Oracle is the latest addition to the list of major tech companies making the big leap from the legendary Silicon Valley to Texas the land of opportunity
Oracle, one of the companies that “built” the Silicon Valley legend, is moving its headquarters to Texas and is the latest addition to the list of those companies that are leaving the state of California due to high taxation of the most expensive cost of living and changes brought about by teleworking.
Moving to Austin (Texas capital) “means that many of our employees will be able to choose their office location or continue working from home part-time or full-time,” Oracle said in a statement. The company adds that it will maintain its headquarters both in its former headquarters and in other cities such as Santa Monica, Seattle, Denver, Orlando, Florida.
Oracle’s exit from California is gradual and has started in 2018. That year, Oracle set up a campus in Austin, which included an employee housing complex, in an effort to attract a younger and cheaper workforce. According to the company, the campus could accommodate up to 10,000 employees in its full development. In addition, the company announced last year that it will “move” “OpenWorld“, its largest annual conference, from San Francisco, which has been held so far in Las Vegas.
The announcement of Oracle’s move was welcomed as expected by Mayor Greg Abbott, who wrote in a Twitter message: “Texas is truly the place to invest and work, it is the land of opportunity.”
The move comes amid Oracle’s efforts to cut costs in its transition to cloud computing, which has resulted in a reduction in revenue for the previous two tax years. The company said in a statement on Thursday that it expects sales to grow by 2% to 4% this season, ending in February, which puts Oracle on track to reverse its decline.
Oracle has been a “landmark” for Silicon Valley since 1977 with its silver-cylindrical buildings in Redwood City visible from highway 101. It now follows the example of other tech companies leaving California, such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which will move its headquarters to a Houston suburb and Palantir Technologies, which this year moved to Denver.
Tesla co-founder Elon Musk also said this week that he moved to Texas. It was preceded by the transfer from California to Austin of his private foundation.
According to Bloomberg, Texas does not impose personal income tax in contrast to California, which has one of the highest personal income taxes. According to real estate agents quoted by Bloomberg, the mass relocation from Silicon Valley is an indication that taxes and politics influence corporate decision-making.