Elon Musk said he is moving much of his business empire to Texas. Musk-run X and SpaceX will move their corporate headquarters from California to the Lone Star State, he wrote A series of posts on X He didn’t give any time frame for the move, but he did explain the reason behind it.
“This is the last straw,” Musk said, commenting on a post about California’s new law protecting the privacy of transgender children. “Because of this law and many others that have come before it that attack both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas.” He then added that “SpaceX headquarters will move from San Francisco to Austin” and that he was “fed up with dodging gangs of violent drug addicts to get in and out of the building.”
Moving the headquarters might initially be symbolic, but it could hold huge significance for states like California if employees relocate, since their budgets depend on taxing high-level tech workers.
California’s regulations have long annoyed Musk. He said in 2020 that he personally considered moving to Texas, a move that would allow him to escape California’s high taxes. The next year, he moved Tesla’s headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin because of frustrations about local pandemic restrictions Allegedly obstructing operations“To be honest, this is the last straw,” he tweeted Musk’s tunnel-digging company, The Boring Company, is leaving California and moving to Texas in 2022.
New solution The law, which drew criticism from Musk, was signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday. It prohibits schools from requiring staff to disclose students’ gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation without their permission. The law overturns policies passed by local school boards that required teachers to tell parents if their children showed signs of being transgender.
“I made it clear to Governor Newsom almost a year ago that laws like this would force families and companies to leave California for the safety of their children,” Musk wrote in a series of posts Tuesday.
Newsom declined to comment to WIRED, but his office pointed out that California law still requires parental consent to change children’s names and also guarantees parents access to education records.
The issue of parental rights is personal for Musk. Musk’s biography was written last year by Walter Isaacson revealed The billionaire blamed his elder daughter’s school, as the school introduced her to certain ideals which led to her becoming a womanizer and pushed him out of her life.
after Musk buys Twitter in 2022They began allowing users to post the former names, or deadnames, of transgender people, and according to activists, they have eased the control of anti-LGBTQ content.
A spokesperson for GLAAD, an organization that advocates for trans rights, says it was not surprised to see a person “with a long history of hateful rhetoric” take advantage of the new law to push questionable ideas. “The state of California’s support for transgender and nonbinary students does not harm students or parents, but rather sets a model for all leaders in education to ensure the safety and privacy of LGBTQ students,” says the spokesperson, who requested anonymity to avoid harassment.
X, SpaceX and Newsom did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, In a post on XExpressed happiness over SpaceX’s move to Texas.
Musk’s other companies are also based in California. His rival to OpenAI, xAI, is based in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Burlingame. Brain implant startup Neuralink is based across the bay in Fremont. And although Tesla has moved its business base to Texas, Musk maintains significant manufacturing operations in Fremont and last year announced an engineering headquarters for the electric carmaker in Palo Alto.
Update 7/16/24 7:48pm ET: This story has been updated to include comment from GLAAD and Gavin Newsom’s office.
