Tech billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday that his social media platform X and space engineering rocket company SpaceX will move to Texas after California’s governor passes a controversial law affecting school-age children.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a state bill on Tuesday that essentially prevents California public schools from creating any rules that would allow them to notify parents if their child identifies as transgender.
“The state will take away your kids in California,” Musk wrote on X in response to the news Tuesday morning.
By the afternoon, Musk had declared he was hightailing out of California to the more conservative-leaning state of Texas, already home to Tesla’s massive GigaFactory Battery production plant.
“This is the final straw,” Musk wrote, explaining his decision in another X post.
“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.
This is the final straw.
undefined Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 16, 2024
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
By late afternoon, the post had over 18 million views and counting. That's when Musk made his second declaration. “And 𝕏 HQ will move to Austin,” he wrote.
And 𝕏 HQ will move to Austin https://t.co/LUDfLEsztj
undefined Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 16, 2024
The Tesla CEO said he had warned Newsom last year that his policies would drive families and businesses out of the Golden State.
“Have had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building, “ Musk continued in the thread.
Musk’s has already moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin, Texas in 2021, although the electric car company’s engineering division is still located in California.
And this February, Musk transferred SpaceX’s incorporation papers from the state of Delaware, also to Texas, in response to a Delaware judge denying Musk a $56-billion compensation package approved by Tesla’s board.
SpaceX headquarters, where engineers build and test rocket engine components, spacecraft and satellites, is currently located on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Still, SpaceX heavy rockets regularly lift off at the company’s private launch facility in Boca Chica Village, Texas, built by Musk back in 2019.
The move comes days after the CEO of Tesla publicly endorsed Donald Trump as his presidential choice in the upcoming November elections.
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