Tesla's Elon Musk confirms Texas move from California, warns state on exodus
Tesla and SpaceX have a presence in Texas
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Elon Musk confirmed Tuesday that he has moved to Texas as he has grown increasingly frustrated with California and both Tesla and SpaceX now have a presence in the Lone Star State.
"For myself, yes, I have moved to Texas," he told Wall Street Journal editor in chief Matt Murray at a CEO Council Summit. "We've got the Starship development here in South Texas where I am right now. We're hopefully going to do a launch later today. And then we've got big factory developments just outside of Austin for Giga Texas as well."
Musk's comments come a day after it was revealed that he also moved the Musk Foundation -- which gives grants for renewable energy, space exploration, pediatric research, AI development, and science education -- from California to Texas.
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Musk announced in July that Tesla is building a new 2,000 acre, $1.1 billion factory in Austin.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 161.48 | -9.57 | -5.59% |
SpaceX also has a large presence in Texas with facilities in McGregor and Brownsville.
Musk compared California to a successful sports franchise that has gotten too used to winning.
"If a team has been winning for too long, they do tend to get a little complacent, a little entitled, and then they don't win the championship anymore," he said. "So California has been winning for a long time, and I think they are taking it for granted a little bit."
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Before confirming his move, Musk noted that other auto and aerospace companies have also left California.
"Tesla and SpaceX obviously have massive operations in California. In fact, it’s worth noting that Tesla is the last car company still manufacturing cars in California. SpaceX is the last aerospace company still doing significant manufacturing in California," he said. "So, there used to be over a dozen car plants in California. And California used to be the center of aerospace manufacturing. My companies are the last two left."
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Musk has seen his personal fortune balloon after Tesla's market value reached over $600 billion on Monday for the first time, joining a small list of S&P 500 companies in the category. The electric automaker will be added to the S&P 500 on December 21.
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Musk is now the second richest person in the world with a net worth of $155 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.