Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, has business ties to Texas. Here’s the rundown.
Elon Musk added another company under his business umbrella with the purchase of Twitter.
The social media platform reached an agreement with Musk for the $44 billion sale on Monday. After the deal is complete, Twitter will become a private company.
Musk has expressed interest in the company for some time, becoming its largest shareholder earlier this month. Now, he will own the social media platform that he’s criticized in the past over free speech concerns.
Along with Twitter, Musk has several high-level business ventures with a majority of them located in Texas. Here’s what we know about the billionaire, his Texas ties and his purchase of Twitter:
Who is Elon Musk?
Musk, 50, was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 28, 1971.
After growing up in South Africa, Musk moved to Canada in 1989 to attend Queen’s University. In 1992, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he would graduate with bachelor’s degrees in physics and economics.
After graduating in 1995, Musk attended Stanford University for his doctorate, but quit after only two days of classes. Believing the internet was a better bet, Musk launched his first company, Zip2, in 1995. The company essentially provided a digital yellow-pages-like searchable directory that included maps, according to Britannica.
Musk would sell Zip2 to tech company Compaq in 1999 for about $300 million. Using the funds from the sale, Musk founded online banking company X.com in 1999, which would eventually merge with Confinity, later known as PayPal, in 2000.
PayPal would later sell to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion, with Musk netting around $180 million as the company’s largest shareholder. That same year, Musk would found SpaceX to explore space travel. Two years later, in 2004, Musk led the initial round of investing in electric vehicle company Tesla.
Musk did not create Tesla, but he did become CEO of the company in 2008, a position he holds today. Besides his role at Tesla, Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and founded a tunnel construction business, The Boring Company.
What Texas ties does Musk have?
Tesla, The Boring Company and several SpaceX testing facilities are located in Texas.
Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters out of California and into Austin in December, saying the company had outgrown its old factory and rising housing costs in the Bay area made it tough for employees, according to Texas Monthly.
Tesla also continues to grow as a company, needing more space, something Texas has plenty to offer.
Along with the headquarters at the aptly titled 1 Tesla Road, the company opened its Texas “gigafactory” earlier this month. The factory will go into production on its Cybertruck next year, along with other Tesla vehicle products.
SpaceX’s testing facility in McGregor, Texas, houses engine, vehicle structures and systems inspections. The 4,000 acre facility has 16 test stands for rockets and spacecraft.
The company also has a testing facility in Brownsville, Texas, near Boca Chica Beach. It’s now the largest employer in the city, contributing $885 million in output for Camron County, according to Business Insider.
So with all of Musk’s ties to Texas, does that mean Twitter will soon move to the Lone Star State?
It’s unclear as of yet what Musk will do with the San Francisco-located Twitter, but Gov. Greg Abbott invited Musk to move Twitter to Texas in a social media post.
Musk buys Twitter
Musk has been a staunch criticizer of Twitter, recently saying that the platform didn’t have free speech as a priority.
Twitter has been under fire from conservative groups since permanently suspending President Donald Trump over his tweets leading up to storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
While Musk’s political beliefs might be unknown, the billionaire has repeatedly stated that he’s an advocate for free speech, tweeting Tuesday that he’s “against censorship that goes beyond the law.”
The ball started rolling on Musk’s eventual Twitter purchase in March, when he tweeted out a poll asking if the social media platform “rigorously adheres” to free speech.
Musk tweeted the following day saying he was giving serious thought to starting a new social media platform. Over the next few days, speculation grew about whether Musk would create a new platform and what that would look like.
On April 4, news broke that Musk had become Twitter’s largest shareholder after acquiring a 9% stake in the company. Musk followed up the news by tweeting out, “Oh hi lol.” And then put out another poll asking if Twitter users wanted an edit button.
Ten days later, Musk said he put an offer in to buy Twitter for around $43 billion. However, it seemed that the Twitter board of directors wasn’t keen on the billionaire buying the company, even going as far as adopting a “poison pill” defense to stop a sale.
Nevertheless, news broke early Monday that Musk and Twitter had agreed on a deal for $44 billion. Musk was quick to respond to the sale, talking about the value of free speech and his plans to improve Twitter in a tweet.
Where Twitter goes next and when Musk will take over is unknown, but it’s only a matter of time since the billionaire is now at the helm of one of the largest social media platforms in the world.
