Billionaire Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick admits strategically moving to Texas before California wealth tax
Kalanick says Dec 18 move to Austin was timed 'prior to January' deadline for proposed billionaire tax
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Billionaire and Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick officially joined the exodus from California, revealing he moved to Austin, Texas, just weeks before a proposed wealth tax could have targeted his estimated $3.6 billion fortune.
"Just to be clear, on December 18, I moved to Texas. I don’t know what’s so specific about December 18, but let’s just say it’s prior to January," Kalanick said in an interview with TPBN.
"I get a little bit [of] FOMO on like, these people going to Florida. I'm like, dude! Why so much Florida action?" he continued. "Come on, homies."
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Kalanick left his San Francisco home for Texas just 14 days before the new year, when the retroactive residency deadline for the proposed billionaire tax would take effect.
Travis Kalanick, founder and former CEO of Uber Inc., stands on the trading floor during the company's initial public offering (IPO) at the New York Stock Exchange on May 10, 2019. (Getty Images)
While it has not yet qualified for the November ballot, the proposal — backed by the Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) — would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of California residents with more than $1 billion in wealth. The tax would be due in 2027, and taxpayers could spread payments over five years, with additional fees, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.
If the measure is approved by voters, anyone who was a California resident on Jan. 1, 2026, would owe the tax, according to the proposal. Based on Forbes’ estimates, Kalanick could owe roughly $180 million.
Kalanick’s departure follows other longtime California billionaires who have moved themselves or their businesses to Texas in recent years, including Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and venture capitalist David Sacks.
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Florida is also rapidly absorbing California’s finance and media elite, with names like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg moving to the "Gold Coast."
Kalanick is using his relocation to launch his new venture, Atoms — formerly City Storage Systems — which focuses on industrial robotics and "gainfully employed" artificial intelligence, he said in the interview. It’s a pivot from the "perception politics" he claims pushed him out of Uber in 2017.
"I had been torn away from an idea and a movement that I had poured my life into. I had lost my bearings as I found the world increasingly operating by the rules of perception, not reality," he writes on Atoms’ website.
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When jokingly asked if he ever takes work calls through his AirPods while waterskiing, Kalanick responded that he might start doing so.
"Dude, I should. I'd love it. Don't get me excited," he said.