Delaware’s Loss Is Texas’ Gain: Musk Moving SpaceX’s HQ to Lone Star State
Mary Elise Cosgray /
Elon Musk announced Wednesday that SpaceX is moving its state of incorporation to Texas from Delaware, a move hailed by the Lone Star State’s governor.
The decision followed a recent ruling by a Delaware judge that sided with a Tesla shareholder’s lawsuit challenging Musk’s $56 billion pay package as being excessive. Musk is the CEO of Tesla, a maker of electric vehicles, and the founder and CEO of SpaceX, a spacecraft and telecommunications company.
Musk conducted a poll on X, formerly Twitter, which he also owns, for shareholders to vote on whether the privately held SpaceX should relocate to Texas.
According to Musk, the poll found that 87% of participants supported SpaceX’s move to Texas. “The public vote is unequivocally in favor of Texas! Tesla will move immediately to hold a shareholder vote to transfer state of incorporation to Texas,” he posted.
Musk confirmed in a post on X that “SpaceX has moved its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas,” adding: “If your company is still incorporated in Delaware, I recommend moving to another state as soon as possible.”
SpaceX is joining 55 other Fortune 500 companies that are headquartered in Texas, including Tesla, AT&T, ExxonMobil and Oracle.
In 2021 alone, 62 corporations relocated their headquarters to Texas. James Quintero, policy director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Taxpayer Protection Project, thinks he knows what Texas has to offer in the eyes of those companies.
“Texas policymakers have consistently held to a vision of low taxes, limited government, and personal freedom,” he said. “Upon this stable policy framework, the private sector has been able to build, grow and prosper.”
Regarding the Lone Star State’s conservative-leaning policies, Quintero said, “Texas’ booming economy is proof positive that conservatism works. Labor and capital are flocking to Texas because unlimited opportunity exists where there are free markets and free people.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, quickly reshared one of Musk’s pro-Texas posts: “Here we go. X marks the spot.”
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