Elon Musk is moving [1] more of his business empire to Texas. Musk-run X and SpaceX will shift their corporate headquarters to Texas from California, he explained in a few posts on X on Tuesday.
Musk didn’t provide a timeline for the move, but he was clear about his reasons.
This is the final straw.
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. https://t.co/cpWUDgBWFe [2]
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 16, 2024 [3]
The reason for the move, according to Musk, is a new California law protecting the privacy of transgender children. “This is the final straw,” Musk said. “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 also stated that “X HQ will move to Austin” from San Francisco and added that he’s “had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building.”
Have had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 16, 2024 [4]
Headquarter moves can start out as symbolic but can be crucial for states such as California if staff relocate, as their budgets rely on taxing high-flying tech workers.
California’s rules have long drawn Musk’s ire. In 2020, he moved to Texas himself to spare him California’s high taxes. The following year, he moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin from Silicon Valley because of frustrations over local pandemic restrictions that he claims were hampering operations.
In 2022, Musk’s tunnel-digging operation, Boring Company, also ditched California for Texas.
The law that triggered Musk’s decision, signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, bars schools [5] from requiring staff to disclose a student’s gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation without the student’s permission.
The law overrides policies passed by local school boards that had required educators to tell parents if their children showed signs of being transgender.
Musk wrote in his series of posts on Tuesday that he had previously warned Newsom a year ago that “laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.”
I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 16, 2024 [6]
Newsom’s office explained that California law still requires parental consent for kids to change their names, and that parents also have access to education records.
Musk’s stand on parental rights stems from a personal story involving his eldest child’s transition to female that resulted in her excluding him from her life.
GLAAD, which advocates for trans rights, criticized [7] Musk for exploiting the new law to push questionable views, though Musk’s team didn’t immediately respond to the criticism.
The X, SpaceX, and Newsom camp also did not issue any immediate statements. Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, however, celebrated SpaceX’s move to his state.
BREAKING
.@elonmusk [8] announces the move of SpaceX headquarters to the great state of Texas.
This cements Texas as the leader in space exploration. https://t.co/n5BqQcuZRc [9]
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 16, 2024 [10]
At present, other companies that Musk owns remain rooted in California. The OpenAI challenger xAI is based in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Burlingame. Brain implant startup Neuralink is across the bay in Fremont. And even though Tesla moved its business base to Texas, Musk has kept significant manufacturing operations in Fremont and an engineering headquarters for the electric-car maker in Palo Alto.
Below is the bill that Elon said ‘is the final straw.’