Now that Elon Musk’s bid for Twitter has been accepted, the billionaire is in high demand. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is among those first in line for the tech mogul’s attention.
Musk and Governor Abbott are not strangers; Musk recently moved his electric vehicle (EV) company, Tesla, out of Silicon Valley and into the Lone Star State. All three of Musk’s companies — Tesla (Austin), SpaceX (Boca Chica), and The Boring Company (Pflugerville ) — are either domiciled or have a footprint in Texas.
Now, Abbott is urging Musk to do the same with the social media platform and relocate Twitter from San Francisco, where the company has its roots, to Texas. The governor used what appears to be Musk’s favorite medium of communication, a tweet, thereby placing the ball in Musk’s court.
.@elonmusk. Bring Twitter to Texas to join Tesla, SpaceX & the Boring company.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 25, 2022
Musk chose Texas for Tesla’s gigafactory headquarters thanks to the freedom that the state offers, particularly as it compares to The Golden State. Meanwhile, Governor Abbott told CNBC that Texas afforded Musk the ability to “expand the way he wanted to expand.”
The tax breaks that Tesla receives in Texas likely did not hurt either. Travis County offered Musk tax incentives worth close to $15 million to build his gigafactory there, paving the way for more local jobs. Musk has committed to pouring $10 billion into the facility and adding at least 20,000 direct jobs plus another 100,000 indirect jobs.
Twitter currently boasts a staff of approximately 7,000 employees. Since Musk swooped in, the future of those jobs is in question. Management at the social media company has warned they have a six-month window of job security before the $44 billion takeover is a done deal.
Texas’ contribution to renewable energy is also not lost on Musk. According to American Clean Power, the Lone Star State took the No.1 spot for new clean energy projects across the United States last year. Texas has a commanding lead, with 17% of the nation’s clean power development projects being developed in the state, followed by California at 11%, New York at 7%, and Indiana and Virginia rounding out the top five at 5% each.
Another reason Musk might consider Abbott’s invitation is Bitcoin. Sure, Musk has some of the leading cryptocurrency in his investment portfolio. However, he is also part of a consortium launching a bitcoin mining farm that will run on Tesla’s solar-powered gigafactory in Austin. Incidentally, his partners include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who recently stepped down as Twitter’s CEO, and blockchain startup Blockstream.
Bitcoin relies on computing power for the mining process, which is how the blockchain is secured and new bitcoin are created. Musk’s chief complaint about the top crypto has been its high energy consumption — mainly powered by fossil fuels.
Dorsey is another Bitcoin bull, and during his tenure as CEO expanded Twitter’s Tip Jar feature to support bitcoin payments. With both entrepreneurs in cahoots, it stands to reason they could potentially develop Twitter’s cryptocurrency aspirations centered around Texas’ wind and solar-powered energy.
Musk, who touts free speech as the catalyst for his takeover of Twitter, has yet to weigh in on any relocation plans for the company.
