Identification

• The direct stock purchase plan Exxon Mobil offers bypasses traditional brokers. Instead, a transfer agent processes stock transactions for a small fee. The Exxon Mobil plan is especially attractive because the company pays the fees for all stock you purchase. Every cent you invest goes into shares of stock. You pay a fee only when you sell your shares. Another benefit of the Exxon Mobil stock purchase plan is that it requires a low initial investment. The minimum is $250.
  
  

History

• The two pre-merger firms, Mobil and Exxon, trace their origins to a common beginning. In 1870 John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil Company, which soon grew to dominate and then nearly monopolize the fast growing oil industry in the United States. Responding to Progressive Era concerns, in 1911 the United States Supreme Court ordered Standard Oil broken into 34 separate companies. Standard Oil of New Jersey grew to be the world's largest oil producer and became Exxon Corporation. Standard Oil of New York became Mobil Corporation. The 1999 merger was a reunion of sorts and by 2007 revenues reached $404.55 billion with net income of $40.16 billion. These figures may be somewhat misleading since they reflect sharp increases in the price of crude oil on world commodity markets and may not be sustained. The company had total 2007 assets of $242.08 billion and equity of $121.76 billion and employed over 106,000 people worldwide.
  
  

Function

• The $250 minimum investment requirement to start an Exxon Mobil direct stock purchase plan can be satisfied by agreeing to have $50 (or more) automatically debited from a checking or savings account for five consecutive months. All additional investment is optional, as long as each contribution is at least $50 (with a maximum of $250,000 per year). You also have the option of setting up ongoing investments by using monthly automatic debits. For existing shareholders, Exxon makes opening a direct stock purchase account easier by waiving the $250 minimum--all that's needed is a $50 initial deposit.
  
  

Features

• You may choose to have all or part of stock dividends automatically reinvested at no charge. You may also have the direct stock purchase plan set up as a traditional or Roth IRA, or as a Coverdell Education Savings Account. Like other direct stock purchase plans, this one is intended for the long-term investor, so if you sell shares from your account, you do pay a transaction fee that ranges from $15-25, plus 12 cents per share.
  
  

Considerations

• To open an Exxon Mobil direct stock purchase account, contact the company's transfer agent, Computershare Inc., at Computershare.com. Get a copy of the plan brochure and the enrollment forms either online or by mail. As with any stock, you should research the company before investing. You can start your research by using the resources tools provided by Computershare. Use Exxon Mobil's NYSE stock symbol, XOM, to find information on the company.