Fight Plutocrats with Plutocrats: Rockefellers Challenge Exxon

It's like mud wrestling without the skimpy outfits: the Rockefeller family is fighting Exxon, the company that grew from Standard Oil, founded by Rockefeller patriarch John D. in 1870. Fifteen Rockefeller descendants are backing four shareholder resolutions, including a resolution to create an independent chairman's position separate from CEO who could make Exxon look beyond short-term shareholder demands for quick profits to long-term sustainability:

But the Rockefeller's said the company was too focused on short-term windfalls. They said the company's reluctance to invest in alternative energy could result in lost profits down the road.

Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, great granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller and a Tufts University economist, called on Exxon to reconnect with the forward-looking vision of her great grandfather.

"Kerosene was the alternative energy of its day," Goodwin said. "Part of John D. Rockefeller's genius was in recognizing early the need and opportunity for a transition to a better, cheaper and cleaner fuel."

The group, which also seeks to establish a task force to study the consequences of global warning on poor economies, called on Exxon to reduce greenhouse gas emission at its own operations and adopt a renewable energy policy [Michael Erman, "Rockefellers Call for Change at Exxon Mobil," Reuters via Yahoo News, 2008.04.30].

The Rockefellers and other shareholders aren't just hugging trees here: they're as interested in financial sustainability as eco-sustainability. Exxon may be making money now, but the company has to look ahead to make sure it has energy to sell in the future.

Exxon poo-poos its wealthy progenitors:

"We're focused on maximizing the return to the shareholder and profitability," said Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers. "Members of the Rockefeller family are well known for their relationship with the company's founder. But we have 2.5 million individual shareholders" [Erman].

<sarcasm>That's Exxon, always looking out for the little guy.</sarcasm>

But the Rockefellers aren't alone: 40% of those 2.5 million shareholders voted last year for a similar resolution to split the CEO and chair. With the Rockefellers lending their support, that sizable minority of forward-looking shareholders may grow and prevail at the May 28 Exxon shareholders' meeting in Dallas.