Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced plans to relocate his company SpaceX and its sister company X from California to Texas. In a statement posted on his social media platform X on Tuesday, Mr. Musk cited California’s new gender identification law as the primary reason for the move.
The law, which was signed by California governor Gavin Newsom on Monday, prohibits school districts from requiring staff to inform parents of their child’s gender identification change. According to Mr. Musk, this law has been the “final straw” in his decision to relocate the companies.
“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,” Mr. Musk wrote in his statement.
SpaceX, currently based in Hawthorne, California, will be moving its operations to Starbase, Texas. Similarly, X, which is currently headquartered in San Francisco, will be relocating to Austin.
This is not the first time that Mr. Musk has made a major move out of California. In 2021, he moved the headquarters of his electric car company Tesla from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, Texas. He has also announced that he has personally relocated from California to Texas, where there is no state personal income tax.
In addition to the relocation news, it was reported by Bloomberg on Monday that Mr. Musk is making significant donations to a political group supporting presidential candidate Donald Trump. According to the Wall Street Journal, these donations are estimated to be around $45 million per month.
Mr. Musk’s decision to move his companies and himself out of California is a blow to the state’s economy and reputation as a hub for tech companies. It remains to be seen how this move will impact the future of SpaceX, X, and Tesla, as well as the state of California.
