The Little Engine That Could: ExxonMobil’s Tiny Hedge Fund Nemesis is Leading Investors into the Future

“You’re only as strong as the investors you bring along with you” – Yasmin Dahya Bilger, Head of ETFs at Engine No.1

The call is coming from inside the house

Oil giant ExxonMobil recently lost an expensive and high stakes proxy fight with Engine No.1, the new hedge fund on the block. With only 0.02% control of ExxonMobil, Engine No.1 exposed the weaknesses behind one of the biggest publicly traded companies in the world: Exxon had its worst performance in four decades. Until now, massive profits shielded them from consequences, but shareholders have grown tired of asking, so they teamed up to force Exxon’s hand. New and old institutional investors, along with large funds, deemed Exxon’s leadership unprepared to transition to carbon neutrality, so by working together, they finally reined in the oil behemoth’s indifference.

All aboard!

Climate change is obviously a huge issue that affects everyone on the planet, but it can’t be fixed by consumers bringing cloth bags to the store and cutting showers down to 5 minutes. Big oil is responsible for insane amounts of greenhouse gases, pollution and oh, right…setting the ocean on fire. Shareholders are quickly coming around to the notion that “climate risk is investment risk” and there’s plenty of money to be made in clean energy. Investors aren’t backing down from future tussles—it seems they’re just gearing up.

Why Engine No.1 is DAMN good for investors

Not to toot our own horn (ok, maybe just a little), but there are some parallels between Engine No.1 and DigitalAMN. First off, the ticker for Engine No.1’s Transform 500 ETF fund is VOTE, which we’re taking as a personal shout out (of sorts) and proof that they enjoy easter eggs and trolling as much as we do. For us, what’s particularly compelling about the Transform 500 ETF fund is that it shares a similar investment philosophy of making change, giving retail investors a louder voice in the market and allowing them to get a foothold on the ladder to prosperity. Their fund is dedicated to: creating value, driving company performance and building an environment that’s self-sustaining over the long term. Similar to DigitalAMN’s PAI ecosystem, we believe in tapping into the power of the crowd and assisting the 99% to enter the investing arena from which they’ve been denied for so long. As industry mavericks ourselves, we can appreciate uphill battles and what it’s like to drive long-term change with only a small footprint. Like Engine No.1, we’re small but can potentially be very mighty!

Join the DigitalAMN PAI Ecosystem—Find out more or email info@digitalamn.com

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