A top Wall Street analyst expects Elon Musk to expand his footprint in Austin, Texas to include Twitter. The billionaire took the social media platform private on Oct. 28 after completing his $44 billion takeover of the business.
“This has become the foundation of the Musk ecosystem with Giga Austin,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told FOX Business. “We believe it’s a matter of when not if Musk opens up a Twitter Austin office.”
According to Ives, an office in the state capital would further solidify Musk’s hub of operations in the Lone Star State and allow the social media giant to attract software developers in a key region.
“Austin has become Silicon Valley 2.0,” Ives added.
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In addition to Tesla moving its headquarters to Austin and establishing its Giga Texas manufacturing facility, the electric vehicle maker also revealed plans to launch a retail electricity business, according to job listings posted in August.
Musk’s other companies — SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company—have also established operations in Texas.
Twitter currently has U.S. offices in cities including Atlanta, Boston, Boulder, Colo., Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington D.C.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott invited Musk to bring Twitter to his state following the initial announcement of his $44 billion acquisition in April.
“@elonmusk. Bring Twitter to Texas to join Tesla, SpaceX & the Boring company,” Abbott tweeted at the time.
Representatives for Abbott and Twitter did not immediately return FOX Business’ request for comment.
Musk has also received similar encouragement from Texas State Rep. Tan Parker, who told FOX Business in April that the state would “roll out the red carpet” for the billionaire and Twitter to move its headquarters.
In addition, Capitol Land & Livestock president and CEO Jim Schwertner has offered Musk 100 acres of free land to build a new headquarters for Twitter in Schwertner, Texas.
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Ives’ prediction comes as Musk has already dissolved Twitter’s board of directors, fired top executives, announced plans to form a content moderation council and revamp Twitter’s verification process. The company has also drafted plans for broad layoffs, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“This is all a tightrope for Musk between guardrails at Twitter, attracting advertisers, and not becoming a hate speech cesspool,” Ives said. “$44 billion reasons for him to balance this. A tight wire act.”
Twitter stock was suspended from trading on Friday and will delist from the New York Stock Exchange effective Nov. 8.
