Tesla Moves Headquarters To Austin From San Francisco Bay Area

Electric automaker Tesla announced Thursday that its headquarters will officially move from Palo Alto, California, to Texas, but that the company will continue to have a major presence in the Bay Area, CBS San Francisco Reports.

“I am delighted to announce that we are moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas,” CEO Elon Musk told attendees. at the annual meeting of shareholders of the company.

It took place at the company’s Gigafactory in Austin, which is still under construction.

Musk insisted that moving the company’s headquarters doesn’t mean the automaker is leaving the Golden State. “Just to be clear though, we will continue to expand our business in California. This is not for Tesla to leave California,” he said.

Musk said the company will continue to ramp up production at its massive Fremont plant, but acknowledged that there are limits to expanding auto production at its Silicon Valley plant.

“We’re just bumping into the sides of the bowl. If you go to our factory in Fremont, it’s stuck,” he said.

Musk, who officially moved to Texas last year, also recognized the high cost of living of the bat area.

“It’s hard for people to afford houses, and a lot of people have to come from far away. And so, we are going as far as we can, but there is a limit to the size you can reach in the area of ​​the bay, “he said.

Musk has expressed his frustrations with doing business in California in the past.

During the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic, he threatened to move the company elsewhere and took legal action against the officials on the health ordinances that closed the Fremont plant.

The Bay Area Council, which represents hundreds of large employers, has expressed concern over the relocation and ongoing housing issues in the area.

“Mr. Musk’s announcement once again underscores the urgency for California to tackle the housing affordability crisis and the many other challenges that make it so difficult for businesses to grow here,” said the CEO Jim Wunderman.

At the same time, the group said it was happy to hear that the Fremont plant will remain open. “We are pleased to see that Tesla plans to continue building cars in the Bay Area, which in recent years has increasingly become a magnet for innovation and investment in global automotive technology,” Wunderman said.

Tesla joins other Silicon Valley companies that recently moved their headquarters to Texas.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, once part of the pioneer Silicon Valley company, announced last December that it would move its headquarters from San Jose to a suburb of Houston in 2022.

Oracle, which was founded in the Bay Area in 1977, also announced that the company would move its Redwood Shores area headquarters from Redwood City to Austin. CEO Larry Ellison said he is not moving to the Lone Star State as part of the move, but is chose to move to his island in Hawaii.

Michael Bernick, an employment lawyer, said: “This is not a first time, but I would say that every time a large company moves, it should be a time to reconsider what we are doing. : can we do better to keep these companies in California? ? “