{"id":153079,"date":"2026-01-28T09:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T09:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/153079\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T09:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T09:42:12","slug":"calif-tech-billionaires-will-leave-in-droves-over-wealth-seizure-ballot-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/153079\/","title":{"rendered":"Calif. tech billionaires will leave in droves over wealth ‘seizure’ ballot measure"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re a little over a month into an industry-wide conversation about the future of tech in California, which is largely taking place off social media. At this point, most people know the conversation was triggered by a ballot proposition<\/a> floated by the state\u2019s largest health care union which seeks to legalize a first-of-its-kind asset seizure targeting<\/a> (for now) billionaires.<\/p>\n

Over the last week, I spoke with 21 billionaires about the looming prospect of a wealth tax. We discussed whether they left or are planning to leave California (most of them are), what a wealth tax means for the technology industry, and finally how, if at all, they plan to fight back.<\/p>\n

The men I spoke with include founders of companies working on a diverse range of technologies, including artificial intelligence, defense, cryptography, security, biotechnology, finance, and general software development, as well as prominent venture capitalists at several of the most famous firms in the world.<\/p>\n

In total, these men are responsible for something like 50,000 employees, running companies in California worth a combined $1.3 trillion.<\/p>\n

Proposal written to fail<\/p>\n

Among the men I interviewed impacted by the ballot proposition, none were willing to speak on the record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s definitely a sense that you\u2019ll be attacked and singled out and the average nerd is conflict avoidant,\u201d one man said.<\/p>\n

The ballot proposition was constructed in such a way as it can technically not solve any of the stated problems it was ostensibly written to address \u2014 chief among them, filling a massive budget hole in Medi-Cal (the state\u2019s Medicaid program<\/a>) following California legislation that guaranteed permanent funding for illegal immigrant health care.<\/p>\n

That promise was never tenable, but following federal Medicaid cuts it has dragged California into crisis.<\/p>\n

Larry Page, chief executive officer and co-founder of Alphabet Inc., leaves Trump Tower in New York. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The futility of the ballot proposition has left most men impacted with a sense that the ballot proposition\u2019s true purpose is to humiliate them, disrupt their personal lives, and hurt their companies.<\/p>\n

Given especially the proposition\u2019s dangerous language surrounding \u201ccontrol,\u201d founders of private companies in particular, with their armies of lawyers investigating this thing, believe the proposition, as written, could actually bankrupt them.<\/p>\n

Obviously, there is now real danger in appearing successful in the state of California, as the far left, imbued with a great deal of power, and benefiting now from several years of wealth scapegoating throughout the mainstream press, attempts to liquidate its perceived enemies in business.<\/p>\n

But first, are these guys staying and fighting, or are they leaving? And how many have already left?<\/p>\n

Three men I spoke with in the largest billionaire Signal chat said they ran an informal poll, and 70% of the chat (around 60 people, not all of whom were billionaires) indicated they would leave the state if the ballot proposition passes. According to that same poll, around 15% have already left the state.<\/p>\n

\u2018Not just billionaires\u2019<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spoken with around 10% of billionaires in the state myself. Of the 21 men I interviewed, 20 would have been impacted by the ballot measure<\/a>. All 20 of them, including the Democrats, as well as several of the most committed diehard proponents of revitalizing San Francisco, are now developing an exit plan. (Three have already left.)<\/p>\n

Almost all of them have either purchased property out of state or are in the process of buying property out of state now; almost all of them have engaged lawyers to help them navigate what they see as a potentially years-long legal battle; and, among the men I spoke with who are presently running companies, almost all have deployed business ops leaders to focus on opening offices out of California.<\/p>\n

While, without exception, every founder of a private company I interviewed mentioned the ballot proposition\u2019s confusing and confounding \u201ccontrol\u201d language, their focus is generally directed to the overall uncertainty surrounding legislation in the state.<\/p>\n

Concern has much less to do with this single ballot proposition than the question of how companies will be targeted in the future, and everyone believes they will be targeted again.<\/p>\n

There is also nobody who believes the introduction of architecture for a legalized asset seizure, something we\u2019ve never before seen in this country, will conclude with an exclusive targeting of billionaires over the years to come.<\/p>\n

