Exxon Chief to Step Down

Lee Raymond, the tough-talking chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp. who built the nation’s largest oil producer into the world’s most valuable company, on Thursday said he would retire at the end of the year.

Exxon President Rex Tillerson, widely seen as Raymond’s heir apparent after 30 years with the company, is expected to be elected its next leader, the company said.

The announcement ends years of speculation over when the 66-year-old Raymond would hand over the reins.

Analysts say Raymond’s departure, after heading the company for 12 years, will have little noticeable effect on Exxon’s vast empire, given the company’s focus on a long-term strategy as well as Tillerson’s long tenure at Exxon spanning stints in the executive suite to overseeing operations in Russia and Yemen.

In his 42 years at the Irving, Texas, company, Raymond has steered Exxon through bouts of frenzied oil prices and subsequent collapses, helping make Exxon one of the most consistently profitable companies in the world.

He also presided over one of the few successful mega-mergers in corporate history by buying Mobil Corp. in 1999 for $82 billion when oil prices were sinking to create the world’s largest publicly traded oil company.

“He did a tremendous job at Exxon Mobil, making the Mobil acquisition when oil was $10 a barrel as opposed to all these other executives now making all their acquisitions when oil is at $55,” said Craig Hodges, fund manager at Hodges Capital Management, which owns Exxon Mobil shares.

Hailed within corporate America, Raymond found little love from environmentalists and activists who frequently attacked him for his stance on global warming and for the 1989 Valdez oil spill off Alaska.

On Wall Street, however, Raymond’s stature kept growing as his focus on discipline and soaring oil prices delivered a windfall to Exxon’s bottom line.

Exxon shares closed down 48 cents to $58.52.