Verrus, LLC: But For The Grace of Google

Verrus and Google: The Publicly Documented Connections

Salem, Oregon, recently revealed that Verrus, LLC, was pursuing a data center whose estimated value exceeds 5 billion dollars. Verrus projects an investment exceeding 5 billion dollars –an amount equal to approximately 30 percent of Salem’s entire existing 16.7 billion dollars tax base. It is also on the order of nearly one-half of the combined valuation previously identified for Hillsboro’s extensive data-center sector, although investment cost and assessed valuation are not necessarily equivalent measures.

The project had been kept secret from the public and several City Council members for approximately 15 months. The project was made public only after an affiliated entity successfully secured authorization for a property-tax exemption from the Marion County Assessor’s Office, whose determination is a public record.

In 2026, the State of Oregon passed HB 4084, which placed a temporary moratorium on enterprise-zone authorization for data-center projects. The legislation took effect June 5, 2026, and the practical deadline for securing authorization under the prior law was June 4, 2026. Alderstone, LLC, the named applicant for the Verrus project, submitted its complete authorization application on May 23, 2026. The Marion County Assessor approved it on May 27, 2026, just four calendar days later. There is some discrepancy as to dates in the Agenda packet.  The actual Oregon Enterprise Zone Authorization Approval, page 127 of the Council package, states:

• Applicant: Alderstone, LLC
• Complete application submitted: May 23, 2026
• Zone-manager approval: May 26, 2026
• Marion County Assessor approval: May 27, 2026
• Estimated qualified investment: $5,125,764,137
• Estimated new employment: 74
• Filing fee: $50,000

The four-calendar-day turnaround is exceptionally brief for an authorization involving an estimated 5 billion dollar investment and a 50,000 dollar filing fee. That timing deserves public explanation (50,000 dollar filing fee).¹

I’ve noticed news blogs and media outlets are not drawing the connection to Google.  Why? The available evidence does not establish that Google owns Verrus or is the applicant behind the Salem project. It does, however, establish a substantial network of publicly documented corporate, investment, personnel, and advisory relationships connecting Verrus to Google and the Alphabet ecosystem.

I created The Google Tree of Life diagram below with an associated table of references supporting all of the associations.  Because these relationships have received little attention, I assembled the diagram below and a source table documenting each connection.

there would not be a Verrus, LLC but for the grace of Google.

Here is a table of the supporting source material for this diagram: Google_Tree_Source_Table.md

Here is the script which pulls the source material: download_google_verrus_sources.sh and an example of a session run by the script: session.

Here is the Mermaid diagram: Google_Tree.mmd

Here is an SVG version: Google_Tree_20260730_091200.svg

1. Marion County commissioner positions are partisan offices, all three commissioners are registered Republicans. See also “WATCH: ‘You can’t fight it,’ Trump tells Americans about data centers moving into their communities” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7kmEbWsDnE