Tesla’s Musk moves to Texas from California; compares himself to war general

Texas might potentially offer some tax reprieve for the world’s second richest man. It does not collect personal income tax while California has some of the highest state tax rates in the United States.

A 670 per cent rally in Tesla shares this year has boosted Musk’s net worth to $US155 billion ($209 billion) from $US27 billion, just behind Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

In a conversation touching a wide range of topics including government intervention, technology companies and corporate policy, Musk criticised CEOs of other US companies for not focusing enough on their products.

“If you find yourself spending a lot of time giving presentations and reviewing spreadsheets, you’re barking up the wrong tree,” Musk said.

The billionaire also compared himself to a war general and said, “If you think about war … do you want the general in some like ivory tower or on the front lines? The troops are going to fight a lot harder if they see the general on the front lines.”

Musk said tech companies in Silicon Valley had too much influence on the world and predicted a decrease in their power.

On Tesla’s move to raise $US5 billion in capital, he said: “We thought we can retire a lot of the debt and increase the security of the company … have more of a war chest.”

Musk has earned Tesla stock options related to his 2018 pay package that are currently worth almost $US20 billion.

Reuters