exxon mobils revenue jumped more than 80 year over year during the fourth quarter amid a rebound in oil and gas prices the company said tuesday with exxon now in a stronger financial position the company said it will begin to buy back stock during the first quarter the oil giant earned 205 per share during the period excluding items ahead of the 193 that analysts surveyed by refinitiv were expecting revenue came in at 8497 billion which was short of the 9185 billion analysts were expecting in the same quarter one year ago the company earned 3 cents per share excluding items on sales of 4654 billion during the third quarter of 2021 the company earned 158 per share on an adjusted basis on sales of 7379 billion in the latest quarter exxon generated 48 billion of cash flow from operating activities which was the highest since 2012 the company also paid down an additional 9 billion in debt during the fourth quarter reducing debt by 20 billion over the course of fullyear 2021 exxons debt level is now back to prepandemic levels the company said it will begin buying back stock during the first quarter of 2022 as part of a previously announced plan to repurchase up to 10 billion over the next 12 to 24 months on monday the company announced that its restructuring its business into three divisions and also moving its headquarters to houston from irving texas beginning april 1 the companys three divisions will be upstream production solutions and lowcarbon solutions the company said the streamlined operations will enhance effectiveness and reduce costs our new streamlined business structure is another example of the actions we are taking to further strengthen our competitive advantages and grow shareholder value exxon ceo darren woods said in a statement tuesday weve made great progress in 2021 and our forward plans position us to lead in cash flow and earnings growth operating performance and the energy transition shares of exxon rose to the highest level since since 2019 on monday and are up 69 over the last year exxons benefitted from the recovery in oil and gas prices crude is trading around its highest level in more than seven years and on friday international benchmark brent crude settled above 90 for the first time since october 2014 exxon said it spent 166 billion during the full year 2021 which was in line with guidance for 2022 the company expects to spend between 21 billion and 24 billion