Should Twitter follow Tesla, Oracle in corporate charge to Texas?

SIMONE DEL ROSARIO: The ink isn’t even dry on Elon Musk’s deal with Twitter – but Texas Governor Greg Abbott is already trying to reel in another California big fish. ditching the golden state for the lone star state is looking like a trend – here are the major companies that have made the move in this week’s Five For Friday. Coming in at number five – financial services firm Charles Schwab relocated from its high-end San Francisco location to…Westlake Texas? besides its proximity to Whataburger, why the change? After buying discount broker TD Ameritrade in 2020 it was looking for a more centrally-located hub that also says “we don’t like paying high taxes and bloated rents if we don’t have to.” In the fourth spot, the world’s largest commercial real estate firm CBRE – aka Caldwell Banker – left L.A. for Dallas. Seems like a good fit given according to the company’s own survey, Dallas is this year’s top U.S. city for commercial real estate investment – right in front of number two on the list, Austin, Texas. Which brings us to Oracle in the three spot. One of the world’s largest software companies left its deep Silicon Valley roots for “Silicon Hills,” what people are calling Austin these days. according to the company, the move wasn’t just about reducing taxes but also giving its 135,000 employees more “location flexibility.” In a twist, billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison did move out of California – but not to Texas. He’s using the “power of oom” to work from his island in Hawaii. In the two spot, another Silicon Valley casualty

TEXAS GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT: on behalf of the entire state of Texas I welcome Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s new global headquarters to the Houston area.

SIMONE DEL ROSARIO: HP pretty much started silicon valley way back in 1939 so digging out isn’t just economics – it’s a statement – shining a light on the changing times…Texas-sized cost savings for the company countered by the crippling cost of living the California dream. And the number one Texas transplant…

ELON MUSK: I’m excited to announce we’re moving headquarters to Austin Texas. 

SIMONE DEL ROSARIO: Tesla. Elon musk last year moved HQ from Palo Alto to the Texas Capital where by his own estimates the Gigafactory’s a mere “5 minutes from the airport and 15 minutes from downtown.” Maybe he doesn’t yet know Austin traffic is pretty on par with the Bay Area he left behind. So should Musk move San Francisco based Twitter to join Tesla, Space-X and the Boring Company in Austin? Twitter employees are now allowed to work remotely forever so they might be good wherever they are. That’s your Five For Friday. I’m Simone Del Rosario, I’ll see you Monday.