The senior execs get bonuses based on cumulative earnings per share (EPS)...but they decided that the $20 billion loss we took in 4Q'20 from the write downs doesn't count. Even though it was the decisions of those senior execs that led us to make the investments that we wrote off. How convenient!
"The cumulative EPS threshold to reach full payout of the 2018 and 2019 Earnings Bonus Units (EBU) remains at $6.50 per share. The Committee decided to exclude from the EPS calculation a non-cash U.S. Upstream impairment reported in 4Q 2020."
Source: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0000034088/000003408821000069/xom-20211123.htm