Data In The Dark: How Big Tech Secretly Secured $800 Million In Tax Breaks For Data Centers

Columbus City council member Emmanuel Remy listened intently as the lawyer on his computer screen argued why the company he represented was entitled to a big tax break. During the virtual council meeting in March, the attorney said the company intended to build a data center on a 500-acre site just south of Ohio’s capital city, which, when complete, would employ 20 people full time. In return, the company wanted $54 million in tax incentives. “This is like the new manufacturing,” the lawyer, Scott Ziance, told the elected officials. In particular, Ziance emphasized the benefit to the community in construction jobs as the facility was being built.

The company Ziance represented wasn’t Amazon, Microsoft or Facebook, but a Delaware-registered shell company called Magellan Enterprises LLC. It was Magellan’s undisclosed parent, one of the biggest technology companies in the world, that Ziance said had a track record of working “collaboratively” with cities — and wanted the tax breaks in exchange for jobs the data center would bring. “You'll be very proud to have this company and its parent in your community,” he said.

When the council members voted in favor of Ziance’s proposal at the meeting, none of them knew the identity of the parent company, according to Remy. Nor did local residents, neighbors and other stakeholders involved. Only the mayor’s office and city employees who had negotiated and signed non-disclosure agreements were informed of the parent company’s true identity. While city officials declined to disclose the company’s name, even five months after the incentives were awarded, Forbes has identified the company as Google, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. “We're optimistic that we will be able to share news about an infrastructure announcement that involves the State of Ohio this week," a Google spokesperson told Forbes.