Ever since mid-2022, when Elon Musk was legally pressured to make good on his promise (threat?) to purchase Twitter, the tech mogul’s tenure atop the social media platform now known as X has been a near-constant stream of messy business.
Now, it appears he’s ending his roughly 20-month situationship with San Francisco by officially closing the company’s flagship HQ at 1355 Market St.
As a farewell to the mercurial billionaire, The Standard has put together a greatest (mis)hits of his time at Twitter/X. Cue Green Day’s “Good Riddance.”
Oct. 26, 2022: “Let that sink in”
Because money can’t buy a sense of humor, Musk greeted his slightly terrified new employees at Twitter’s headquarters by carrying in a porcelain plumbing fixture and repeating a grade-school-level pun. Workers were urged to “say hi!” to their new overlord even as reports emerged that he planned to lay off a majority of the staff.
Nov. 4, 2022: Wasted no time purging
Cue the paranoid recriminations, mass resignations and major layoffs. Thousands of workers got the ax, which led to absolute chaos internally and several lawsuits over severance agreements. In a plus for Musk, a pair of energy healers flew on a private jet from San Diego to provide him “a vibration of community.” Unfortunately, he was not in the building at the time.
Dec. 6, 2022: Installed bedrooms in Twitter HQ
First things first, installing a hardcore mindset at Twitter, which in Musk’s mind had grown lazy, soft and woke. As employees publicly quarreled over how many hours in a row they spent grinding, city officials began probing reports of illegal bedrooms installed in the office at Musk’s behest. One former Twitter manager quit and filed a lawsuit against his former employer because it allegedly ordered him to break building regulations.
Dec. 12, 2022: Got booed on stage at a Dave Chappelle show
The comedian brought Musk out during a show at Chase Center to shocked jeers and a sustained chorus of boos. Needless to say, it was an awkward moment.
Dec. 19, 2022: Banned a bunch of journalists
The free-speech absolutist took his own stab at content moderation by banning several prominent journalists from their accounts on his platform. These included many of the same reporters charged with ferreting out information about him. The lockouts happened around the same time Musk posted a Twitter poll asking if he should step down as CEO, to which a majority answered “yes.”
Jan 23, 2023: Allegedly failed to pay rent on office space
Musk’s reputation as a rule-breaker apparently extended to his feelings about paying rent on his San Francisco office. Twitter’s landlords sued over the nonpayment but dropped the case a few months later.
April 13, 2023: Waded into Bob Lee murder with “reckless” tweet
After the killing of CashApp founder Lee, Musk replied to a tweet attributing the murder to a random mugging/attack. Musk wrote, “Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins called the tweet “reckless” and stated that Lee and his assailant knew each other.
July 24, 2023: Changed Twitter’s name
Twitter became X, although the percentage of people who actually refer to the company as X seems roughly equivalent to those who left the platform for Bluesky.
July 30, 2023: Tried to install a massive “X” sign without a permit
In line with the name change, the company erected a massive X sign on its San Francisco headquarters. Blindingly bright at night, the structure was installed without a permit and soon was taken down after inspections by the city’s building department. Talk about a bad sign.
Aug. 6, 2023: Challenged Zuck to a cage match
When reports started circulating that Meta would launch Threads, an X competitor, Musk wrote that he was “up for a cage match” with Mark Zuckerbeg. The Meta CEO, fresh off a win at a Redwood City jiu jitsu tournament, promptly told Musk to “send me location.”
Musk said he was “lifting weights throughout the day” to train for the fight — albeit while working in the office, because he apparently didn’t have any other time to work out. But then he said he “may require surgery” before the match. It still hasn’t happened.
Aug. 10, 2023: Auctioned off Twitter decor and merch
In an effort to purge the office of its remaining Twitter-era paraphernalia, X listed hundreds of items online in a two-day auction. There were the expected neon Twitter signs and a “bird cage hanging sofa (daybed) swing.” There were also beer-dispensing kegerators, a DJ booth and a repurposed barn from Montana.
Sept 23, 2023: Called for Dean Preston’s imprisonment
Musk has a penchant for randomly wading into local San Francisco politics, one of the things we will miss most about his departure. Case in point: Musk commented that Supervisor Dean Preston “should go to prison” for legislation he introduced. He previously pledged $100,000 to boot Preston from office but never made good on his promise. The campaign of Preston’s opposition said it wouldn’t take the mogul’s money anyway.
July 13, 2024 Officially went full MAGA
Less than an hour after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Musk used the platform he owns to post an endorsement of the former president’s reelection campaign. He also launched a super PAC to help fund those efforts, but that organization is under investigation over its voter registration practices.
The final straw: Musk said X would decamp to Austin, Texas, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill prohibiting schools from requiring teachers to notify parents if their kids change their pronouns. (Ultimately, the company opted to pack up its San Francisco headquarters and move its workers to Palo Alto).
But that wasn’t the end of Musk’s spat with his former bro. When the governor needled Musk for retweeting an altered Kamala Harris campaign ad, Musk replied by writing that he “checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America 🤷♂️.”
Professor Deeznutz did not respond to a request for comment. See, Elon — that’s a real joke.