Biz people

Exxon to take on Rockefellers

Exxon Mobil Corp, the world's largest company by market value, is taking on nuns, pension funds and heirs to its founder in battles over global warming and the power of its chief executive officer.

The biggest US oil producer is urging investors at Exxon Mobil's annual shareholders meeting today in Dallas to vote against a resolution that would bar its CEO from serving as chairman. Supporters of the measure, including the California Public Employees' Retirement System and descendants of founder John D. Rockefeller, want an independent chairman to work faster to combat climate change.

CEO Rex Tillerson, who led Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil to a record $40.6 billion profit last year as crude prices jumped 57 percent, should spend more on oil alternatives, said Peter O'Neill, great-great-grandson of Rockefeller.

Billionaire fights BP over top post

BP Plc and its Russian partners clashed this month as billionaire Viktor Vekselberg sought to take over the top post at oil venture TNK-BP, Kommersant said, citing unidentified people close to the owners.

BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward refused to replace TNK-BP CEO Robert Dudley, although Vekselberg and Alfa Group billionaire Mikhail Fridman haven't dropped the issue, the Russian newspaper said.

TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva declined to comment on the Kommersant report, referring questions to the shareholders. BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said he couldn't immediately comment. Vekselberg spokesman Andrei Shtorkh didn't immediately reply to telephone and e-mail requests for comment.

BP and its Russian partners have clashed over the number of foreigners working at the company and the pace and volume of investments in projects outside Russia, Dudley said in an interview in Vedomosti, which Dracheva confirmed.

Ziebart to quit as Infineon chief

Wolfgang Ziebart (right), CEO of Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's second-biggest semiconductor maker, said he will step down on June 1 because of "different opinions on the future strategic orientation" of the company.

Peter Bauer, an executive board member, will take over Ziebart's role as spokesman for the management board. Infineon said it plans to boost margins by reducing manufacturing costs, without providing details.

Infineon, based in Neubiberg near Munich, has lost money for the past three years and last month reported its biggest quarterly loss since its initial public offering eight years ago. Infineon Chairman Max Dietrich Kley proposed a merger be evaluated with NXP BV, the former chip unit of Royal Philips Electronics NV, the Financial Times Deutschland reported on May 14, without citing anyone. Ziebart wouldn't support such a move, the newspaper said.

"The blurry power structures are now sorted out, and that's in principle positive," said Michael Busse, an analyst at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg with a "buy" rating on Infineon.

Infineon reported a fifth straight quarterly loss on April 23 after writing down the value of memory-chip unit Qimonda AG.

(China Daily 05/28/2008 page16)