By Laura Waxmann, Reporter
July 16, 2024
The X logo is seen on the top of the company’s San Francisco headquarters in 2023. CEO Elon Musk announced the headquarters will relocate to Austin, Texas.
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
San Francisco real estate market participants confirmed last week that a majority of the Market Street headquarters of X Corp. — formerly Twitter — will soon be available for subleasing. On Tuesday, the company’s CEO appeared to confirm that its days in San Francisco are numbered.
“And 𝕏 HQ will move to Austin,” said Elon Musk in a post to the platform Tuesday afternoon. Musk purchased the social media giant in a $44 billion deal in 2022.
A person works on a cherry picker next to the new X logo signage on the roof of the company headquarters above the old Twitter signage on the company’s headquarters in 2023.
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
At this point, it’s unclear if or how much office space X will retain in San Francisco, or if the company will require its employees to relocate to Texas. A timeline for the potential move is also not known. The company did not respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.
Quoted Tweet (Archive)
Tweet (Archive)
The announcement followed another post by Musk stating that he planned to relocate the headquarters of SpaceX, a spacecraft manufacturer founded by Musk, from Hawthorne, Calif., to Starbase, Texas. That move appeared to be motivated by California Gov. Gavin Newsom signing of AB1955, a first in the nation bill banning schools from notifying families about students’ gender identity changes, on Tuesday.
"This is the final straw," Musk tweeted, and said in a subsequent post: "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."
State Senator Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, followed Musk’s post with the response, “California literally made you with taxpayer subsidies & because it’s the best place around. Will this be a fake temper tantrum move just like Tesla’s fake ‘move’ to Texas?”
Tweet (Archive)
Wiener referenced Musk’s Tesla previously moving its headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin, in 2021. But the company retains a “second” office space in Palo Alto. Musk also moved his permanent residence to Texas. Earlier on Tuesday, Musk’s Tesla announced that it would be hiring for hundreds of jobs, including many in the Bay Area.
Real estate firm JLL confirmed to the Chronicle last week that it has been hired to market a majority X’s Mid-Market headquarters for sublease. That means that a total of about 800,000 square feet of the company’s office space across two buildings — 1355 Market St. and a smaller, attached building at 1 Tenth St. — will become available to potential subtenants.
The company has been working to offload space at its headquarters complex since before the pandemic, and has continued to add floors to the sublease market in recent years. An individual with insight into X’s real estate strategy told the Chronicle that the company is holding on to about 220,000 square feet within its Mid-Market complex — for now.
X’s pullout from Mid-Market would come as a big blow to the area, which is already struggling with high vacancy. Before Twitter became X, the company’s entrance to the neighborhood in 2011 — famously supported by a tax break granted to the company and others moving to Mid-Market — helped revitalize the neighborhood as a tech hub in the years leading up to the pandemic. Since the pandemic, however, tech companies have left the area, and the city’s greater downtown district, or reduced their office space as more employees shifted to remote work. With less workers in the area, Mid Market has been marked by shuttered stores and vagrancy on the streets.
Musk’s action contributed to the lack of workers. Since taking over Twitter in the fall of 2022, he’s laid off more than 6,000 employees.
While Musk has a history of worrying local officials with threats about exiting California, another tweet on Tuesday appears to provide some insight into his thoughts on doing business in Mid-Market: “Have had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building,” he said.
Mayor London Breed, whose re-election campaign has focused heavily on revitalizing San Francisco’s struggling downtown core and addressing quality of life and safety issues, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.
Several tech companies and CEOs have either relocated their companies, or themselves from San Francisco since the pandemic, with many moving to Texas or Florida. But while dialogues in recent years suggested tech was fleeing the Bay Area, companies have returned to the region, often citing the desire to be where engineering talent was located.
This move, however, appears to be prompted by Musk’s distaste for California politics. The passing of AB1955 forbids California schools from issuing so-called forced outing policies that require teachers to notify parents if students request to use different pronouns, a new name or otherwise identify as transgender. The legislation was introduced in May in response to a wave of such policies passing in at least a dozen school districts across the state during the previous school year.
Musk has long leaned toward more conservative ideals, with critics suggesting that X has become more hospitable for right wing talking points since Musk took over. On Saturday, after the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Musk openly endorsed the former president in his campaign to return to the White House.
This story will be updated.
Chronicle reporter Erin Allday contributed to this report.
