ExxonMobil Caps Year From Hell With $22 Billion Loss, As Activists Demand Big Change

ExxonMobil Caps Year From Hell With $22 Billion Loss, As Activists Demand Big Change

What a mess. ExxonMobil



XOM

revealed todaythe disastrous extent of 2020. For the year it posted a net loss of $22.4 billion, amid a 32% slump in revenues and a 5% decline in oil and gas output to 3.76 million barrels per day. 

In order to conserve cash, the company slashed its planned capital spending by a third to $21 billion “” which was still more than they could afford. In the fourth quarter, Exxon only generated $4.1 billion in cash flow from operations “” insufficient to cover its capex at $4.7 billion, or its dividend, thus necessitating the issuance of an additional $3.2 billion in debt. 

Speaking of that dividend, whenever management teams talk of "defending“ a dividend, it can mean only one thing: it's too high. That's certainly the case at Exxon, which has stubbornly continued to pay out a dividend of $14.8 billion ($3.48/share, or 7.5%) that it obviously can't afford, while laying off thousands of employees. 

It's easy to spend money you don't have when you're sitting on a balance sheet as big as Exxon's, but it has to be embarrassing to CEO Darren Woods that the company is now burdened with $62 billion in