Everything is bigger in Texas, including the influx of business.
Plenty of businesses are willing to mess with Texas these days, as the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, proclaims that the number of businesses moving to the Lone Star State has increased during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tech giant Oracle announced that it is moving from Redwood City, California, to Austin, Texas, following the move of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from San Jose, California, to Houston, and commercial real estate giant CBRE from Los Angeles to Dallas. Even Elon Musk moved from California to Texas, where Tesla will build its next factory in Austin and SpaceX has a facility in coastal Boca Chica.
“I have been on the phone on a weekly basis with CEOs across the country, and it’s not just California,” Abbott said on CNBC’s “Fast Money.” “We’re working across the board because the times of COVID[-19] have exposed a lot. They’ve exposed … that you really don’t have to be in Manhattan, for example, in order to be involved in the trading business or the investment business.”
The coronavirus pandemic has shown companies that their companies are productive in work-from-home environments, opening the possibility of leaving geographic corporate hubs for more economically prudent areas.
“Cost of business means a lot,” Abbott told CNBC. “No income tax means a lot, but also the freedom to operate without the heavy hand of regulation means a lot.
“This has turned into an absolute tidal wave. They are looking for a state that gives them the independence, the autonomy and the freedom to chart their own course.”
Is there any greater sign of Texas’ business attraction than Nasdaq pondering a data operations move to Texas? The world’s second largest stock exchange is pondering it, y’all.
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