Elon Musk Moves To Texas, Leaving Los Angeles

Breanna De Vera

Breanna de Vera is dot.LA's editorial intern. She is currently a senior at the University of Southern California, studying journalism and English literature. She previously reported for the campus publications The Daily Trojan and Annenberg Media.

Elon Musk Moves To Texas, Leaving Los Angeles
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After months of speculation, SpaceX and Tesla Inc. chief executive Elon Musk confirmed Tuesday that he is moving to Texas.

The Los Angeles resident made the announcement at "The Wall Street Journal" CEO Council summit, citing Silicon Valley's "outsized influence in the world," which he believes will be reduced as a symptom of the coronavirus pandemic. "I think we'll see some reduction in the influence of Silicon Valley," he said.


Musk criticized California, calling it complacent, with its powerhouse status. "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. "California's been winning for a long time. And I think they're taking them for granted a bit," referring to the state's innovators.

He joins an "exodus" of Silicon Valley executives and employees who are leaving the state as remote work becomes a norm, to escape California's stricter regulations and higher taxes. Musk, who became the second richest man in the world, next to Amazon head Jeff Bezos, after Tesla shares soared, stands to benefit from Texas's lack of a state income tax.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported that the Musk Foundation quietly moved to Texas in October, a move that had been in the works since the summer. Musk has suggested several times online earlier this year that he was considering moving.

At the beginning of May, he tweeted "Will own no house." He then listed several of his Los Angeles properties on Zillow.

A week later, Musk took to Twitter again, to disagree with Alameda County's shelter-in-place rules, which were stricter than the state's COVID-19 guidelines.

"Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately," he tweeted. "If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen [sic] on how Tesla is treated in the future."

Tesla then briefly sued the county, dropping the suit a little over a week later.

Despite his move, Musk said both Tesla and SpaceX will continue the majority of their operations in California in his Tuesday announcement. In Tesla's second-quarter earnings call in July, Musk confirmed that a second factory would be constructed in Austin, to produce Tesla's Cybertruck, its Semi, Model 3 and Model Y.

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Office Hours: Apex Founder Ian Cinnamon on Why LA Is the Aerospace Capital of the World

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

​Ian Cinnamon
Ian Cinnamon

On this episode of Office Hours, Apex founder and CEO Ian Cinnamon discusses the importance of investing in space exploration and shares his thoughts on the evolving space ecosystem in Los Angeles.


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This Week in ‘Raises’: Measurabl Snags $93M, Selva Ventures Grabs $34M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
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A local data management platform company lands fresh funding to help commercial real estate owners reduce carbon footprint, while one Los Angeles-based venture firm closes its second fund to accelerate the growth of emerging companies across health, wellness, beauty and personal care.

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McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges
InLA

In 2022, female founders saw a 28% decline in overall U.S. funding, while Black-led startups saw a 38% decline in total capital received. In an effort to increase funding for minority-led startups, global venture firm McKinsey & Company is launching InLA, an accelerator program for underrepresented founders.

“This effort is something that the firm has been really excited about for a long time,” Engagement Manager Elkhyn Rivas Rodriguez said. “There's obviously a meaningful and growing startup community out here and just from a diversity standpoint, LA is incredibly diverse and multi-ethnic and multicultural. So we think that there will be a really great pool of potential companies to partner with.”

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