Activist Likely to Gain Third Seat on Exxon Board--2nd Update
03 June 2021 - 7:23AM
Dow Jones News
By Christopher M. Matthews
An activist investor is likely to pick up a third seat on the
board of Exxon Mobil Corp., giving it additional leverage to press
the oil giant to address investor concerns about climate
change.
Exxon said Wednesday that an updated vote count showed
shareholders backed a third nominee of Engine No. 1, an upstart
hedge fund that had already won two board seats at Exxon's annual
shareholder meeting last week. The final vote hasn't been
certified, Exxon said, and could take days or weeks to be
finalized, according to people familiar with the matter.
"We look forward to working with all of our directors to build
on the progress we've made to grow long-term shareholder value and
succeed in a lower-carbon future," Exxon Chief Executive Darren
Woods said in a statement. "We thank all shareholders for their
engagement and participation, and their ongoing support for our
company."
Engine No. 1, which owns a tiny fraction of Exxon's stock, had
sought four seats on the board and argued the Texas oil giant
should commit to carbon neutrality, effectively bringing its
emissions to zero -- both from the company and its products -- by
2050, as some peers have. If the preliminary voting results hold,
it will control a quarter of Exxon's 12-person board.
Last week, Mr. Woods was re-elected to the board along with
seven of Exxon's candidates, while the vote was too close to call
for five nominees seeking the two remaining seats.
The vote culminated one of the most expensive proxy fights ever.
It puts new pressure on Mr. Woods, who personally campaigned
against Engine No. 1 and could complicate his plans to maintain
Exxon as the largest Western oil producer.
Engine No. 1 has called for Exxon to gradually diversify its
investments to be ready for a world that will need fewer fossil
fuels in coming decades. It criticized Exxon's board for presiding
over years of poor financial returns and for its unwillingness to
reconsider the company's long-held view that oil and gas demand
will remain robust for decades.
Write to Christopher M. Matthews at
christopher.matthews@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 02, 2021 17:08 ET (21:08 GMT)
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