X to shut down flagship San Francisco office – report

X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, will shut down its flagship San Francisco office “over the next few weeks”, the New York Times reported. The internal announcement comes after owner Elon Musk stated last month he would be moving the headquarters out of California .

In an email to employees obtained by the Times , chief executive Linda Yaccarino said Bay Area employees will be relocated to Silicon Valley, distributed between an existing office in San Jose and a new office to be built in Palo Alto.

“This is an important decision that impacts many of you, but it is the right one for our company in the long term,” Yaccarino said in the email, according to the Times.

In July, Musk announced on X that he would be relocating the headquarters of his companies X and SpaceX from California to Texas , citing a new California law banning school transgender notification requirements as his reason for leaving.

Related: Elon Musk v California: what exits of X and SpaceX mean for the Golden state

“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,” Musk wrote.

Musk has long maintained a contentious relationship with the state where he founded his companies, stating in 2022 the Golden State was the land of “taxes, overregulation and litigation”. In 2020 Musk relocated the headquarters of his electric car company Tesla from California to Texas in response to California’s coronavirus measures, which he called “fascist”.

X’s departure from San Francisco represents a symbolic blow to the city, which has seen an exodus of tech firms from its once busy downtown area. Since 2019, the 20 largest tech firms have slashed the amount of office space rented in downtown San Francisco in half – including Meta, Salesforce, Snap, Lyft, Block, Airbnb and Paypal. As X vacates its 800,000 sq ft headquarters, 46% of offices and 40% of retail spaces in the area are vacant.

In February, X’s landlords for the San Francisco headquarters sued X for $13.6m over unpaid rent on the location. A previous lawsuit over unpaid rent on the location was dismissed . The city also investigated X over reports that the company had illegally added sleeping quarters to the building for employees working long hours, but later concluded the company could keep them if it acquired a permit.