Exxon Mobil Corp. chairman and chief executive Rex W. Tillerson will get a stocking stuffer he'll be enjoying throughout 2009: a 10% raise, increasing his annual salary to $2.06 million, plus 225,000 shares of restricted stock as well as being eligible for a year-end bonus of $4 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
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Is Tillerson being fairly compensated? Some would say he's a bargain compared to some fat-cat banking CEOs that received exorbitant raises and bonuses over the last couple of years. Critics of Tillerson have barked that the oil and gas company is making too much money -- some CEOs wish they were only so lucky. In the third quarter, Exxon posted a record net profit of $14.83 billion, which was up 58% from the third quarter of 2007. Net income for the first nine months is $37.4 billion.
Exxon and Tillerson detractors say those profits were made unfairly on the backs of the U.S. consumer that have had to take a big hit on their budgets from the record high fuel prices that have only recently made a drastic descent. Now, the true test for Tillerson is whether or not Exxon can meet expectations with oil trading around $47 a barrel and gas selling for as low as $1.75 per gallon. - Gerald Magpily
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