Musk announces SpaceX and X leaving California over K-12 gender law

(The Center Square) - Just after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill banning parental notification for gender change requests from K-12 students, entrepreneur Elon Musk announced he is moving the headquarters of X, formerly known as Twitter, and SpaceX from California to Texas in response to the law.

“This is the final straw. 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,” said Musk on X. “I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.”

Less than 20 minutes later, Musk announced he is also moving the X headquarters to Texas as well.

After the California Department of Education issued guidance that public schools should not disclose students’ gender-related record change requests to parents, some California school districts passed rules requiring that schools notify parents if their children request to officially change their pronouns, go by a substantially different name, or use gendered facilities or programs for children of the opposite gender. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has supported lawsuits against these school districts and also supported this law, which bans school districts from requiring schools to notify parents of students' requests for these changes.

CalMatters reporter Alexei Koseff was quick to note that this announcement comes after personal experiences for Musk and meetings between Newsom and the entrepreneur.

“17 months after Newsom appeared with Musk to announce the opening of a Tesla engineering headquarters in Silicon Valley and two years after Musk’s transgender daughter cut ties with him,” said Kosseff on X.

Investor and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis quoted Musk’s exit announcement, saying he is also leaving California.

SpaceX, recently valued at $200 billion , and X, valued at $12.5 billion , would both be Fortune 500 companies if they weren’t privately owned. While California leads the nation with 47 Fortune 500 companies — Texas and New York are each home to 52 — the continued exodus of high-profile individuals and businesses could undermine the state’s economic dominance. On a per-capita basis, Texas has 12.4% more Fortune 500 companies per capita, and New York has 71.5% more.