Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., their coffers swollen by last year’s record oil prices, are maneuvering to preserve a combined $40 billion in cash amid a global financial crisis that roiled the banking system. Full Story »
Posted by Jim Lang
This seems a significant scoop: the head of the "world's biggest company by market value" is publicly expressing quite a bit of worry about Exxon Mobil's cash holdings. An outside perspective on Exxon's current maneuverings regarding this cash would provide needed context to frame the meaning of it. There are definitely hints that there is more to this story, but the reporter hasn't gotten there (yet?).
“Relative to the financial markets, the biggest challenge we’ve had is making sure all the cash is there every morning,” Tillerson said in a presentation this month to investors and analysts in New York. “I tell Don he has to count every dollar before he goes to bed at night, and he tells me he does.”
Is it unusual to hear this level of anxiety expressed by an oil-industry chief? I don’t follow this field closely enough to know the what is really between the lines here.