Image source, Getty Images
- author, Natalie Sherman
- role, BBC News Business Reporter
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Billionaire Elon Musk has announced that he will be relocating the headquarters of two of his most famous companies, rocket company SpaceX and social media platform X, from California to Texas.
He cited reasons for opposing a new California law that would prohibit schools from requiring officials to disclose information about a child’s gender identity to parents.
The businessman had already relocated Tesla’s headquarters to Texas in 2021, a move that was first threatened during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
Since then, he has become increasingly involved in US politics.
Musk formally endorsed Donald Trump for president over the weekend. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that he will be spending $45 million per month on Trump’s campaign. Musk responded on Twitter/X with a photo of a “fake wildebeest.”
The issue of what schools should tell parents about their children’s gender identity has become a hot topic in the United States.
LGBTQ advocates say students have a right to privacy, while others argue parents have a right to know what is going on with their children.
Musk, who has a transgender daughter, has previously spoken out in support of transgender people but has also expressed frustration with pronouns, describing them as an “aesthetic nightmare”.
Last year, he Said He will lobby to criminalize sex-change treatments, which he says lead to “profound and irreversible changes to children below the age of consent.”
In explaining his decision to move X to Austin, Musk criticized the current situation in San Francisco, saying he was “tired of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of our building.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, Musk, who is one of the names being floated as a possible Democratic candidate to succeed President Joe Biden in the next presidential election, criticized his decision on social media.
“You have caved,” Newsom wrote, along with a screenshot of a 2022 post from Donald Trump criticizing the billionaire.
A spokesman for the governor said after the bill was signed that the bill would “keep children safe while protecting the important role of parents.”
“This law will protect parent-child relationships by preventing politicians and school officials from inappropriately interfering in family matters or trying to control if, when and how families have private conversations,” Brandon Richards told The Associated Press.
States have historically competed fiercely to attract companies to set up headquarters and bring high-paying corporate jobs.
Musk himself is already a resident of Texas, a state with no income tax.
SpaceX already has a large operations base in California, employing more than 5,000 people there, according to state records.
In response to Musk’s pledge, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, “This solidifies Texas as a leader in space exploration.”
Neither SpaceX nor Company X responded to requests for comment on whether the decision to relocate its headquarters would lead to job cuts in California.
