Gods, kings, and oil tycoons—they all have to fall from their high perch at some point or another, or at least downsize to less palatial grounds. Much like Marie Antoinette, ExxonMobil executives are moving house, leaving their Dallas-area home of a quarter century, the affectionately nicknamed “God pod,” and they’re leaving behind a downright Versailles-ian palace to boot. The deities of Big Oil’s 20th-century heyday are coming down to earth—sort of.
The move away from the God Pod was first disclosed back in January 2022, when Exxon announced it would be moving from Dallas to Houston in a drive to cut costs and streamline departments. The company said at the time that this would save $6 billion by 2023, funding 40% of its dividend payouts. It slimmed down to just three business lines: upstream, product solutions, and low-carbon efforts.
