John D. Rockefeller, one the most fa mous businessmen in US history, might well be amused by the civil war pitting his biological descendants against his corporate heirs.
For the record, those on the corporate side are in the right.
Rockefeller founded Standard Oil in 1870; its corporate descendant is ExxonMobil, now run by Rex Tillerson.
Tillerson rightly sees his chief responsibility as extracting energy from the earth to help fuel the global economy, including America’s – while, of course, returning a reasonable profit to shareholders.
In opposition are 66 descendants of old John D., who’ve been pushing Exxon to become more “green” – that is, to spend more on alternative-fuel and climate-change research.
So, at the annual shareholders meeting last week, Clan Rockefeller tried to get other shareholders to back a proposal to force Tillerson to give up one of his titles – CEO or chairman – in order to end an allegedly “insular” culture.
Happily, that proposal – along with 16 others pushed by the Rockefeller bloc – was voted down.
Yes, ExxonMobil produced a record $40 billion in profits last year – which critics claim is prima facie evidence of rapacious price-gouging. In fact, it’s no record return: Exxon’s total sales last year exceeded $404 billion – for a less-than-extravagant profit margin of 10 percent.
The profits reflect a huge worldwide demand for oil – as well as enormous past investment. Indeed, measured as a return on investment, Exxon’s profits were in the single digits.
That’s particularly significant – for the company has also been the global leader in exploration. From 2004 to 2006, Exxon was alone among major international oil companies in discovering more barrels of oil than it produced.
In short, Rex Tillerson is doing his job, and the majority of ExxonMobil shareholders supported him for doing it well.
John D. Rockefeller would likely recognize that his corporate descendant is closer to being his spiritual heir than are those who happen to share his name by accident of birth.