The judges selected Mr Coll’s in-depth investigation of the US oil company following the closest contest in the history of the prize. The final decision was unanimous, but at least four of the six shortlisted books were in contention until the final round of discussion.
Mr Coll, a staff writer at The New Yorker and president of the New America Foundation think-tank, received the £30,000 prize from Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs’ chief executive, and Lionel Barber, the FT’s editor, in New York on Thursday.
Mr Barber, who chaired the judging panel, praised Mr Coll’s “forensic, nuanced and extremely well written” book. Another judge, Jorma Ollila, chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, one of ExxonMobil’s rivals, said it “told the reader how, in the 21st century, you manage a truly global company and the relationship between business and society”.