Exxon Mobil Shatters its Own Profit Record for a US Company, Raked in $45.2B For 2008

While millions of workers are losing their jobs and the country is experiencing the worst economic crisis in years, Exxon Mobil Corp., shattered its own profit record for an American company by raking in $45.2 billion in profits for 2008. With profits like that they could implement their own buyout plan of a sector of the faltering economy -- automakers. Even as the company's fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago, Exxon has still made history. The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the world's largest publicly traded oil company set in '07. Funny, didn't Shell post its first loss in 10 years?

Of course, this wasn't a surprise because of crude's triple-digit price for much of 2008, peaking near an unheard of $150 a barrel in July. Since then, however, prices have fallen roughly 70 percent amid a deepening global economic crisis. In the fourth quarter alone crude tumbled 60 percent, prompting spending and job cuts in an industry that was reporting robust, often record, profits as recently as last summer.

Exxon said net income slid sharply to $7.8 billion, or $1.55 a share, in the October-December period. That compared with $11.7 billion, or $2.13 a share, in the same period a year ago, when Exxon set a U.S. record for quarterly profit. It has since topped that mark twice, first in last year's second quarter and then with earnings of $14.83 billion in the third quarter. Boohoo!

Revenue in the most-recent quarter for Exxon fell 27 percent to $84.7 billion. Of course, Wall Street took this news with guarded optimism. Shares rose $1.26 to $78.26 in premarket trading.

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