Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has finally had enough of San Francisco’s hostile business environment and announced that his social media platform, X, will be relocating its headquarters to Texas. The move marks the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the city, as businesses flee the ever-growing burden of progressive policies and crippling taxes.
While one might expect San Francisco officials to plead with Musk to stay, their reaction was anything but. City Attorney David Chiu was quick to declare, “Good riddance,” echoing the sentiment of many local leaders who seem more interested in pushing their leftist agenda than retaining major businesses. Even Mayor London Breed, who reportedly met with Musk “several months ago,” was unapologetic. She made it clear that she wasn’t about to “beg anybody” to stay, signaling a complete lack of interest in the economic consequences of X’s departure.
Musk’s decision to pull X out of San Francisco comes as no surprise to those familiar with the state’s increasingly draconian laws. The final straw for Musk was the recent passage of a California law that prohibits schools from informing parents if their child begins to transition genders at school. In Musk’s view, this law is just another attack on families, part of a broader trend of overreach by the state’s leftist government.
“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,” Musk announced, adding that families would need to “leave California to protect their children.” In a similar vein, Musk explained that X’s headquarters would be relocating from San Francisco to Austin, Texas, where the business climate is far more favorable.
Musk has been an outspoken critic of leftist gender ideology, especially after it hit close to home. In a recent interview, Musk revealed that he was “essentially tricked into signing documents” allowing his child, Xavier, to undergo puberty blocker treatment. Xavier now identifies as Vivian Jenna Wilson, a change that Musk believes was driven by what he calls the “woke mind virus.”
“I lost my son, essentially,” Musk lamented. “They call it deadnaming for a reason. The reason it’s called deadnaming is because your son is dead. My son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus,” Musk stated. This personal tragedy has only fueled Musk’s determination to combat the ideological forces he sees as eroding traditional values and common sense.
The decision to leave San Francisco wasn’t just about ideology—it was also about survival. Musk blasted the city’s “crazy gross receipts tax,” which he claims has driven financial companies like Stripe, Block (CashApp), and VISA out of the city. The tax, which counts all transactions processed by a company as “gross receipts” even if they aren’t revenue, has made it impossible for companies in the payments industry to operate in San Francisco without facing financial ruin.
Musk had previously been committed to keeping X in San Francisco, despite numerous offers from other cities offering rich incentives to relocate. “You only know who your real friends are when the chips are down,” Musk said last year. “San Francisco, beautiful San Francisco, though others forsake you, we will always be your friend.” But with the city spiraling into decline, plagued by severe crime and anti-business policies, even Musk’s patience has worn thin.
San Francisco’s loss is Texas’s gain, as Musk takes X to a state that values freedom, business, and families. In doing so, he’s sending a clear message: if you make it impossible to do business, businesses will leave. And that’s exactly what San Francisco is now learning the hard way.
