AUSTIN, TEXAS — Tesla (NYSE: TSLA) will relocate its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, CEO Elon Musk announced at a company shareholder meeting on Thursday night. Information on where the company’s new headquarters office will be located and when the move will commence was not immediately available.
The electric vehicle manufacturer announced in July 2020 that it had selected a development site near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport for its $1 billion Gigafactory. Vehicle production at the Gigafactory, which will span more than 2,500 acres and employ some 7,000 people, is expected to begin in 2022. Musk’s other signature company, SpaceX, operates a rocket production facility and test site near the South Texas city of Brownsville.
In explaining the move, Musk cited rising home prices and lengthy commute times for employees as primary deterrents to the company continuing to operate out of the Silicon Valley. Tesla joins Oracle and Digital Realty Trust as one of the latest major tech firms to announce a relocation from the Bay Area to the Texas state capital.
The stock price of Tesla, which was founded in 2003, opened at $785.46 per share on Friday, Oct. 8, following the breaking of the news. The company’s stock price is up more than 50 percent from $438.44 per share a year ago.