Source (Archive)
July 16, 2024
The X logo is seen on the top of the company’s San Francisco headquarters in 2023. CEO Elon Musk announced the headquarters will relocate to Austin, Texas.
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
San Francisco real estate market participants confirmed last week that a majority of the Market Street headquarters of X Corp. — formerly Twitter — will soon be available for subleasing. On Tuesday, the company’s CEO appeared to confirm that its days in San Francisco are numbered.
“And 𝕏 HQ will move to Austin,” said Elon Musk in a post to the platform Tuesday afternoon. Musk purchased the social media giant in a $44 billion deal in 2022.
A person works on a cherry picker next to the new X logo signage on the roof of the company headquarters above the old Twitter signage on the company’s headquarters in 2023.
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
At this point, it’s unclear if or how much office space X will retain in San Francisco, or if the company will require its employees to relocate to Texas. A timeline for the potential move is also not known. The company did not respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.
Quoted Tweet (Archive)
Tweet (Archive)
The announcement followed another post by Musk stating that he planned to relocate the headquarters of SpaceX, a spacecraft manufacturer founded by Musk, from Hawthorne, Calif., to Starbase, Texas. That move appeared to be motivated by California Gov. Gavin Newsom signing of AB1955, a first in the nation bill banning schools from notifying families about students’ gender identity changes, on Tuesday.
"This is the final straw," Musk tweeted, and said in a subsequent post: "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."
State Senator Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, followed Musk’s post with the response, “California literally made you with taxpayer subsidies & because it’s the best place around. Will this be a fake temper tantrum move just like Tesla’s fake ‘move’ to Texas?”
Tweet (Archive)
Wiener referenced Musk’s Tesla previously moving its headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin, in 2021. But the company retains a “second” office space in Palo Alto. Musk also moved his permanent residence to Texas. Earlier on Tuesday, Musk’s Tesla announced that it would be hiring for hundreds of jobs, including many in the Bay Area.
Real estate firm JLL confirmed to the Chronicle last week that it has been hired to market a majority X’s Mid-Market headquarters for sublease. That means that a total of about 800,000 square feet of the company’s office space across two buildings — 1355 Market St. and a smaller, attached building at 1 Tenth St. — will become available to potential subtenants.
The company has been working to offload space at its headquarters complex since before the pandemic, and has continued to add floors to the sublease market in recent years. An individual with insight into X’s real estate strategy told the Chronicle that the company is holding on to about 220,000 square feet within its Mid-Market complex — for now.
X’s pullout from Mid-Market would come as a big blow to the area, which is already struggling with high vacancy. Before Twitter became X, the company’s entrance to the neighborhood in 2011 — famously supported by a tax break granted to the company and others moving to Mid-Market — helped revitalize the neighborhood as a tech hub in the years leading up to the pandemic. Since the pandemic, however, tech companies have left the area, and the city’s greater downtown district, or reduced their office space as more employees shifted to remote work. With less workers in the area, Mid Market has been marked by shuttered stores and vagrancy on the streets.
Musk’s action contributed to the lack of workers. Since taking over Twitter in the fall of 2022, he’s laid off more than 6,000 employees.
While Musk has a history of worrying local officials with threats about exiting California, another tweet on Tuesday appears to provide some insight into his thoughts on doing business in Mid-Market: “Have had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building,” he said.
Mayor London Breed, whose re-election campaign has focused heavily on revitalizing San Francisco’s struggling downtown core and addressing quality of life and safety issues, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.
Several tech companies and CEOs have either relocated their companies, or themselves from San Francisco since the pandemic, with many moving to Texas or Florida. But while dialogues in recent years suggested tech was fleeing the Bay Area, companies have returned to the region, often citing the desire to be where engineering talent was located.
This move, however, appears to be prompted by Musk’s distaste for California politics. The passing of AB1955 forbids California schools from issuing so-called forced outing policies that require teachers to notify parents if students request to use different pronouns, a new name or otherwise identify as transgender. The legislation was introduced in May in response to a wave of such policies passing in at least a dozen school districts across the state during the previous school year.
Musk has long leaned toward more conservative ideals, with critics suggesting that X has become more hospitable for right wing talking points since Musk took over. On Saturday, after the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Musk openly endorsed the former president in his campaign to return to the White House.
This story will be updated.
Chronicle reporter Erin Allday contributed to this report.
Source (Archive)
