Elon Musk: Tesla moving headquarters from California to Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Tesla will move its headquarters from California to Texas, CEO Elon Musk said Thursday during the company’s annual shareholder meeting.

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The company will relocate from Palo Alto to Austin, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Tesla is one of Silicon Valley’s most valuable companies and the most valuable automaker, the newspaper reported. Tesla has a market capitalization of $785.6 billion, according to the Chronicle.

However, the company will continue to expand its major factory in Fremont, California, which employs approximately 10,000 workers, the newspaper reported.

“You go to our Fremont factory, it is jammed,” Musk said during the shareholders meeting. “We’re like Spam in a can.”

Tesla is following in the footsteps of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and Oracle Corp., which moved their corporate headquarters to Texas earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“I’m excited to announce we are moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas,” Musk said. “Just to be clear, though, we will be continuing to expand our activities in California. This is not a matter of Tesla leaving California.”

The number of Tesla workers relocating to Austin wasn’t immediately clear, the Chronicle reported.

Musk said Austin proved more accommodating for the pool of workers Tesla is aiming to attract, the Post reported. The costs and constraints of the Bay Area began to be prohibitive, he told shareholders.

“It’s tough for people to afford houses, and a lot of people have to come in from far away,” he said. “There’s a limit to how big you can scale in the Bay Area.”

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