SpaceX is now based in Texas, says Elon Musk

Rocket company SpaceX has moved to Texas from Delaware, founder Elon Musk said Wednesday, weeks after a Delaware judge voided his pay package at Tesla, another company he owns.

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson issued a certificate Wednesday confirming that the state has accepted the company's application to move its incorporation, according to a copy of the document posted on her office's website . A spokeswoman for Ms. Nelson's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Musk, a billionaire who lives in Texas and also runs carmaker Tesla, has had problems with Delaware. Last month, a judge there annulled the pay package that had made him the richest person in the world.

That case was brought by a group of Tesla shareholders who challenged a stock option package that allowed Mr. Musk to acquire about 304 million Tesla shares at a preset price — $23.34 per share — if the company met certain goals. The judge ultimately ruled that Mr. Musk had effectively overseen his own compensation plan, which was valued last month at more than $50 billion, with the help of compliant board members.

“If your company is still based in Delaware, I recommend you move to another state as soon as possible,” Musk wrote on X, the social media platform he owns, in a post announcing the SpaceX news on Wednesday .

Mr Musk announced the move hours before the company launched a robotic lander that will attempt to deliver NASA payloads to the moon. Due to a technical problem, the launch time was postponed from Wednesday until early Thursday morning.