Exodus: Digital Realty Trust, Stitch Fix, and Miami Billboards

Brandon Ristoff

Policy Analyst

Brandon Ristoff
February 19, 2021

Exodus: Digital Realty Trust, Stitch Fix, and Miami Billboards

Every week, we recognize some businesses or people that are leaving or have left the Golden State and some of the biggest stories regarding the exoduses.

To access The California Book of Exoduses: CLICK HERE

Digital Realty Trust

On January 14, Digital Realty Trust, a $36 billion company with over 1,500 employees, announced their relocation of their global HQ from San Francisco to Austin, Texas. According to U.S. News website, Digital Realty is a “a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions.” While they will keep some presence in the Bay Area, A. William Stein, their CEO, said they chose to move to Texas because of its “central location, affordable cost of living, highly educated workforce, and supportive business climate.”

Stitch Fix Disinvests in California

Over the past year, Stitch Fix has started to disinvest in California and reinvest in lower-cost states. Stitch Fix, a “personal style service,” is a $8.3 billion company based in San Francisco. Back in June, Stitch Fix announced they were going to lay off 1,400 of their stylists in California and rehire in other states. In December, they revealed plans to create a new distribution center in Salt Lake City. Earlier this month, they finally announced they were going to shut down their South San Francisco distribution warehouse.

I’m Going to Miami

In a recent move that took Twitter by storm, a new billboard in San Francisco had on it a tweet that said “Thinking about moving to Miami? DM me.” The tweet was from Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami, Florida. Although it was not funded by the mayor or the city itself, recent events in the city of Miami have indicated that they want to become the next Silicon Valley.

Notable businessmen and venture capitalists, including Jonathan Oringer, David Blumberg, and Keith Rabois, have moved to the city. Recently, the city of Miami is considering a proposal by Mayor Suarez to allow city workers to be paid in Bitcoin and allow city residents and businesses to pay taxes and fees in Bitcoin. In a telephone interview reported by Reuters explaining the move, Mayor Suarez has said “It’s part of a larger play if you will to position Miami as one of the tech-forward cities in the country.” Miami is now in a great position with Florida’s already low taxes, including no income tax, its limit on COVID-19 restrictions, and its great weather, to attract California expats.

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Brandon Ristoff is a policy analyst for the California Policy Center.

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