ExxonMobil Posts Biggest Quarterly US Profit In History

HOUSTON - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, says it shattered its own record for the biggest profit from operations by a U.S. corporation, earning $14.83 billion in the third quarter. bolstered

Bolstered by this summer's record crude prices, the Irving, Texas-based company said Thursday that net income jumped nearly 58 percent, or $2.86 a share in the July-September. That compares with $9.41 billion, or $1.70 a share, a year ago.

The previous record for U.S. corporate profit was set earlier this year, when Exxon Mobil earned $11.68 billion in the second quarter.

Revenue rose 35 percent to $137.7 billion.

On average, analysts expected the company to earn $2.39 per share in the latest quarter on revenue of $131.4 billion.

Comments

[harriettubman]

Amazing!!! All on the backs of the American people. While people NEED gas to get to work, we were paying over $4.00 gal to make these people rich. Now that the price of a barrel of oil has drastically dropped, why haven't gas prices dropped quickly too? It should be about $1.50 now.

I haven't respected Exxon since their massive oil spill in the 80s they you could still see from the air in the '90s. They should've been made to pay several hundred million for that.

[DuganS1]

Why should gasoline be $1.50 now?

[sonofsamphm1c]

They've paid several BILLION of it.

Since then they have not had a significant spill. Many other companies have. Do you know their names?

[BikeAllYear]

People don't NEED gas. They just act like it. I ride my bike 20 miles to work, and 20 back. Exxon doesn't get a dime from me.

[carrieanna]

While I agree that not everyone has the luxury of being able to exclude gas from their day to day lives, I do see a lot of people complaining about the costs of things without taking any action. Growing up, my family unit of 4 got around fine with 1 basic sized car.

Not only did that translate into better fuel economy than an SUV or van, but we also had only one car payment, one car insurance payment and less wear-and-tear kinds of maintenance bills. My mom, brother and I took advantage of the low cost bus passes to go to school/work downtown.

When it came time for me to get my first car out of college, I specifically chose a gas-efficient Honda Civic. I don't have as fancy of a car as some of my friends, but I do have more money in my pocket at the end of the day. And voila, because my car is inexpensive and I use less gas, I automatically pay less taxes. A tax break that I don't need any government to legislate!

[notconfindtweenhatnboots]

I want to watch Joe the Plumber bike to his jobsite with the pipes, fittings and wrenches that are required for him to do the job.

Gas is an ABSOLUTE necessity for any small business that has anything to do with construction or service. Paying the excess profits to Big Oil is not an optional cost to them... ergo it affects their business just like it was an actual TAX.

[chicago25624]

It's under $1.85 here in Indiana, not quite as many TAXES here as say___ fill in the blank of some tax hunger state.

[Mugzi]

Can't people connect the dots between the McBush and oil companies..

[g4dualie]

If the marketplace was the savior of the economy, then Exxon would pitch in to help out the automakers instead of lobbying for the government to do it.

It's a Catch-22 for the oil companies; why help the automakers develop an electric car that would ultimately put them out of business? The oil companies need the automaker. But only if they continue to produce a combustion engine that burns fossil fuels.

In fact, they prefer poor-performing engines, not ones that get greater mileage!

Exxon will follow the dinosaur because their thinking, like combustion, is a prehistoric reptilian impulse. It's in our DNA and we've been conditioned to believe fire is good. It will keep us safe. But...

Bullets always burn,
but like a double-edged sword,
can turn on you too.

Haiku for Oil
michael j. valadez

[iambusto]

they also have the war chest on their balance sheet in form of cash should someone develop alternative energy.

a few acquisitions later, they can be a player in alternative energy play too.

[Mugzi]

Why should they pay ka-zillions to auto makers when the "govt - taxpayer" will...

[pthesmith]

November 4. That's all I have to say.

[sixx]

John McCain is right, these guys shouldn't pay taxes.

[NYCIC]

If the right has their way, we would live under a complete and unassailable corporate hegemony. Making a choice between that, or the choice of nationalization, seems to be where this country, perhaps the entire planet is headed. Is there another way?

[BWonka]

Good. Then they don't need McCain's wasteful tax breaks. The one he REFUSES to give to PEOPLE.

[blood1]

Any company that shows a profit is a good thing, but the question is: do they need a tax break?

[audeo03]

OUTRAGEOUS!!! They haven't even begun to pay for the Exxon Valdez disaster. WTF!?!? GREEDY right wing leeches...

[sonofsamphm1c]

They paid the actual damage award, as determined by a court of law, immediately. It was way more than a billion dollars then.

They appealed the punitive damage award, which they believed was illegal by Alaska law, and got a substantial reduction.

[obmark]

WINDFALL PROFITS TAX!

[sonofsamphm1c]

The Windfall Profits tax is counterproductive. All it will do is reduce exploration, which will lead to ever higher prices.

