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Comment by geogra4 | Hacker News Reader

Delaware? Any reason for that specifically?

DuPont IS Delaware. The reason the state is so business amenable is because DuPont effectively floats the whole state, tax-wise. Everything in Delaware is named after DuPont, and massive chemical plants dot the landscape. The DuPonts founded gardens, estates, schools, performance halls, everything. They're the first family of Delaware. And Delaware was the first state!

DuPont is there, Dow is in Michigan. My hunch is that DuPont is in the driver's seat on this one.

TDCC is also incorporated in Delaware.

Dow is headquartered in Midland, Michigan. Think of it as a one company town. The worry in state is that this is going to destroy the town.

Kind of like when Chrysler moved out of Highland Park (near Detroit) and they lost 80%+ of their tax revenue and never recovered.

Delaware is very tax-friendly. A vast number of companies incorporate in Delaware due to this reason.

edit: words

It's not really taxes, although the fees for filing corporate documents. The franchise taxes are lower, but the numbers for large companies are so tiny it's inconsequential ($800 in California compared to $150 in Delaware).

My understanding is that Delaware has strong corporate law with well defined protections for corporations and lots of case law to back it up from their Chancery Court. The huge history of case law is really what makes the big deal from what I've read because it makes contracts enforced there (which all shareholder contracts would be) much more predictable in terms of what's allowed.

My startup is based in Delaware: you're spot on.

Low taxes, few constraints for internal organization, and clear answers from lawyers stemming from a rich jurisprudential history.

All true, but additionally in this case, the actual physical headquarters of DuPont is in Wilmington, Delaware.

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