Elon Musk’s X wants to sublease entire 800,000 sq ft San Francisco headquarters

Arrival of Twitter to neighborhood in 2011 is credited with uplifting surrounding area

X is reportedly looking to sublease its entire, roughly 800,000 square foot headquarters in San Francisco, in a potential sign the company may be relocating.

Real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc is marketing the social media giant’s entire facility in the Mid-Market neighborhood as “one large headquarters opportunity,” though X may continue to occupy some office space, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

X, then known as Twitter, moved to the area in 2011 after received a special tax break, and is creditted with helping turn a blighted stretch of the city into one temporarily filled with office workers, trendy restaurants, and new apartment towers.

Its presence hasn’t always been lauded, though.

Last year, the company took down a huge glowing “X” sign from the office’s roof, as city officials investigated whether the company installed it without proper permits.

The decision to market the headquarters may be a sign of X souring on San Francisco, or the company’s own internal woes.

Musk moved his electric carmaker Tesla’s headquarters from Silicon Valley to Texas in 2021, criticizing regulations, taxes, and Covid policies in California.

The billionaire has also been a frequent and often stridentcritic of street crime, homelessness, and what he sees as a declining quality of life in San Francisco.

Musk isn’t the only executive seeming to have doubts about San Francisco.

The city has the highest office vacancy rate among large US metro areas, according to Bloomberg.

X is no longer publically traded, so its finances are harder to track than in past times, but the office move could have something to do with the social network’s struggles under Musk.

According to documents submitted to state regulators, in the first six months of 2024, revenues fell nearly 40 percent year-over-year and X lost $456m.

The Independent has contacted X for comment.