[brizzle]

Over the last 3 months, that's over 4 billion dollars a month...profit.

Oh, yes, in case you weren't sure, this is the same company that hires mercenaries in Southeast Asia and in Africa, to torture locals, protect oil pipelines and otherwise "control" resources in foreign lands. Let me restate: ExxonMobil hires mercenary soldiers to kill and torture local people. Is this capitalism as you know it? Let's check out some witness reports:

http://www.wpunj.edu/hmss/polisci/faculty/shalom/ssZjn2601.htm

And just for good measure, check out this PDF file which details the massive tax breaks and subsidies our government gives to ExxonMobil and other oil corporations. Here's a question for all you budding Adam Smiths out there: is this system of tax breaks and subsidies classified as capitalism or socialism?

http://www.foe.org/pdf/FoE_Oil_Giveaway_Analysis_2008.pdf

[rightsize2005]

SOCIALISM

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

And the $700 Billion dollar bailout? Socialism or just more Corporate Welfare?

[DuganS1]

Oil companies that operate in Africa often hire mercenareis, but not to "kill and torture local people" (I've never heard that before). They do so to defend against frequent attacks, particularly in Nigeria, against oil facilities and employees who work at those facilities. Attacks by Nigerian rebels is almost a weekly occurance.

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

The crooked Government of Nigeria, which hoards the profits from their oil and allows their people to suffer are the culprits. They are kept in power by these mercenaries who are happy to kill those who try to get at the oil in those pipelines because they can't afford to buy the fuel that is exported to the benefit of the few.

[peacekitten]

check out what the mercenaries working for barings gold did in tanzania to a village where the workers were a bit ornery about the unreasonable demands being made on them. think about the fact that at the time the atrocity committed there occured, ghwb was on the board of barings, and the action was taken with their blessing.

[UnknownSoldier]

I think it would be fair to say that we should at least look at some of the tax breaks that the Oil Companies are receiving.

I have a new idea about taxes. Maybe Taxes shouldn't be used to punish companies that make money, and maybe we should be using tax policy to help stimulate the economic growth.

[peacekitten]

i really wish you understood more about how such things work with corporations like this. ask yourself, wouldn't you "make more money" if you didn't have to pay the same kinds of taxes everyone else does? wouldn't you have a more affluent lifestyle if you not only didn't pay taxes like everyone else, but then turned around and benefited from huge payments from the rest of the people who *do* pay taxes?

nice work if you can get it, isn't it?

now ask yourself, why isn't exxon putting some of those gargantuan profits into the development of alternative energy sources? i'm talking about more than just some token amount so they can say they are.

ask yourself if you really think that the stockholders are going to see those massive returns on their shares. years ago, when michael eisner was the head of disney, it was raking in cash like there was no tomorrow. similar returns to exxon right now. the shareholders saw a return of on average 20 cents per share. eisner paid himself obscene amounts of money. it took awhile, but finally disney's stockholders figured out where their money was going. eisner was told not to let the door hit him on the way out.

lastly, consider this. the price of oil has dropped by more than half in the last few weeks. have we seen the price at the pumps drop that much? didn't think so. do the math. rethink your attitude towards corporate taxes.

[UnknownSoldier]

I'm not sure you fully understand what your statements mean in relation to what I stated. So let us start over.

I said maybe we shouldn't be using our tax code to punish companies for making money. The keyword in that statement is PUNISH, no where did I say anything about, NOT paying taxes.

My statement was that our tax code should used to stimulate economic growth. The keyword in that sentence was STIMULATE. No where did I say anything about executive compensation.

Here is an example for you. Oil Company A makes 100 Billion dollars and decides to use it profits to buy back its stock. We tax them at the highest marginal rate. Company B makes 100 Billion dollars and takes its profits to create a new enviormentally friendly energy market, they recieve a tax cut. Company C makes 100 billion dollars and they give all of their profits to their employees divided out equally, they would get the largest tax cut.

I hope this explains it a little better for you.

[JohnPaulJones]

My thought when it comes to outrage over large corporations profits is: how much is too much? The scary thing is, if the government said "anything over XXX millions (billions) is going to be subject to a windfall tax", who is going to come up with the number? The even scarier thought is the government taking the next step and dictating the income regular people can make. What if the government decides that teachers can only make $25K a year or cops can only make $30k? I doubt anyone would be in favor of that, but when there is talk of a windfall profits tax, that's the start of a slippery slope.

[Jeff1958]

I guess you've never filed your own income tax. The government decides tax rate and schedules. There are federal, state, county and city taxes. What's different with taxing windfall profits?

[JohnPaulJones]

You're absolutely right, I never file my taxes because I don't have the patience for and thankfully have the means to have an accontant do it.

