Elon Musk says he's moving SpaceX and X headquarters from California to Texas

Elon Musk said Tuesday on X that he is moving the headquarters of both SpaceX and the social media platform formerly known as Twitter to Texas — citing several criticisms he has of California and doing business in San Francisco.

Pointing to a new state law that bans teachers from telling families about student gender identity changes, Musk tweeted that he is moving the headquarters of SpaceX from Hawthorne to the company’s launch test site in Texas.

The move would be a blow to Southern California, where SpaceX has helped to anchor a burgeoning space economy.

“This is the final straw,” Musk posted shortly after noon. “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.”

The law the SpaceX founder cited was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday after a contentious battle between conservative school boards concerned about parental rights and LGBTQ+ activists worried about vulnerable youths.

Later Tuesday, Newsom retweeted an older Donald Trump post on X about Musk with the comment: “You bent the knee.”

Trump’s tweet talked about how Musk came to the White House seeking help for all his “subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere… I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it.”

Shortly after his post about moving SpaceX, Musk posted that he would also move X, formerly known as Twitter, from San Francisco to Austin, saying that he has “had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building.”

Since acquiring Twitter in 2022 in a $44-billion deal, Musk has made sweeping and controversial changes to the social media site, firing top executives and laying off thousands of employees.

The announcement is the latest salvo in Musk’s long-running feud with California and comes nearly three years after he announced the move of Tesla’s headquarters to Austin from Palo Alto, citing the high cost of housing and long commutes for employees. The electric vehicle company maintains a manufacturing operation in Fremont.

It comes amid the highly charged presidential campaign during which the libertarian Musk has increasingly moved to the right. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the billionaire plans to give $45 million a month to a new pro-Trump super PAC called America PAC.

Musk has an estimated net worth of $254 billion, making him the world’s wealthiest person, according to Forbes. His announcements drew immediate applause from Republicans. GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posted: “Let freedom ring!”

California Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, who voted against the parental notification law, issued a statement that “Gavin Newsom’s anti-parent agenda isn’t just bad for families — now it’s doing serious damage to California’s economy.”

Musk also drew a comment from the other side of the political spectrum, with Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco, posting that Musk hugely benefited from California subsidies. “Will this be a fake temper tantrum move just like Tesla’s fake ‘move’ to Texas?”

In an interview, Wiener said, “I’m not confident that whatever he’s going to do has anything to do with a law that we passed to protect the safety of trans kids.” He added, “He has a history of saying one thing and it not being true.”

Newsom declined to comment on Musk’s announcements.

Musk, who announced in 2020 that he had moved from Los Angeles to Texas, has previously complained about crime in San Francisco. Last year, he said in a post that a friend had experienced two shootings outside his apartment in the city, with a bullet going through his wall.

In posting he would move SpaceX’s headquarters, it was unclear whether Musk was referring just to the company’s executive offices or also production and other employees.

Founded in 2002, SpaceX has deep ties to Los Angeles. In 2007, it moved into a former Northrop Corp. facility off Crenshaw Boulevard that it rapidly expanded last decade.

The sprawling Hawthorne campus is the location of the company’s mission control center and employs thousands of workers who design and build the company’s spacecraft, including the workhorse Falcon 9. SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, made to service the International Space Station, also was built there under a $2.6-billion contract with NASA.

Other facilities in Southern California include one at Vandenberg Space Force Base near Lompoc, where it wants to expand operations. SpaceX is seeking approval to launch 90 rockets from the Santa Barbara County launch site by 2026.

The company also conducts rocket launches in Florida and from Starbase, a site in Boca Chica, Texas, off the Gulf of Mexico. That is where it is building and has launched its massive Starship rocket, which SpaceX intends to send to the moon.

SpaceX has recently suffered some setbacks.

Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the company’s Falcon 9 rocket after its second stage failed to boost a payload of the company’s Starlink internet satellites into orbit during an uncrewed mission.

And last month, SpaceX and Musk were sued by eight former employees who allege that they were fired after asking the company to address a toxic work culture they say is rife with sexual harassment and discrimination. The company has declined to respond to the claims.

Last year, the Justice Department sued the company, alleging that it discriminated against employees and refugees by discouraging them from applying for jobs and by refusing to consider or hire them because of their citizenship status.

Times staff writer Caroline Petrow-Cohen contributed to this report.