A massive exodus out of California is expected to happen after SpaceX’s historic and OpenAI’s confidential IPO, unleashing an unprecedented wave of tech millionaires to Florida.
Following SpaceX’s IPO on June 12 that set the company’s valuation above $2 trillion and made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, around 4400 SpaceX employees also became millionaires.
“The California area codes have already started showing up. It’s just that the conversations are evolving,” Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority CEO and President Jenni Morejon said to Fox News.
Aerial view of a Fort Lauderdale neighborhood, where many Californians are fleeing to. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority CEO and President Jenni Morejon.
“The wealth doesn’t hide here… and I really think what we’re seeing now with AI founders, with the era of liquidity, with SpaceX, is a generation that’s used to speed and being very public,” she continued.
In December, Google’s co-founder Larry Page spent $188 million on two homes in Miami and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg followed suit just months later, dropping $170 million on a Miami mansion in March.
“Fort Lauderdale is poised to welcome the tech titans,” says Morejon of the Californians headed to the Florida city. Getty Images
Many California-based millionaires and billionaires have made the move to the Sunshine State. Getty Images
Other prominent tech billionaires such as Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have also left the Golden State to protect their fortunes.
“There is going to be this transitional event with the IPO where executives are finally gonna see probably the biggest cash day most of them have ever seen in their lives. And many of them are not making millions, they’re making tens of millions overnight,” said Joe DaGrosa, the Chair of DaGrosa Capital Partners.
“I think that’s going to have them thinking long and hard about South Florida and Miami,” he added.
California currently has the highest state-level sales tax in the country and the highest income tax rate of 13.3% for individuals making over $1 million.
Florida has no individual state income or capital gains tax.
While boasting the highest taxes, the state’s newly proposed billionaire tax is also set to appear on the November general election ballot. The legislation is a one-time 5% levy on California’s billionaires.
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