TSLA
1.55%
Elon Musk’s reasons for moving SpaceX and X headquarters to Texas go far beyond a new California law protecting the rights of gay and transgender kids.
Musk, who on Tuesday called the new state law prohibiting schools from outing gay and transgender kids to their parents “the last straw” in a post on X, has gotten increasingly negative about California in the past few years.
“Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas,” he said in his tweet. He later added “And X HQ will move to Austin.”
SpaceX already has a launch facility, control center and rocket production site near Brownsville, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX refers to the site as Starbase and has been expanding it over the past few years. The company’s headquarters are currently in Hawthorne, Calif., outside Los Angeles. It’s not clear how many people would move, or if it would just involve a small office staff to support top executives and the board.
The plan to move San Francisco-based X is not surprising in the least, as Musk has complained about city and the neighborhood where X is located ever since he bought the social-media company, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022. He has tweeted about how he is “tired of dodging gangs and violent drug addicts just to get into the building,” and last week the San Francisco Chronicle reported X was looking to sublease the entire building that currently houses its headquarters.
It’s not clear how many employees X currently has, or if they will be required to move to Texas.
Musk already moved Tesla Inc.’s
TSLA
1.55%
headquarters from California to Austin, Texas, and in June got shareholder approval to reincorporate in Texas after a Delaware judge nullified his $56 billion pay package earlier this year. Tesla shareholders also approved his pay package a second time. Musk is counting on a newly formed business court in Texas, which is seeking to rival the Delaware Chancery Court in business litigation, to be favorable to him and his companies.
It’s clear that Musk has plenty of business reasons to make these moves. He sees California as too expensive, too litigious, and too friendly to employees and their rights. He wants to pay lower taxes and lower employment costs.
He is using the latest political news about parental rights and the rights of their children to further stir up the pot, just after reports that he will be donating $45 million a month to a new super PAC backing convicted felon Donald Trump for president.
“It’s definitely got some markers of a political lens to it, irrespective of whatever its economic benefits,” said Eric Talley, co-director of Columbia Law School’s Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Owners, on Tuesday. Talley also said Musk’s companies will likely still have a large economic footprint in California. “One reason companies find it so hard to leave California is there is a big network of tech workers… That is a hard thing to start from scratch.”
California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom fired back at Musk on Tuesday, tweeting that he “bent the knee” to Trump.
But Musk’s followers and fans just used the opportunity to decry the current state of California, its homelessness problem and what they perceive as lax laws.
Musk has become increasingly conservative over the past few years. And remember he exaggerates about almost everything — like Tesla’s robotaxi capabilities. The reasons for moving to Texas are no different. There is always hyperbole when it comes Musk.
