Oil Titan To Leave NJ After Nearly 150 Years

After being legally stationed in New Jersey for 144 years, one of the largest publicly traded international energy and petrochemical companies had decided to cut ties with the Garden State.

Recently, ExxonMobil’s Board of Directors unanimously recommended that shareholders approve changing the company’s legal domicile from New Jersey to Texas.

While the gas giant’s headquarters and base of operations have been in Texas since 1989, the company’s legal domicile was still New Jersey until now.

"Over the past several years, Texas has made a noticeable effort to embrace the business community. In doing so, it has created a policy and regulatory environment that can allow the company to maximize shareholder value,” said Darren Woods, ExxonMobil chairman and chief executive officer. "Aligning our legal home with our operating home, in a state that understands our business and has a stake in the company’s success, is important.”

ExxonMobil officials say that the change will have no effect on business operations, management, strategy, assets, or employee locations. They added that shareholder rights will not be reduced, and in fact, could be strengthened under Texas law.

“The Board determined that shareholder rights under Texas law are largely comparable to those under New Jersey law – and in some areas stronger,” a statement read. “ExxonMobil has no plans to adopt elective provisions under Texas law that would diminish shareholder rights currently in place.”

The company flouted Texas’s “legal and regulatory environment” for the change, adding that Texas courts are required to apply “clear, statute-based standards” when corporate decisions are challenged.

Exxon, originally established in 1882 as the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, later became known as Esso, until it adopted its Exxon Corporation name in 1972. It was in 1999 when Exxon and the Irving, Texas-based company Mobil Corporation merged to become ExxonMobil.

ExxonMobil's move to leave the Garden State follows in the footsteps of another corporate giant, Samsung Electronics America, which announced it will be moving its headquarters from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to Plano, Texas.