Standing beside Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom, attention Karen and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the carmaker will keep its technological headquarters in the Golden State and expand operations there, Reuters reports, a blow to Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s efforts to lure the company through huge tax breaks.
Musk announced Tesla’s headquarters would relocate from California to Texas in October 2021 in a tantrum about coronavirus restrictions in California. Employees expressed shock and concern about what Musk’s impulsive announcement meant for them, with many of the high-skill technical workers pushing back against moving to Austin, where Tesla started building a plant in 2020. Musk then clarified he would only move headquarters staff, about 300 positions.
The move was more ornamental than functional: Tesla is a corporation registered in Delaware, and as Newsom noted after Musk’s announcement, keeping the company’s engineering and technology headquarters makes California “effectively a headquarters of Tesla.”