Elon Musk has become the latest resident of California to leave the Golden State, opting to head for Texas instead.
Musk cited business interests as the primary reason for the move in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Tesla is opening a new factory outside Austin and SpaceX uses a launch site in south Texas, according to The Verge.
Musk said that California had become complacent and too used to “winning” like a dominant sports team might. “They do tend to get a little complacent, a little entitled, and then they don’t win the championship anymore,” Musk told the Journal. (RELATED: ‘Garcetti, You F*ck’: Michael Rapaport Slams California COVID-19 Restrictions After Seeing Flea Market Open)
He went on to say that the Bay Area has “too much influence on the world” and that government regulators need to “just get out of the way” to let new innovation happen. The Tesla founder has had run-ins with government officials in California in the past, including a testy Twitter exchange with Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez in May.
Elon Musk and California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez have an exchange on Twitter. (Screenshot/Twitter)
Hewlett-Packard announced last week it planned to move its headquarters from California to Texas and Palantir Technologies moved their headquarters to Denver this year after 17 years in the Bay Area, according to the WSJ. (RELATED: Texas Sues Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan And Pennsylvania Over Election Results)
Podcasting titan Joe Rogan, who has hosted Musk on his show multiple times, made news by leaving his longtime home of Los Angeles to move to Austin earlier this year. More than 150,000 people have left the state of California during the last decade, according to CBS Los Angeles.