Elon Musk’s X, the social media platform that evolved from Twitter, will be closing its San Francisco office, marking the end of its presence in the city where it was established in 2006.
In an email to employees, CEO Linda Yaccarino announced that X will vacate its Market Street location. Employees will be transferred to an existing office in San Jose and a new engineering office in Palo Alto.
This announcement follows Musk’s recent statement on X regarding plans to relocate both X and SpaceX headquarters to Texas, specifically Austin.
Musk, who took ownership of the company in 2022, has openly expressed his dissatisfaction with San Francisco, attributing the platform’s perceived liberal bias to the city’s leftist culture. He has also criticised California Governor Gavin Newsom over various state laws. In July, Musk indicated that X would be moving its headquarters to Texas, and the company had previously listed 460,000 square feet of office space for lease in San Francisco.
Moreover, the area has faced challenges as the city deals with the gradual return of workers post-Covid-19 pandemic. Despite a resurgence in activity due to the artificial intelligence sector, San Francisco currently holds the highest office vacancy rate among major U.S. metropolitan areas, exceeding 36%, according to preliminary data released by commercial real-estate company CBRE.
Furthermore, Musk cited a new law that prohibits school districts from requiring staff to inform parents about a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity as a significant factor in his decision. He also mentioned that SpaceX would move its headquarters from the Los Angeles area for similar reasons.
“This is the final straw. Due to this law and others that have come before it, which I believe attack both families and businesses, SpaceX will now relocate its headquarters from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas,” Musk stated.
His estranged daughter, Vivian, who is transgender, recently shared her experiences in an interview, describing her father as “uncaring and narcissistic.”
The Market Street office has been in operation since 2012, following a move to the Mid-Market area that was incentivised by a special tax break for tech companies. At one point, the neighbourhood thrived with office workers, bustling restaurants, and new residential developments, not to mention it attracted numerous tech giants like Twitter, Uber, Spotify, and Square during the 2010s.
The company’s exit from San Francisco represents a notable setback for the city, which has seen a significant departure of tech firms from its once-bustling downtown. Since 2019, the top 20 tech companies have reduced their office space in downtown San Francisco by half, including major players like Meta, Salesforce, Snap, Lyft, Block, Airbnb, and PayPal. As X vacates its 800,000 square feet of headquarters, 46% of office spaces and 40% of retail locations in the area remain unoccupied.