Exxon Defends Dividend After First Annual Loss in Decades Bloomberg 2/2/2021 Kevin Crowley and Javier Blas (Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. pledged to safeguard the S&P 500 Index’s third-largest dividend after posting its first annual loss in at least 40 years, a show of defiance by an oil driller besieged by activist investors and climate-change campaigners. Popular Searches Exxon assured investors of its financial health in a world of $50-a-barrel oil and promised that if crude were to dip to $45 it would sacrifice spending in the name of dividends. The Western world’s largest oil explorer has increased the payout each year since 1972, unlike rivals Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc that cut distributions last year.