As Tech Titans Go to Austin and Miami, Will Tech Workers Follow?
The moves of prominent CEOs and VCs to Florida and Texas may be influenced by a new factor in location decisions: Covid restrictions.
Elon Musk talks to reporters in front of Tesla headquarters in Palo Alto. Musk announced he’s moving the headquarters to Austin.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Elon Musk announced this month that he will move Tesla’s corporate headquarters to Austin, making good on his earlier threat to move his HQ out of California’s Silicon Valley. The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer is hardly the first tech titan to trade the Bay Area for a red state. Peter Thiel and Keith Rabois are just two of the highest profile California venture capitalists who set up shop in Miami.
Such relocations are typically attributed to the lower taxes and business-friendly political climates in Florida and Texas. Musk cited limited affordable housing and long commute times as obstacles to the company’s growth in announcing the headquarters’ departure. And Rabois pointed to the Bay Area’s governance crisis, telling Fortune: “I think San Francisco is just so massively improperly run and managed that it's impossible to stay here.”