ExxonMobil Corporation[a] (/ˌɛksɒnˈmoʊbəl/ EK-son-MOH-bəl commonly shortened to Exxon[5][6][7]) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation and the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefellers Standard Oil. The company, which took its present name in 1999 per the merger of Exxon and Mobil, is vertically integrated across the entire oil and gas industry, and within it is also a chemicals division which produces plastic, synthetic rubber, and other chemical products. ExxonMobil is headquartered near the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, though officially incorporated in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[8][9]: 1  The company is the largest oil and gas company based in the US, Americas third largest by revenue among all industries, and the eighth largest in the world. The company’s history traces its earliest roots to 1866, with the formation of the Vacuum Oil Company, itself acquired by Standard Oil in 1879. The company that is today known as ExxonMobil grew out of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (or Jersey Standard for short), the corporate entity which effectively controlled all of Standard Oil prior to its breakup. Jersey Standard grew alongside and with extensive partnership another Standard Oil descendant and its future merger partner, the Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony), both of which grew bigger by merging with various third companies like Humble Oil (which merged with Jersey Standard) and Vacuum Oil (merged with Socony). Both companies underwent rebranding in the 1960s and early 1970s, and by the time of the 1999 merger, Jersey Standard had been known as Exxon, and Socony known as Mobil. The merger agreement between Exxon and Mobil stipulated that Exxon would buy Mobil and rebrand as ExxonMobil, with Mobils CEO becoming the vice-chairman of the company.[10] The archival records of the company and its predecessors dating back to the 1970s are held by The Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin.[11]