by soaring crude prices.

Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said fourth-quarter net income rose 14% to $11.66 billion, or $2.13 per share. That's up from $10.25 billion, or $1.76 per share, in the year-ago period.

That tops Exxon's previous quarterly profit record of $10.7 billion, set in the fourth quarter of 2005, which also was a record for any U.S. corporation.

Chevron and Conoco are up, too: it's hard to see how a petrol company could lose money in today's climate. A true victory for price gouging.

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John Astad

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:43 on February 1st, 2008

jordan, I like this story. It's good stuff. Maybe they could use some of that extra profit to increase the refinery capacity in the United States .

BigT

at 13:27 on February 1st, 2008

Price gouging? It's plausible to make that claim about OPEC but not about a public company working in a free economy.

Jordan Yerman

at 13:53 on February 1st, 2008

Oil companies are firmly in a profit-seeking positiion while still pocketing some rather massive taxpayer-funded subsidies: not really the free market at work. You actually pay for fuel twice: once at the pump, and again at tax time, subsidies to the tune of US$14 billion. Would you say that Exxon really needs a handout? I wouldn't:
Exxon's balance sheet: I reckon they no longer need an allowance!