[Rusel deMaria - Huffpost Blogger]

Your false equivalencies are showing. Let's see - Teacher $25K, Cop 30K, Corporate CEO $100M?

Come on. Let's get real. I just don't see who needs to make $100 million or even $10 million in salaries. It's totally absurd. The American dream isn't to create insane income inequality. It's the dream that everyone can do well, even be rich. But there's rich and there's rampant greed. I personally do not think anyone in this world is worth $100 million a year. Even our own president makes a tiny fraction of that as salary, and that's for a reason.

Let's start making sense. Billionaires can afford to help out the country by helping rebuild the infrastructure, encourage and support education, offer their financial support for health care for everyone, and help those so far beneath them to succeed - and still have way more than it takes to consider themselves rich!

We've lost our way when we start believing that profit and greed are more important than human values. Slippery slopes go in all directions, and most of us have been sliding down one for years, while fewer and fewer people get to stand on the mountaintop and watch us slide down, down, down.

Enough.

[Americatortures]

Lets see..oil is down 50% and gas s down 25%....SO OF COURSE their profits are through the roof!!! They cut prices at the pump only half as much as their costs for product fell!!! Country last...profits first!! I guess the Mccain plan to give Big Oil 4 BILLION MORE in tax breaks makes a world of sense...huh??

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

To DuganS1,
I don't normally engage with those who are just here to spread anti-OIbama rants, but at least you make economic arguments in a reasonable discussion. I invite you to a discussion of the Oil Industry and it's future under a McCain Presidency versus an Obama Presidency anytime. If you can provide me with an email address, even one you make up just for this purpose, we can have an offline discussion that we publish in an article. Are you interested?

[rightsize2005]

I think he is too chicken to accept your invite, he knows he is just spiting bull$hit!

[sonofsamphm1c]

There is not much BS in what he has said.

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

We can discuss this without name calling rightsize, this is not criticism of you, I'm just tired of the low level of debate engaged in here too often.

[DuganS1]

I'm an Obama supporter. I'm just trying to correct a lot of the misinformation that goes around these sites.

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

That's good to hear Dugan, but I still invite a discussion of the merits of Obama's Alternative Energy proposal. you seem reasonable in your arguments and that is why I offer the debate with you.

[DuganS1]

#2, I certainly don't recall ever making an "anti-Obama rant." Most posters on these boards seem to support Obama but not his beliefs or policies. What a lot of people think he represents are very much wrong. Most people simply bash what they (usually wrongly) perceive as Republican policies or Republican originated problems.

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

Read my post again, I didn't accuse you of anti-Obama rants. Do you want to debate the issues here? Fine, offline, fine also.

[BilCon]

That is an article that I would read.

[bethel1974]

Even though I am an Obama fan through and through. I would like to debate such an issue. With you. How about the way Obama and his using the Clinton playbook to get this country back on track.

[MPCarr]

Exxon also paid a record amount of taxes last quarter, $32.5 million. If Obama is going to hand out money to those who don't pay taxes, he will need tax revenues to do this.

[rightsize2005]

As if that matters, what do you think they are going to do stop selling gas because they are paying a 4% tax increase...it is far more cheaper to increase revenue and pay the tax than to complain and not have a business

[MPCarr]

Guess who will ultimately pay the tax increase on the oil companies.

[rightsize2005]

Also where did Obama said anything about handing out money...he said a tax break for people earning $200,000 or less...No increase for people earning $250,000 or below and a progressive increase for persons earning over $250,000

[MPCarr]

It is part of his tax cut for 95% of the people. Also he is all over the board with the cutoff amount. It was $250,000, then 200, then 140. My wife and I make over that combined.

Of course as he raises the tax on the small businesses, they will cut jobs and raise prices for the goods and services from these businesses.

[MPCarr]

Obama is achieving his tax cuts through tax credits that are refundable to you whether or not you have a tax liability or not. 10s of millions of people who pay no taxes will receive a check from the IRS. They money comes from higher taxes on the wealthy and small business.

That in redistribution of wealth.

[sonofsamphm1c]

Well, at $65ish a barrel, there will be a lot less of that tax revenue from ExxonMobil.

[rightsize2005]

Again you are missing the point....it doesn't matter what their profits are...the tax increase on their revenues have nothing to do with their operations.

Taxes are charged after expenses have been subtracted from gross profits...so don't try to make it seem as if the taxes will affect their operations of the price of oil

Further more...the high/low price of oil is out of the hands of XOM or the government, it is partial y driven by demand, but mostly by speculative traders.

[notconfindtweenhatnboots]

32.5 MILLION taxes on 65 BILLION profits.

Do the Math:

That means these oil companies are paying taxes at a rate of 00.22% on their profits.

This is a far cry from the lies that republicans have been telling us that American companies pay 35%. For 30% profit, they should have paid 4.46 BILLION, or 100+ times what the oil companies actually paid.