LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images; Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
- Elon Musk is encouraging workers to move to San Francisco to help the city survive its doom loop.
- The billionaire said Twitter's headquarters will remain in San Francisco.
- Other major tech firms including Meta, Snap, and Salesforce have reduced office space in the city.
Elon Musk is encouraging people to move to San Francisco and work there, saying the "city can't survive" unless it overcomes the urban doom loop.
The billionaire owner of Twitter tweeted on Monday: "It is important for more people to come to work in San Francisco or the rest of the city can't survive."
Twitter's headquarters are based in San Francisco and Musk recently had the Twitter sign removed from its building, putting a giant X in place of it that lights up at night, and irritating some neighbors. The company recently changed its logo to X.
Musk tweeted on Sunday that he refuses to move Twitter's headquarters out of the city despite ongoing reports about the city's deterioration in recent years.
He wrote in the tweet: "Many have offered rich incentives for X (fka Twitter) to move its HQ out of San Francisco. Moreover, the city is in a doom spiral with one company after another left or leaving. Therefore, they expect X will move too. We will not.
"You only know who your real friends are when the chips are down. San Francisco, beautiful San Francisco, though others forsake you, we will always be your friend."
The urban doom loop refers to a set of negative beliefs about a city deterring people from living there and causing those issues to proliferate. San Francisco is struggling with increased crime including theft and assault among other things according to retailers, as well as a huge homeless population.
In May, Musk said downtown San Francisco, where Twitter's headquarters is located, was a "once beautiful and thriving," area but is now a "derelict zombie apocalypse."
The city has seen retailers including Walgreens, Whole Foods, Anthropologie, and Nordstrom close stores, citing rising crime and concerns about employee safety. Critics say that these store closures are also a result of changing consumer shopping habits and retailers closing pricier locations.
Major tech firms including Meta, Snap, Salesforce, and Paypal were also reducing office space in the city, due to employees continuing to work from home after the pandemic.