California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back on bashing of the Golden State, trumpeting the state’s economy after some high-profile companies including SpaceX and Chevron announced plans to move their headquarters to Texas.
The governor’s office this week touted the large number of California companies that Inc. magazine included in its recent ranking of fastest-growing private U.S. businesses. The publication scored companies based on their revenue growth rates from 2020 through 2023.
“California has the most dynamic, entrepreneurial economy in the country. Businesses that start and grow here change the world,” Newsom said in a statement.
The remarks come as Newsom has been fending off growing criticism about the homelessness crisis plaguing the state and rebukes a portrayal by conservative critics of an out-of-control liberal bastion. Some of the scrutiny has come from billionaire Elon Musk, who is supporting former President Trump’s run against Vice President Kamala Harris. Musk announced in July he’s moving the headquarters of his companies SpaceX and X to Texas.
In deciding to bolt, Musk lashed out about a new state law that prohibits mandating that teachers notify families about student gender identity changes. He also said the decision was driven by what he described as rampant crime in San Francisco, where X was based, saying he “had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building.”
Other longtime California businesses are exiting the state as well. High-profile departures include Chevron, one of world’s largest oil companies, which said in August it would relocate its headquarters to Texas. Oracle also moved from California to Texas, but announced plans this year to make Nashville, Tenn., the home of its global headquarters.
More than 660 California companies made it on the Inc. 5000 list this year, more than any other state, the governor crowed. Collectively, the companies had created more than 81,000 new jobs to the state economy, according to the list. Some of the companies that were in the list’s top 20, including luggage storage service Bounce in San Francisco; cyber insurance firm Cowbell in Pleasanton; Skyline Smart Energy in Downey; ad agency Marketcall in Pasadena; and marketing firm Ascend Agency in Irvine.
Newsom’s office, citing the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, said California is the 5th-largest economy in the world with a nominal GDP of nearly $3.9 trillion in 2023.
Newsom’s office also boasted that tourism spending in California reached an all-time high of $150.4 billion last year, and that the state created thousands of fast food jobs and is home to the most Fortune 500 companies in the United States.
The governor reiterated some of those data points during Salesforce’s “Dreamforce” conference on Tuesday in San Francisco. Commenting on Musk’s plans to move SpaceX, Newsom said on stage he was “looking forward to how the hell he does that.”
“California still dominates in so many categories,” Newsom said. “It’s a point of pride and necessity that we maintain that dominance.”
Staff writer Wendy Lee contributed to this report.
