[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] Elon Musk, CEO of the U.S. electric vehicle company Tesla, responded "That's right" when reports emerged that one of the reasons for relocating the headquarters to Texas was due to insults from a Democratic California state legislator.
The U.S. online media outlet Tesmanian reported on the 8th (local time) that a California State Assembly member had previously personally attacked Musk, which was one of the reasons Musk decided to move the headquarters.
Earlier, Democratic State Assembly member Lorena Gonzalez strongly criticized Musk in May last year amid conflicts with health authorities over COVID-19 prevention measures.
At that time, Alameda County, California ordered the closure of Tesla's Fremont assembly plant near its headquarters for COVID-19 prevention, which Musk opposed and called the health officials "fascists."
In response, Assembly member Gonzalez posted a strongly critical tweet about Musk.
She criticized, "California has given many subsidies to Tesla, but Tesla has always ignored worker safety and welfare and has been involved in union busting and harassing public officials."
Tesmanian introduced Gonzalez's remarks and reported that "this became one of the reasons Tesla is moving its headquarters."
Then, on the 9th, Musk commented on Tesmanian's Twitter post linking the article, agreeing that the report was "correct," Fox News reported on the 10th.
Earlier, at the shareholders' meeting held on the 7th, Musk announced that Tesla would move its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, Texas. He cited expensive housing prices in Silicon Valley and limitations on business expansion as reasons for the relocation.
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