Big Business B.S. Editorial: Exxon says goodbye to New Jersey: (May 31, 2026 Washington Post editorial)

Bumptious billionaire JEFFREY BEZOS has transformed The Washington Post.

READ Jeff Bezos' corporate propaganda editorial from The Washington Post:

Opinion

Editorial Board

Exxon says goodbye to New Jersey

Companies don’t need to tolerate hostile courts and state regulators.

May 31, 2026 at 7:15 a.m. EDTYesterday at 7:15 a.m. EDT

2 min

Make us preferred on Google

An Exxon Mobil refinery in Baytown, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The only surprising aspect of ExxonMobil relocating its legal domicile from New Jersey to Texas is that it took this long.

The company is headquartered in the Houston area, and three-quartersof Exxon’s U.S. employees are already in Texas, but the firm retained a Garden State incorporation as a vestige of its 19th-century legacy as Standard Oil. No more.

In March, Exxon’s board of directors unanimously recommended relocation to Texas, to take advantage of its friendlier business climate. The proposal passed this week at a shareholder meeting with over 70 percent support.

It isn’t difficult to imagine why Exxon wants to move its legal responsibilities from a state that has tried to sue major oil companies to the country’s hydrocarbon capital. CEO Darren Woods said the relocation would situate the company in a state “with legislators, judges and juries” who “understand our business and our contributions to society.” 

The Lone Star State has lured businesses and residents from blue states with a less burdensome regulatory environment and lower taxes. But Texas’s attention to business law has also played a part. In 2024, it established the Texas Business Court with judges appointed by the governor. The court is friendlier than alternatives in blue states. 

Texas’s biggest poaches have come from Delaware. About two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are still incorporated there, thanks to its influential corporate law system and specialized business courts. But that’s changing: Firms like SpaceX, Coinbase and Dillard’s have made the move, while Dell recently filed plans to incorporate in Texas. 

Not everyone is happy. New York City Comptroller Mark Levine (D) urged Exxon shareholders to vote against the relocation because it would “disenfranchise” them. Proxy advisories Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services claimed it could limit shareholder rights.

Texas enacted rules that set a higher ownership threshold for shareholder proposals and lawsuits. This will curtail frivolous abuses. At the same time, Exxon said it wouldn’t opt into these new rules. 

Politicians like to blame companies for acting in their self-interest, but that’s the easy way out. If New Jersey and Delaware want to retain companies, let alone attract them, they need to take a hard look at what they’re doing to drive so many away.