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   From: ying@yang.com   
      
   Musk remains non-committal towards Twitter’s HQ being in city   
      
   By Evan Symon, May 24, 2023 6:31 pm   
      
   Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave a non-committal answer towards   
   Twitters future in San Francisco on Tuesday, creating growing concern that   
   the social media company could be moving out of San Francisco soon.   
      
   Since the beginning of the decade, many prominent companies in the Bay   
   Area, including Oracle, have left the city to relocate elsewhere in the   
   state or move out, largely due to the growing number of significant   
   problems besieging the Bay Area. However, few saw Musk or his companies   
   doing the same. Originally highly praised for Space X opening in the Los   
   Angeles area and Tesla in the Bay Area, he proceeded to amaze Californians   
   by bringing car manufacturing back to the state by reopening the Fremont   
   Assembly Plant in 2010. Tesla proceeded to grow exponentially throughout   
   the 2010s, aided both by the tech boom and the rising popularity of   
   electric cars.   
      
   However, only a few years later, relations grew strained, as California   
   tax rates and business laws began affecting the company to such a degree   
   that Musk looked elsewhere. Threats of unionization and the COVID-19   
   pandemic shutting down his factory for months proved to be final straws   
   for Tesla and Musk.   
      
   In late 2020, Musk moved out of California to tax-friendly Texas. Only a   
   year later, Musk moved the Tesla HQ from Palo Alto to Austin. While many   
   Tesla positions ultimately stayed in California, with the car plant   
   staying and a new factory opening up in Lathrop, Tesla continued to   
   defocus California, opening up other factories in Nevada and Texas, as   
   well as laying off hundreds of workers in California. While he did bring   
   the Global Engineering and AI HQ of Tesla back to Palo Alto in February,   
   both Tesla and Musk himself are now far removed from California.   
      
   Last year, Musk set out to buy Twitter, but went back and forth on plans.   
   But, with pressure mounting, Musk finally bought the company last April   
   for $44 billion. Problems plagued the company, with Twitter immediately   
   losing users, Musk firing around 80% of employees, and numerous issues   
   surrounding setting up living spaces in their San Francisco headquarters   
   to let workers sleep during long work days. The San Francisco Department   
   of Building Inspection is currently investigating the latter for   
   violations, including allegations from employees that the company disabled   
   lights and added locks that wouldn’t open during an emergency.   
      
   With so many issues, the question of Twitter leaving has been a constant   
   question since Musk’s acquisition in October. On Tuesday, during the Wall   
   Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit in London, Musk gave an unusually non-   
   committal statement on if Twitter would be staying in San Francisco. This   
   led to worry on Wednesday for many in the city that San Francisco would be   
   losing a large employer and a huge tax-paying company.   
      
   “San Francisco currently is facing a budget deficit of $780 million in the   
   next few years. They can’t afford to lose even more big companies,”   
   explained Charlotte Welsh, a budget analyst who has worked for cities in   
   California, Oregon, and Idaho, to the Globe on Wednesday. “Musk and   
   Twitter are holding a huge card right now for San Francisco’s future. And,   
   as we saw with the Tesla move, we know that he is willing to play it.   
   There could be a backlash from employees, like when Disney employees   
   refused to move to Florida from California until that was fully cancelled   
   last week. The city could also try to block the move as Twitter is   
   currently being investigated.   
      
   “We still don’t know for certain though what exactly will happen. But it   
   is up in the air now. If you told the city 5 years ago Twitter was   
   planning to move to Florida or Texas, they’d just laugh at you. Today,   
   it’s a big threat.”   
      
   As of Wednesday, Musk has not followed up on a possible Twitter move.   
      
   https://californiaglobe.com/articles/elon-musk-hints-at-possible-twitter-   
   move-out-of-san-francisco/   
      
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