Exxon seeks to move legal home from New Jersey to Texas

Exxon Mobil is seeking shareholder approval to move its legal domicile to Texas after being incorporated in New Jersey for more than a century.

In a proxy filing released Tuesday, Exxon said the move would place the company in a more favorable business environment, where regulators are more familiar with its operations and decision-making could be carried out with greater certainty, News.Az reports, citing Bloomberg.

The company has asked investors to vote on the proposal at its annual shareholder meeting in May.

Exxon said relocating its legal base to Texas could also reduce the risk of “frivolous litigation” against the company and its leadership.

Texas has increasingly attracted corporations with its lower taxes and lighter regulations. Companies such as Tesla and SpaceX moved their legal homes to the state two years ago, while Chevron relocated its physical headquarters to Houston from California last year.

If approved, Exxon’s corporate governance — including bylaws, directors’ duties and shareholder voting rights — would be governed by Texas law. The state’s regulatory and political climate is generally seen as more supportive of the fossil fuel industry.

The company said most of its senior executives and nearly a third of its global workforce are already based in Texas.

Exxon traces its roots to Standard Oil, founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1870. After the trust was broken up by the US Supreme Court in 1911, Standard Oil of New Jersey later became Exxon in 1972.

Today, Exxon’s headquarters are located in Spring, a suburb of Houston.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev