Engine No. 1 Activist Presentation Deck
ExxonMobil's attacks on our nominees cannot withstand
scrutiny (cont.)
ExxonMobil Claim
"Engine No. 1 wants the
company to invest in
wind and solar ..."
"[P]lanned investments
in new projects will
generate 40% of ...
operating cash flow in
2025. Engine No. 1
has not said where
cash flows to pay the
dividend will come
from if we elect their
directors ..."
Our Response
We have said the Board needs to explore all diversification opportunities, and
our nominees have experience across energy, including oil and gas as well as
carbon capture and biofuels, both described as vital by ExxonMobil
●
●
• While ExxonMobil mischaracterizes our position, its CEO recently claimed that
at some point it will enter wind and solar. While this may not occur soon, given
its history of missing industry trends, the Board would clearly benefit from
greater industry foresight in monitoring such opportunities
●
Understanding the total energy landscape, including opportunities and
competitive dynamics, will be vital no matter what opportunities it pursues
●
ExxonMobil mischaracterizes our position, suggesting that we have called for
the cessation of all new spending, rather than more disciplined spending, while
praising the constructive approach of another shareholder who called for it to
cut capital expenditures to a maintenance level of $13 billion
In our first letter to the Company, we noted that a more disciplined capital
allocation strategy would strengthen the reliability of the dividend
Rhetoric is particularly notable given that debt-financed spending on low return
projects has created the real threat to the dividend (as evidenced by the fact
that ExxonMobil's dividend yield even prior to COVID had expanded far more
than peers due to the market's concern about its reliability)
Source for third bullet: CNBC Squawk Box Interview with ExxonMobil CEO (March 4, 2021) ("The investment opportunities in solar and wind, our perspective on that is we need
more solutions in addition to those, that's going to take a little longer time ... So I think you'll see that transition for ExxonMobil, but it will happen a little later in the cycle as those
technologies develop and we start to deploy them at scale.")
Source for fourth bullet: Scott Deveau (December 9, 2020). D.E. Shaw is Said to Push Exxon Mobil to Cut Spending, Costs. Bloomberg. ("D.E. Shaw ... has urged Exxon to cut
capital expenditure to a maintenance level of about $13 billion from a planned $23 billion this year ...")
REENERGIZE
EXXON// 61View entire presentation