Originally posted by Pete D:
Originally posted by ODC:
Exxon's profit margins are slightly above 10%. That means they sold about 80bn worth of gasoline.

That's pretty low margins for any industry. For comparo's sake, Microsoft makes 30%-40% profit margins off it's software.



Comparing Microsoft with Exxon (or any petrol company) is absurd, they aren't in the same industry, have totally different cost structures and don't have similiar products just to start. Not to mention that the demand for gas is largely inelastic and that gas is a commodity....



Elasticity has nothing to do with this, and neither is the product. Both corporations are in the business of selling a product.

Corporations work the same way, they sell products at a margin. I'm just illlustrating that although the final value is big, the percentage of profit:revenue is quite small.