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Following threats to move X and SpaceX’s headquarters to Texas, Elon Musk has confirmed that both offices in California will close “over the next few weeks,” according to an internal email viewed by The New York Times.
X, formerly known as Twitter, was founded in San Francisco in 2006 and has occupied its Mid-Market San Francisco headquarters since 2012.
Musk confirmed the news in a response to a post by The NYT on X, saying there was “no choice” in the matter and that it was “impossible to operate in San Francisco if you’re processing payments.”
In an email to Bay Area employees, X chief executive Linda Yaccarino explained staff would be relocated to Silicon Valley, with some shifting to X’s existing office in San Jose while others would work out of a planned new office in Palo Alto, shared with xAI.
The news shouldn’t come as a surprise after Musk threatened to move both company’s offices last month. The reason for that decision seems to have changed, though, with Musk initially citing a California law which bans school districts from requiring teachers to disclose to parents if their children change gender identity as the main factor behind the move.
California’s Mass Tech Exodus Continues
Musk’s relationship with California has always been tenuous and this isn’t the first company he’s moved out of the state. In 2021, Tesla headquarters relocated to Texas, with Musk blaming California’s strict covid measures for the move.
In February, X’s landlords, Shorenstein, filed a lawsuit seeking $13.6m from the company over unpaid rent dating back to 2022 for its San Francisco HQ.
Musk’s decision follows a growing trend of tech companies exiting California, with over 40% of office and retail spaces in Downtown San Francisco vacant. Some of the world’s biggest tech companies have already cut their rented office space in the state in half, including PayPal, Airbnb, Meta, and Salesforce.
