Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, reported income Thursday that shattered its own record for the biggest profit from operations by a U.S. corporation, earning $14.83 billion in the third quarter.
The Irving, Texas-based company has reported unprecedented back-to-back quarters, the end of the most recent coinciding with a rapid plunge in crude prices. Benchmark oil prices fell $2.91, to $64.59, Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Exxon said net income jumped nearly 58 percent to $2.86 a share in the July-September period. That compares with $9.41 billion, or $1.70 a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 35 percent to $137.7 billion.
On average, analysts expected the company to earn $2.39 per share in the latest quarter on revenue of $131.4 billion.
Sun Microsystems Inc. The maker of servers and business software posted a $1.7 billion loss for its latest quarter Thursday as it wrote down the value of the company because of the slow economy and a huge decline in its stock price.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company lost $1.68 billion, or $2.24 per share, in its fiscal first quarter, which ended Sept. 28. In the same period last year, it earned $89 million, or 10 cents per share.
Excluding the $1.45 billion good-will impairment and a $63 million restructuring charge, Sun lost 9 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected a loss of 8 cents per share.
Motorola Inc. Motorola Inc. posted a loss in the third quarter Thursday, citing the continued troubles of its cell-phone division. The company will postpone the planned spinoff of the unit, and cut 3,000 more jobs by April.
