Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced at an annual company meeting that the company would be shifting headquarters from California to Austin, Texas. The move was cited as being beneficial for both Tesla and its employees as Texas tax rates were lower, regulations less stringent and houses more affordable for employees.
Musk clarified that shifting headquarters did not mean abandoning California altogether as he plans to increase output from the Fremont and Nevada factories by 50%. The Tesla CEO had already moved to Texas himself last December in order to make preparations for the move and to oversee the SpaceX launch site which was set up at the southern tip of Texas. Musk and Californian lawmakers came head to head after his factory was ordered to close at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic.
The company was also fined $130 million in damages by a Californian court, as a result of a case filed by an African-American employee who alleged that he was subjected to a racially-hostile workplace at the Fremont factory in California.