Welcome to life in Musklandia.
As Elon Musk’s sphere of influence in Austin and across Texas seems to grow by the day, the eccentric Texas billionaire takes the region and state on the wild and often weird roller coaster ride that is his life.
It’s been a little over a month since Musk announced on October 7th that Tesla was moving its headquarters to Austin, but before that, Musk had been spending more and more time in Austin. He’s been relocating more of his businesses to the area since at least 2020, most notably with Tesla’s $ 1.1 billion manufacturing facility currently under construction in southeast Travis County.
With Austin becoming ground zero for anything Musk-related, the rest of us have to figure out how to find our way around the new landscape – good, bad, and weird.
“In the eyes of many, Musk is a modern Albert Einstein and by far the richest person in the world. It will bring a lot more focus and attention to Austin, ”said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.
Musk and Austin are likely to become inseparable in the years to come, Ives said.
“When the average person in the world thinks of Austin, Texas, they don’t go to the music festival or Dell or the great city that it is. Tesla and Elon Musk are becoming synonymous with Austin, ”said Ives.
Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies, said Musk’s status and personality are sure to have an impact on central Texas.
“He’s the richest guy in the world, which is interesting. So what he’s going to do right now is Michael Dell (Founder and CEO of Dell Technologies) at least in that regard, ”said Kay. “Michael was kind of King of Austin up until that point, I would say.”
While the $ 1.1 billion Tesla manufacturing facility and planned move from Tesla’s headquarters to Austin caught the most attention, Musk’s operations have been quietly expanding in central Texas for some time. These include Musk’s tunneling and infrastructure company, Boring Co., which has facilities in Pflugerville and Bastrop; a potential SpaceX expansion somewhere in Austin; a potential Neuralink office; and the seat of his private foundation, the Musk Foundation.
A Tesla subsidiary, Tesla Energy, was recently approved as a utility in Texas, according to documents filed with the Texas Public Utility Commission. The company is already building the first Tesla solar district in Austin, SunHouse at Easton Park, with solar and alternative energy.
Meanwhile, SpaceX – Musk’s aerospace and missile company – has multiple facilities across Texas, including a launch site near Boca Chica in far south Texas.
It is unclear whether Musk has a residence in Austin. Although various media outlets have listed Austin as his home, he has never publicly confirmed it. Musk announced last year that he had moved to Texas, but said his primary residence is a small house near Boca Chica on the SpaceX campus.
Whether or not Musk actually lives in Austin, his influence and influence on central Texas cannot be denied.
Kay said the influx of Tesla and other Musk affiliates will result in higher salaries in the local tech industry, fuel the area’s already booming housing market, and drive house prices even higher.
“For some people there will be good chances. Other people, “said Kay,” will be irritated. “
“Strongest voice in the world”
One of the places where Musk got the most attention – and perhaps caused the most irritation – was on social media. Musk is active on Twitter, where he has more than 63 million followers.
With his immense wealth and audiences so large, the impact of what Musk posts on social media shouldn’t be downplayed, Ives said.
“He’s one of, if not the most powerful, voice in the world in terms of social media and following,” said Ives. “When Musk talks, everyone listens. If you’re on the right page it’s great. If you are on the wrong side, there are many disadvantages. “
Only a few days go by without Musk making headlines on social media, be it for corporate news, cryptic personal statements, political comments, or just a meme.
One example was earlier this month when Musk sold about 900,000 shares after polling his Twitter followers to sell 10% of his Tesla stock, raising over $ 1.1 billion. His trust also sold more than 3.5 million shares valued at $ 3.88 billion. The stock options sold would expire next year, leaving Musk with around 170 million Tesla shares.
Further sales during the week, from both Musk and its trust, brought total holdings to 6.4 million shares, valued at $ 6.9 billion. The sales have so far been less than 4% of the shares held by him.
Ives said that while a sale of some shares was expected to pay applicable taxes, a Twitter poll on the sale of the stock is “another soap opera that can only happen to a company and a CEO in the world, Musk.”
Here are a few more highlights and lowlights from Musk on social media over the past month:
- He clashed with Senator Bernie Sanders on Twitter after the former Vermont presidential candidate said the extremely rich should pay their fair share. Musk tweeted, “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive,” and later added, “Should I sell more stocks, Bernie? Just say the word. “
- On Twitter, he criticized Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, with whom he has been arguing for years. Claiming he wished he had the co-founder he believed to be the “worst person I’ve worked with in my entire career,” “wishes he never met,” said Eberhard “damn it was close to killing Tesla ”.
