Oracle is moving its headquarters out of the San Francisco Bay Area to Austin, Texas, the tech giant announced Friday afternoon, following other companies like Tesla and Hewlett Packard in California’s exodus.
By Leslie Brinkley
“We believe these moves best position Oracle for growth and provide our personnel with more flexibility about where and how they work,” Oracle said in a statement to ABC7.
The tech company was founded in Santa Clara in 1977 and is headquartered in Redwood Shores in San Mateo County.
The relocation to Texas will allow many Oracle employees to choose their office location or work remotely, the company said.
“Certainly the pandemic has had a steroid all effect on condensing companies. This is the time to make a move,” said Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council told ABC7.
This summer, data company Palantir also announced its moving from Palo Alto to Denver, Colorado.
And Credit Karma is moving out of San Francisco and relocating its headquarters in Oakland.
Many cite the high cost of living and hefty state taxes.
Oracle’s move to Texas follows a trend of not only corporations saying goodbye to the Bay Area, but also residents moving out of state in hopes of a cheaper cost of living.
Last month, Las Vegas launched a campaign in an effort to bring Bay Area tech workers to the Nevada city, marketing the lack of state income tax, affordable homes and sunny weather.
Earlier this year, remote workers in the Bay Area were even enticed with the offer of $10,000 to move to Oklahoma.
It’s unclear when exactly Oracle will move its headquarters to Texas, but the company says its “major hubs” around the world, including Redwood Shores, will still be supported.
“We will continue to support major hubs for Oracle around the world, including those in the United States such as Redwood Shores, Austin, Santa Monica, Seattle, Denver, Orlando and Burlington, among others, and we expect to add other locations over time,” the company said. “By implementing a more modern approach to work, we expect to further improve our employees’ quality of life and quality of output.”
Originally published at Abc7 news