1. What was the total purchase price/ enterprise value of the transaction?
2. Why did Exxon Mobil’s shares decline and XTO Energy’s shares rise substantially immediately following the announcement of the takeover?
3. What do you think Exxon Mobil believes are its core skills? Based on your answer to this question, would you characterize this transaction as a related or unrelated acquisition? Explain your answer.
4. Identify what you believe are the key environmental trends that encouraged Exxon Mobil to acquire XTO Energy.
5. How would you describe Exxon Mobil’s long-term objectives, business strategy, and implementation strategy? What alternative implementation strategies could Exxon have pursued? Why do you believe it chose an acquisition strategy? What are the key risks involved in Exxon Mobil’s takeover of XTO Energy?

Exxon Mobil Corporation has stated publicly that it is committed to being the world’s premier petroleum and petrochemical company and that the firm’s primary focus in the coming decades will likely remain on its core businesses of oil and gas exploration and production, refining, and chemicals. According to the firm, there appears to be “a pretty bright future” for drilling in previously untapped shales—such as the natural gas–rich Barnett Shale of North Texas and the Haynesville Shale in northwest Louisiana and East Texas—as a result of technological advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. No single energy source available currently solves the dual challenge of meeting growing energy needs while reducing CO2 emissions. The firm seeks a set of solutions ranging from producing hydrocarbons more effectively to using them more efficiently to improving existing alternatives and developing policies that encourage long-term planning and investments.