Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on his X handle on Tuesday that he is moving the headquarters of both SpaceX and social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to Texas, the Los Angeles Times reported. He cited a number of criticisms of doing business in California and San Francisco.
Citing a new state law that prevents teachers from telling families about students’ gender identity changes, Musk tweeted that he was moving SpaceX’s headquarters from Hawthorne to the company’s launch test site in Texas, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The move would be a blow to Southern California, where SpaceX has helped support a growing space economy, the Los Angeles Times reports.
“This is the last straw,” Musk posted shortly after noon. “Because of this law, and many others that have come before it, that attack both families and companies, SpaceX will now be moving its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas.”
The law the SpaceX founder cited was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday, following a contentious battle between conservative school boards concerned about parental rights and LGBTQ activists worried about vulnerable youth.
Shortly after his post about moving SpaceX, Musk posted that he would also move X, formerly known as Twitter, from San Francisco to Austin, saying he was “fed up of having to avoid gangs of violent drug addicts to get in and out of the building.”
The announcement is the latest move in Musk’s long-running dispute with California and comes nearly three years after he announced he would move Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin, citing high housing costs and long commutes for employees. The electric vehicle company maintains a manufacturing operation in Fremont.
The incident comes amid a highly aggressive campaign for the presidency, during which liberal Musk has been moving increasingly to the right. Musk was one of the first entrepreneurs to openly support Donald Trump as president before the elections.
Musk also drew comments from the other side of the political spectrum, with Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco, posting that Musk had benefited greatly from California subsidies. “Will this be a fake tantrum move like Tesla’s fake “move” into Texas?”
“I’m not at all confident that what he’s going to do has anything to do with the laws that we passed to protect trans kids,” Weiner said. “He has a history of saying one thing and not being true.”
