Oil-Steel Firm Considers Option to Split

USX Corp., owner of the largest U.S. steel producer and the fifth-largest U.S. oil company, is studying options for improving performance, including selling part or all of the company, Chief Executive Thomas Usher said. USX has hired legal and financial advisors to review the company’s structure, Usher said. USX has two stocks, one tracking the performance of oil company USX-Marathon Group and the other linked to the returns of USX-U.S. Steel Group. A split would end a decade-long experiment with the tracking stocks begun after corporate raider Carl Icahn pushed to have the two businesses split. Even with separately traded shares, Marathon is undervalued because of its ties to USX, analysts said. USX “won’t rule out anything” while it considers options for the units, Usher said at an analysts’ conference in New York. USX-Marathon shares fell $1.13 to close at $26.38 on the NYSE. Its stock market capitalization is $8.19 billion. Shares of USX-U.S. Steel rose 44 cents to close at $14.25 on the NYSE. Its market cap is $1.26 billion.