After court ruling

Musk officially moves SpaceX headquarters to Texas

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is angry with the US state of Delaware, has moved the official headquarters of his aerospace company SpaceX to Texas. The 52-year-old is angry that a judge in Delaware has refused to grant him a share package worth around 56 billion dollars (approx. 52 billion euros) in the electric car company Tesla, which he also runs.

Musk had announced that he would also withdraw other companies in his circle from Delaware, which is extremely popular as a business location in the USA. The tech billionaire and the authorities in Texas published documents stating that SpaceX has officially been based there since Wednesday. SpaceX has long had a strong presence in the state, where the Starship rocket and Starlink communication system satellites are built and engines are developed and tested at several locations.

Neuralink moved to Nevada
Musk had already relocated his brain-implant company Neuralink from Delaware to Nevada last week. This is more difficult with Tesla: unlike SpaceX and Neuralink, the car manufacturer is listed on the stock exchange and a move would require shareholder approval. Musk announced a corresponding proposal, but so far it has not been approved.

Reaction to shareholder lawsuit
Musk is reacting to the court ruling on a shareholder lawsuit at the end of January by withdrawing his companies from Delaware. Tesla had promised him share options worth up to 56 billion dollars in 2018 if ambitious targets for market value and business figures were achieved. One shareholder filed a lawsuit against this. Although Musk has already been granted the options, he has not yet been able to redeem them due to the legal dispute.

Judge Kathaleen McCormick in Delaware ruled that Musk had too much influence in the background when the remuneration plan was agreed for it to be considered a fair process. Shareholders had been deprived of the fact that some of those responsible for the decision at Tesla had close ties to Musk.

In the trial, the judge therefore ruled in favor of the plaintiff who wanted to annul the agreement with Musk. Although she qualified that annulment of the mega-deal does not automatically follow from the finding that the agreement was made under unfair circumstances. However, annulment is the preferred solution in Delaware. "Plaintiff is entitled to rescission," she wrote in her 200-page ruling. Musk then railed that all companies should leave the state.

Delaware is a very popular business location in the USA due to its favorable tax conditions and a corporate jurisdiction that has developed over decades.