Monday, June 2, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.
At Exxon Mobil’s annual meeting last week, a majority of shareholders crushed what The Wall Street Journal had called the “Rockefeller Rebellion.”
Descendants of John D. Rockefeller, who hold sizable numbers of shares in Exxon Mobil, had gone public before the meeting on their plan to offer several resolutions that indeed were rebellious given the company’s history of single-minded attachment to fossil fuels.
The resolutions included ones to establish policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to produce more energy from renewable sources. Also, one would have split the dual roles of Exxon Mobil Chairman and Chief Executive Rex Tillerson. This was offered so that a new chairman could be recruited — one who would be open to investing now in the green energies certain to become widespread in the future.
More than altruism was at work here. Many of the Rockefeller descendants — John D. Rockefeller founded the company from which Exxon Mobil sprang — believe the company will be left behind if it continues to ignore investment opportunities in start-up renewable industries.
Our view is that the majority shareholders made a mistake in siding with Tillerson. “Continuing to do everything we can to supply oil and natural gas is the core of our business,” he told the Houston Chronicle after the meeting. “That’s what we’ve been doing for 125 years. We are not going to abandon that.”
Tillerson also said Exxon Mobil would “work the breakthroughs that will come along somewhere in the middle of this century.”
Just think if he had a different view. Exxon Mobil, with all of its resources, could be leading the breakthroughs — now. And reaping their rewards.
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