In Elon Musk's worldview, San Francisco represents the left-wing hive mind behind all things sinister, and Twitter was his channel. Yes, he actually said that.
Now the Texan emigrant has apparently had enough of the most liberal city in the USA and is possibly considering moving his social media company, now called X, to more politically comfortable areas such as his adopted home state, the Lone Star State.
Real estate firm JLL told the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday that it had engaged its services to find a new subtenant for the entire 74,000-square-foot complex at its headquarters at 1355 Market Street and the adjacent Building 110.
The landlord, Shorenstein Properties, which bought the building together with JPMorgan through its investment company SRI Nine Market Square, sued Musk early last year for unpaid rent.
In March, she discontinued the proceedings without giving any reasons.
If Musk actually plans to relocate X, that would not be uncharacteristic of the tycoon.
In 2021, he moved Tesla's headquarters from California to Texas in resIn response to policymakers' pandemic lockdowns, the electric car maker has now moved its headquarters there after a dispute with a Delaware judge.
Not surprisingly, when Musk first announced his candidacy for Twitter over two years ago, Texas Governor Greg Abbott jumped at the chance to propose moving Twitter headquarters to his state.
.@elonmusk. Bring Twitter to Texas to join Tesla, SpaceX, and the Boring Company.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 25, 2022
Neither X Corp nor Shorenstein Properties responded to Fortune's immediate request for comment.
Spurred on by his ex-wife, Musk has claimed he bought the social media platform for $44 billion not only to accelerate his plan to clone China's everything app WeChat, but also for the benefit of humanity.
He believed that the microblogging site, because of its location in the heart of the crime-ridden Bay Area, helped spread a “destructive” ideology that threatened Western civilization.
“You could literally shoot an uncut episode of The Walking Dead in downtown San Francisco. This is where San Francisco politics lead, and Twitter exported this self-destructive thought virus to the world,” he wrote last April.
“With some exceptions, other technology companies still do this. Evil in the guise of good.”
A clear break with Twitter’s historical roots?
San Francisco, the city in California with the largest gap between rich and poor, is struggling with homelessness, crime and fentanyl use, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic.
In combination with recent changes in national legislation The hurdles for prosecuting shoplifting are being raised and the minimum wage is being increased. There are repeated headlines about small businesses in particular moving away from the Bay Area. This is leading to more and more vacancies on the commercial real estate market.
“I know a lot of companies are trying to get out of their leases,” Mayor London Breed said four years ago. “A lot of people see this as an opportunity to get out.”
Musk and his close business associates, including David Sacks, have been vocal critics of the city's policymakers in recent years.
Musk blames the local mentality for the city's problems. In his opinion, it must be stopped before it spreads any further: “The views of the extreme left from San Francisco and Berkeley have been spread to the world via Twitter.”
If he were to sublet the offices in the technology center, it would be a clear break with the company's historical roots and almost as significant as the decision to abandon the company's name and rename it “X” this time last year.
Subscribe to the Fortune Next to Lead newsletter to receive weekly strategies on how to make it to the boss's office. Sign up for free.
