The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Meta is considering relocating its incorporation to Texas, a US state viewed as friendly to corporations run by large owners such as Mark Zuckerberg. The social media behemoth has been incorporated in Delaware since 2004, when it was known as Facebook.
Meta’s move to Texas would follow in the footsteps of Elon Musk, who moved the incorporation of Tesla and several other firms he owns to the state after a Delaware judge overturned his massive remuneration package.
In a verdict, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen McCormick sided with a shareholder who alleged the Tesla CEO was overpaid, approving the cancellation of Musk’s 2018 compensation deal valued up to $55.8 billion.
Suits filed by shareholders are normally heard in the courts where the companies are incorporated, and Texas presents itself as a welcoming environment for companies governed by shareholders with controlling interests.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told AFP that he couldn’t corroborate the Journal allegation and that the company had no intentions to relocate its headquarters from California’s Silicon Valley.
Texas has a history of favouring conservative political candidates, including Trump. Trump has recently courted tech heavyweights such as Zuckerberg and X founder Elon Musk, both of whom attended the president’s inauguration in Washington.
Meta has reduced its fact-checking and diversity activities as Zuckerberg embraces Trump. Zuckerberg has changed Meta’s policy to remove limits on certain content in the company’s programs, which include Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp.
Meta would be “restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg, who allegedly dined with Trump at his Florida resort in November, stated in announcing a recent pullback of fact-checking activities. Meta announced this week that it has agreed to pay Trump $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit he filed alleging that he was unlawfully blocked by Facebook and Instagram following the US Capitol incident.
