Beck Andrew Salgado, Austin American-Statesman September 20, 2024 at 9:01 AM Elon Musk announced in July that he would be moving all of his remaining companies to Texas after a public feud with California Governor Gavin Newsom. This week, he announced where exactly his social media company X will land — and it might not be where many expected. In a report by Forbes, Bastrop was pinpointed as the landing spot for Musk’s X. While Austin was initially thought to be the likely destination for X, given its tech influence and ties to Tesla, Bastrop makes sense as a close alternative given Musk already has a footprint there. As many of Musk’s companies are making investments in Texas, here’s what this latest move means and what Musk could be building in the state. Musk is no stranger to Bastrop A worker removes letters from the Twitter sign posted on the exterior of Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California in July of 2023, when the company rebranded as X. This week, X owner Elon Musk announced that the company's new headquarters will be in Bastrop. SpaceX, Musk's spacecraft manufacturing company, already has facilities in Bastrop, where Musk is building the Hyperloop Plaza, which he imagines as a work-live community for his employees. The crown jewel of Musk's companies, Tesla, is headquartered in Austin. This could be the reason he chose the small town less than 40 miles from the Texas capital as the next home for X. The presence that Musk already has with his businesses in Bastrop could be an early indication that he is further committed to building work-live environments in multiple locations in Texas. Musk continues to flock to small-town Texas Starbase, a company town under construction near Brownsville in South Texas, currently houses a landing pad, launch facility, launch control center and tracking station for SpaceX. The aerospace company has been conducting all of its Starship test launches from Boca Chica, near the Texas-Mexico border along the coast. Earlier this year, it announced a $100 million, five-story office there. Construction for that office has already started and is set to be completed by 2025, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation records show. Similar to what Musk hopes to accomplish with the Hyperloop Plaza, Starbase is completely dedicated to Space X operations. Musk had been eyeing moves to Texas Public filings made with the Texas Secretary of State Office in February showed Musk's interest in moving SpaceX to Texas as the California-based aerospace company requested to change its incorporation location to the Lone Star State. Musk started to grow more fond of the move to Texas after clashing with a Delaware judge over his extraordinary compensation plan with Tesla. This led to moving the incorporation location of various businesses, including Austin-based Tesla, out of Delaware and to Texas. After announcing plans to relocate SpaceX and X headquarters to Texas, Musk doubled down on why he dislikes California saying, "Have had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building." He also claims that he warned Newsom about enacting legislation such as the SAFETY Act. "I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children," he said. Why is Texas so desirable for Musk? It is no secret that Musk has an affinity for Texas, but as a business decision, moving to the state has a myriad of personal and professional advantages. He seems to prefer the politics in the state. His stated reason for leaving California confirms that. More importantly, Musk is in favor in Texas, and tax incentives and fewer corporate regulations could be attractive. Lastly, having all his major companies in the same state could make operations simpler. Beck Andrew Salgado covers trending topics in the Austin business ecosystem for the American-Statesman. To share additional tips or insights withSalgado, email Bsalgado@gannett.com.