Saudi Aramco's Profits Take a Dive! Are We All Gonna Be Broke?!

Oh Boy Here We Go Again!

Aw phooey! Your favorite duck reporter Donald Duck here with some news that's got me shakin' in my little sailor shoes! Saudi Aramco that big shot oil company just announced their profits are down! Down I tell ya! A whole 5% less than last year! That's like… like losin' a whole bag of Uncle Scrooge's money! And you know how much I hate losing money!

Twenty Six BILLION Dollars?!

They made a measly $26 billion this quarter. Only $26 billion can you believe it? Last year it was 27.3 billion! A whole BILLION dollars less. I’m tellin' ya this is like when Huey Dewey and Louie 'accidentally' paint the boat pink – a DISASTER! Though I must quackmit even though I'm furious and can't control my temper the analysts did expect even less a paltry 25.3 billion.

Where's All the Dough Gone?

Turns out low oil prices are to blame. And production is down too! It's all goin' downhill faster than me tryin' to water ski! They say the world doesn't want as much oil no more. Well I still need some oil to keep my car running if I ever manage to fix it.

Cash Flow Troubles?!

Their free cash flow is sufferin' too! Only $19.2 billion this quarter compared to $22.8 billion last year. And cash from operating activities well that's down too! $31.7 billion instead of $33.6 billion! It's a conspiracy I tell you! Probably Pete's behind it all tryin' to make a quick buck like always!

Cheapskates!

And the dividends! Oh the dividends! They slashed the performance linked payout to a measly $200 million! From 10.2 billion. I was expecting a fat check this quarter which I would have promptly used to buy me a new boat. At least the base dividend went up a little. But I wanted a fat check and a new boat not a measly extra 4.2%!

What's a Duck to Do?!

So what does all this mean? Well I'm not entirely sure. But I know one thing: it sounds like bad news! Maybe I should start savin' up my spare change. Or maybe I should just ask Uncle Scrooge for a loan… on second thought maybe not he is the greediest duck in the world. Aw phooey! I'm outta here! Gotta go figure out how to make some money before I end up eatin' nothin' but stale bread crumbs!