Business: Perspective on Exxon Mobile Profits

CNN.com top story at 6:54AM PDT was "Exxon Mobile made nearly $1500 per second."

Read the whole thing and the breathless story headline seems less dramatic.

Speaking of perspective, let's do the numbers ...

Exxon posted $11.68 billion net income on total revenue of $138 billion.

11.68 divided by 138 multiplied by 100 equals 8.5% net income on total revenue.

The oil business is an expensive business: they got to find it and drill for it or buy it from someone, pump and ship it, refine it and then sell it. And indeed, "faceless evil profit mongering corporation" has employees who do all that.

And guess what?

Those employees have to put food on the table, pay the mortgage or rent, save for college and pay medical bills just like everyone else.

How about some perspective on how profitable this business is?

I'm typing this blog post on an Apple computer.

Their numbers:
Total Revenue $7.5 billion
Net Income $1.1 billion
Thus, 14.7% net income on total revenue.

Blogger belongs to Google.

Their numbers:
Total Revenue $5.2 billion
Net Income $1.3 billion
Thus, a whopping 25% net income on total revenue!

How about the place I go buy food, Ralphs?

The parent company is Kroger.
Total Revenue $23.1 billion
Net Income $386 million
Thus, a paltry 1.7% net income on total revenue. The grocer business is a tough business!

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