Is ExxonMobil’s future running dry?

The petroleum giant is shying from risky exploration and spending money on buying back stock. Over the long haul, those moves could lead the company to go private or disappear.

Are we witnessing the death of ExxonMobil?

Strange question to ask with oil above $120 a barrel and ExxonMobil reporting $11 billion in first-quarter profits?



Not if you understand that ExxonMobil’s management has bet the company. If that bet is wrong, over the next 15 years or so, investors will get to watch the gradual disappearance of ExxonMobil.

In one scenario, the company disappears as a public company, going private by 2018 after buying up all its public stock. In another, the company simply liquidates as it distributes its cash to shareholders until there’s nothing left.

Far-fetched? Not at all. The warning signs were pasted all over the company’s May 1 earnings report.

MSN Money