- He tweeted a blatant comment to Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden after the politician tweeted to support an income tax for billionaires, saying Musk shouldn’t depend on a Twitter poll to pay the tax.
- He temporarily changed his Twitter name to Lord Edge, likely a reference to the phrase “Edge Lord”.
- He tweeted a joke that he was considering starting a new university in Texas, the name of which could be used to form a rude acronym.
- He admitted on Twitter that Tesla’s self-driving program had software issues and announced that an update would roll back after Tesla owners reported that cars were behaving erratically.
- He pushed back President Joe Biden’s proposed tax plan, known as the Billionaires Income Tax, which would put a tax on wealth, not billionaires’ income. “They eventually run out of other people’s money, and then they come to get you,” Musk tweeted the same day that the rise in Tesla stock made $ 36 billion in personal fortune from the rise in Tesla stock.
- He called Biden a “puppet” for the United Auto Workers union and turned down his plan for tax credits for the purchase of electric vehicles proposed in the president’s infrastructure bill. The plan would exclude non-union automakers like Tesla.
- He exchanged tweets with David Beasley, the director of the United Nations World Food Program, who asked Musk to donate 2% of his estimated net worth, or about $ 6 billion, to help fight world hunger. Musk said if the program showed a detailed plan of exactly how the $ 6 billion would be used and the donation would go through open source bookkeeping, he would donate. Beasley said it was possible and he would meet him anywhere, “earth or space”, to discuss further. No donation was made.
While most of this social media activity hasn’t been directly focused on Austin or Texas, there are signs that Musk is starting to get more interested in what’s going on in the Lone Star State.
Construction of the Tesla Gigafactory continued in May.(Jay Janner / American statesman)
Ruffled feathers
When Musk announced plans to move Tesla headquarters to Austin, he made no mention of previous clashes with California officials. However, industry analysts say that while Austin is more affordable than Silicon Valley and still has the tech and tech talent Musk needs to run his business, it seems clear that he chose the more business-friendly environment of Texas over California’s more regulatory-intensive approach.
“I think Musk picked Texas mostly for its borderline style. He always felt that California’s tough regulatory environment was not conducive to his style, ”said Kay. “He really made it clear that he believed it was none of the authorities’ business to tell him what to do.”
All of this means that officials in Texas – and Austin – could end up getting the same pushback from Musk if regulatory conditions rub him the wrong way.
Musk has a tendency to do what he wants and is smart and aggressive when tackling disputes, Kay said. At the same time, it will bring plenty of jobs and tax revenue to the region, which will give him cards to play with.
“He’s going to say, ‘Well, listen, you want me to just pick up missions and go to Mississippi?’ Said Kay. “There will probably be some disheveled feathers when he says, ‘It’s my way or the freeway and now your freeway is mine. You can’t say anything about it. You do – well, then I’ll use all of my resources for you. ‘ ”
It remains to be seen how Musk might attempt to influence state or local politics.
In September, Governor Greg Abbott said Musk was a supporter of Texas social policy. In response, Musk tweeted, “In general, I believe government should rarely impose its will on people in an attempt to maximize their cumulative happiness. Nevertheless, I would prefer to stay out of politics. “
However, Musk has already spoken out on a number of Austin political issues.
“Austin should be his city, not a copycat of San Francisco,” Musk said in a Halloween tweet that responded to a tweet about Proposition A that wasn’t passed earlier this month. The proposal would have required the city of Austin to hire hundreds more police officers.
Whatever positions Musk occupies, they are sure to have influence in Austin, across the state and around the world, said Ives – in large part because of Musk’s immense wealth and power to which he is entitled.
Musk recently became the first person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to have an estimated net worth of more than $ 300 billion, making him not only the richest person in the country but also the richest person in history. Musk’s current estimated net worth is between $ 280 billion and $ 300 billion.
Having Musk and Tesla in town “brings exponentially more positives than negatives to Austin,” said Ives. “But Austin has to hug Tesla and Elon, and not just treat him like any other businessman. There are 300 billion reasons why it isn’t. “
Kara Carlson,
Austin American Statesman (TNS)
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