Elon Musk announced Tuesday he will move the headquarters of his companies X and SpaceX from California to Texas.
In a post to X, Musk cited California’s new bill banning school transgender notification requirements as one of the reasons for the move, calling it the “last straw” and saying such bills “[attack] both families and companies”.
Signed into law by the California governor, Gavin Newsom, on Monday, the bill will prohibit school policies that require parents to be alerted if their child wishes to change pronouns or identifies as transgender. The legislation comes after several school districts in the state put such rules in place.
Musk has been criticized for his inflammatory statements about transgender people in the past, including regarding his own daughter, who asserted in court documents: “I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.” She legally changed her name and gender recognition. Musk’s biographer said the CEO blamed his daughter’s art school for changing her politics to “full-on communism”.
Musk also previously stated on X that he “will be actively lobbying to criminalize” gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
After acquiring X, Musk ordered almost all his employees to return to the office, demanding that they be “extremely hardcore”. Earlier this month, Twitter began seeking sublessees for its 800,000-sq-ft office in downtown San Francisco.
Musk in February said he moved SpaceX’s incorporation from Delaware to Texas after a Delaware judge invalidated his $56bn pay package from his electric vehicle company Tesla. Shareholders voted to uphold the pay package in late June.
Reuters contributed to this report