Activist’s fight at ExxonMobil started with lessons at a coal mine

Activist’s fight at ExxonMobil started with lessons at a coal mine

The activist investor who just scored a major victory at ExxonMobil this week says he learned a key lesson he brought to the boardroom battle from a failed coal mine he tried to launch in the mid-2000s.

Chris James said in an interview Thursday that his experience sowed the seeds of what eventually became Engine No. 1, the newly formed investment firm that won at least two seats on the board of ExxonMobil on Wednesday. The firm may take a third seat when the final votes are tallied, the company has conceded.

The original idea for the coal mine had been to create jobs and help the community near his hometown of Harrisburg, Illinois, he said. But he failed to realise at the time how rapidly technological innovation and natural gas prices were causing demand for coal to fall.