ExxonMobil Corporation Exxon Corporation started out as Standard Oil in 1882. Mainly as a refinery company. In 1888 it began to internationalize its down stream assets and in the 1920s it invested heavily to become a fully integrated oil company.
Exxon was one of the ‘seven sister’, the oil cartel that controlled the world oil trade in the first half of the twentieth century.
In the 1970s, the oil industry was rocked by the Arab oil crisis, and both Exxon and Mobil escalated exploration and development outside the Middle East or in Africa, Asia, the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea.
In November 1999, Exxon and Mobil merged to form ExxonMobil Corporation, Exxon’s takeover of Mobil was the largest in history: Mobil shareholders own about 30 percent of the new company, while Exxon shareholders own about 70 percent.
ExxonMobil is at present the second largest multinational company in the world.
The company conducts business in gas, oil, coal and chemicals in more than 200 countries.
Until its merger with Mobil in 1999, Exxon was a strongly hierarchical organization, with the company’s headquarters playing a major role in its decision making process.
The merger with Mobil brought about a reorganization, which has implied a more decentralized structure. With the reorganization, ‘ExxonMobil has entrusted its vast and diverse operations to a slate of business units with global responsibilities. Each company stewards a focused portfolio of operations around the world with a president at the helm and significant authority to run themselves.’
ExxonMobil Corporation
