San Francisco, CA
Elon Musk may be souring on San Francisco with a move to sublease X's headquarters
Elon Musk’s X could have plans to relocate its headquarters on its cards for this year.
The company is set to sublease its San Francisco headquarters, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
JLL, the real estate firm tasked with marketing X’s office, told the Chronicle it aims to sublease nearly 460,000 square feet of office space as a “large headquarters opportunity” but suggested X might decide to occupy some of it.
Musk has been vocal in the past about his thoughts on San Francisco and slammed it as a “disaster.”
Last year, the X owner described it as a “once beautiful and thriving” city, but likened the downtown area to becoming like a “derelict zombie apocalypse” as a result of the drugs and homelessness crisis.
The billionaire told the BBC last year that he tried to turn one of the company’s offices in San Francisco into a homeless shelter, but the building’s owners would not let him.
Due to changes made to its headquarters, Musk has had his fair share of issues and run-ins with local officials.
After he took over Twitter and rebranded it to X in a $44 billion deal, the company erected a giant light-up X sign on the roof of the high-rise building.
San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspection (DBI) got at least 24 complaints about the sign, which said the sign looked “poorly constructed,” could distract drivers, and disturb residents. Three days later, it was removed.
Musk also converted some conference rooms into bedrooms for workers at the headquarters. X was later told to correctly label the bedrooms as sleeping areas, according to a correction notice from San Francisco’s DBI previously reviewed by Business Insider.
X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.