Elon Musk: X has 'no choice' but to close San Francisco headquarters

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – The social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, will be shutting down its San Francisco office "over the next few weeks," according to multiple reports.

The company plans to move workers from its San Francisco facility to existing offices in San Jose, according to an internal memo cited by The New York Times and Fortune.

The email, which was reportedly sent by the social media company's chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, also said X plans to open an engineering-focused office in Palo Alto that it will share with xAI, an artificial intelligence startup launched by X owner Elon Musk.

"This is an important decision that impacts many of you, but it is the right one for our company in the long term," Yaccarino reportedly told employees.

Musk, replying to an X post about the reported move, said the company had "no choice" but to close the San Francisco headquarters.

"It is impossible to operate in San Francisco if you're processing payments," he claimed. "That's why Stripe, Block (CashApp) & others had to move."

The office of San Francisco Mayor London Breed said she was aware of Musk's plans to relocate "a small number of employees" from the company's flagship offices in the city, but suggested that other tech businesses were still booming in San Francisco.

"Our focus remains on working with and supporting the many businesses that call S.F. home, from global headquarters to leading AI companies, and thousands of small businesses," the mayor's office wrote in a statement obtained by Nexstar. "We are building a stronger San Francisco, and together with committed business partners, that progress is well underway."

Mayor Breed's office also pointed to a Monday report from the San Francisco comptroller's office, which touted two consecutive months of job growth in the city's tech industry.

Monday's report from the Times follows on the heels of Musk announcing last month that he would move X's headquarters from San Francisco to Texas. At the time, Musk's announcement was in apparent reaction to California's passage of a law that prohibits school districts from requiring that parents be notified when their children change their gender ID pronouns.

Nexstar's KRON reached out to X for additional information and received a reply that said, "Busy now, please check back later."