On November 30, 1999, Mobil, the leader in the $184.5 billion oil industry, purchased Exxon, the second largest company in the industry, worth $77.1 billion, to form ExxonMobil Corporation (ExxonMobil Corporation, 2013; “ExxonMobil Joint Proxy Statement in S-4 SEC Filing,” 1999). The completion of this horizontal merger occurred approximately a year and a quarter after the terms were officially announced on August 11, 1998, approximately two months after the CEOs of the two companies first met to discuss the possibility of a merger. Before the merger, their combined market value was $261.6 billion, which increased to $278.8 billion immediately after the merger (“ExxonMobil Joint Statement in S-4 SEC Filing,” 1999). The combined profits of these two companies in 1997 totaled $11.8 billion, with combined sales of $203.1 billion. Between the two companies, 122,700 people were employed before the merger. They owned over 48,000 gas stations across the country with energy reserves greater than those stored in all of Canada (Corcoran, 2010). This merger placed ExxonMobil at the top of the world's "big three" oil companies ("Exxon-Mobil Merger Completed", 1999). This merger came after 11 months of review of the deal by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), one of their longest reviews ever. The merger was ultimately approved by the FTC in a 4-0 vote, but with certain conditions that ExxonMobil would have to meet. These include the sale of 2,431 stations, primarily in California, Texas and the northeastern United States; do not purchase Tosco Corporation gas stations in Arizona; sell the refinery and jet turbine oil businesses it owned in Benicia, California; and stopping the sale of Exxon-labeled gasoline and diesel fuel for a...... middle of paper ......m http://corporate.exxonmobil.com/en/company/about- us/history/overview “ExxonMobil Joint Proxy Statement in S-4 SEC Filing.” (1999, April 5). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved from website: http://sec.edgar-online.com/exxon-mobil-corp/s-4-securities-registration-business-combination/1999/04/05/section3.aspx Exxon-Mobil merger complete. (November 30, 1999). Money CNN. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/1999/11/30/deals/exxonmobil/Fortune global 500. (July 2013). Fortune, retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/?iid=G500_fl_headerWells, J., Agbara, GM, Abuliak, A., Dezhbakhsh, H., El-Osta, B., Farrow , S., Karikari, JA and Wasielewski, L. United States General Accounting Office, (2004). Effects of Mergers and Market Concentration in the U.S. Oil Industry. Retrieved from website: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0496.pdf