• What Happened: ExxonMobil's board unanimously voted to leave New Jersey for Texas after 144 years, and Yamaha announced it is leaving California after 50 years for Georgia, both citing business climate as the driving factor.
  • Why It Matters: Exxon CEO Darren Woods said Texas has created a "policy and regulatory environment" that lets the company maximize shareholder value. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp personally recruited Yamaha away from California and told every other California company the door is open.
  • Bottom Line: Capital goes where it is welcome. Jobs follow capital. Two of the biggest corporate exits in recent memory just happened on the same day, and blue state politicians have no answer for it.

On the same day, two massive companies announced they were done with blue states. The moving trucks are not stopping.

ExxonMobil, the largest oil producer in the United States and a company that has been legally incorporated in New Jersey since 1882 when it was still called Standard Oil, announced Tuesday that its board of directors unanimously voted to recommend moving its legal home to Texas. Shareholders will vote on the change at the company's annual meeting on May 27. The company has operated out of Spring, Texas, just north of Houston, since 1989, and roughly 75 percent of its U.S. employees already work in the Lone Star State.

CEO Darren Woods was direct about why. "Over the past several years, Texas has made a noticeable effort to embrace the business community," Woods said in a statement. "In doing so, it has created a policy and regulatory environment that can allow the company to maximize shareholder value. 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."

Texas Governor Greg Abbott twisted the knife. "Freed from the stranglehold of over-regulation, Texas is where global brand leaders thrive and jobs for hardworking Texans grow," he said.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp was announcing a trophy of his own. Yamaha Motor Corp. USA, which has operated out of Cypress, California, since 1979, is packing up its 25-acre campus and relocating its entire U.S. headquarters to Kennesaw, Georgia. The move affects roughly 250 workers and will be completed by 2028. Yamaha spokesman Bob Starr summed it up plainly: "In terms of efficiency, to have us all together in Georgia, all the functions of the business, it makes a lot of sense."

Kemp did not miss his moment. "This is another loud and clear testament to what we offer job creators from around the world," he said. "To any other California-based companies looking for a better home, we'll give you plenty of reasons to keep Georgia on your mind."

The city of Cypress, California issued a statement saying it "regrets" Yamaha's decision. It was the second major company to exit Cypress in recent years, following Mitsubishi Motors North America's departure in 2019. Before that, Toyota left Torrance for Plano, Texas. Hewlett Packard left San Jose for Spring, Texas. Tesla left for Austin.

The pattern is not complicated. No state income tax in Texas. Right-to-work in Georgia. Lower regulation in both. Courts that do not treat corporations as defendants by default.

High taxes, aggressive litigation, and expanding regulation are not just bad policy. They are an eviction notice. And corporate America has been reading it loud and clear.