Once the concept is normalized, everyone assumes wealth taxes of this kind will ultimately target every \u201cwealthy\u201d person in the state, with the term \u201cwealthy\u201d redefined in whatever manner leftists find useful from election cycle to election cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think 100% of people who are looking at this understand it is being marketed as a one-time thing, but it will not be one time, and it will not only target billionaires. Once the structure is put in place, it is going to expand,\u201d one impacted businessman explained.<\/p>\n

Sergey Brin attends the 2019 Breakthrough Prize at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize<\/p>\n

Tech ready to bail<\/p>\n

I expected people to be upset. I expected maybe half of the men I spoke with to be working on a plan to leave the state. I did not expect every man I spoke with to be considering an exit, and I was actually shocked to find this applied even to the men most historically outspoken about the unique importance of California.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crazy thing,\u201d one of the California maximalists said, \u201cis that I\u2019m thinking about leaving, because I am one of the happiest to pay taxes people I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not a man who is allergic to what I would personally term draconian forms of taxation, or even to a \u201cproperly done wealth tax\u201d in general, he explained (though he was the only person I spoke with who was open to one).<\/p>\n

He believes this form of taxation is inevitable, as artificial intelligence will ultimately replace all human labor, at which point an income tax will not be practical. In this, he most preferred some kind of national land tax.<\/p>\n

In other words, the terrain in California is still: wealthy thoughtful business leaders trying to understand the world in one corner, and union thugs who actually understand power in the other.<\/p>\n

But targeting the engine of the tech industry, with language that seemed to disproportionately threaten founders of earlier-stage private companies, was much too far \u2014 even for the \u201chappiest to pay taxes\u201d guy in tech.<\/p>\n

This is where virulently left-wing policy wonks seem to not understand the technology industry. While the academics responsible for this ballot proposition seem to believe they\u2019re over the target, so to speak, and billionaires crying about the destruction of tech are just attempting to scare them from securing their fair share of someone else\u2019s money, even the most thoughtful entrepreneur is simply looking at the letter of the proposal and concluding it may be literally impossible for them to stay in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this tax actually passes,\u201d said one prominent venture capitalist, \u201cI think the technology industry kind of has to leave the state. Because every person running a company will have to look at the math, and they will think, \u2018Well obviously that cannot happen because it will literally destroy the company.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cap table will transfer to state coffers or, I don\u2019t know, weird secondary sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole basic fundamental model of building a company that does something important and compounds over 5, 10 years just doesn\u2019t work anymore. And that\u2019s the thing that could really kill the network effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Thiel, co-founder and chairman of Palantir Technologies Inc., speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2018An awakening\u2019<\/p>\n

One executive working with hundreds of new companies a year, who is now actively working on launching a new office in either Austin or Cambridge, speculated that startups might continue to be founded in California for the time being, \u201cbut the second it actually works the CEO will move and open other offices elsewhere, and most of your workers will be someplace else.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the question of whether the asset seizure would ultimately pass, opinions were diverse, but nobody seemed to care. That wasn\u2019t what mattered.<\/p>\n

That this could happen at all is what mattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an awakening for a lot of people,\u201d said one of the most impacted, well-known, and beloved founders I spoke with.<\/p>\n

And it seems to be an awakening for Democrats specifically.<\/p>\n

David Sacks, Chairman of the President\u2019s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, participates in a panel discussion during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it does or doesn\u2019t pass, this is the single most radicalizing red pilling thing to ever happen to push them into the arms of the Republican Party, and I think it makes clear, more than anything else that happens, that it\u2019s not about helping the poor but impoverishing the rich, and the pain is part of the point. That\u2019s a new realization for a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another billionaire said it seemed, from conversations he\u2019d been having with other men impacted by the ballot proposition, that it would harm the Democratic party:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of people affected by this are Democrats, including many of the biggest donors to the party,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He characterized this as a catalyzing event among Democratic donors, many of whom he was now privately engaging with, \u201cunlike any other issue I\u2019ve seen.\u201d Yes, he said, there was a big \u201cleopards eating faces element to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

But actual asset seizure was truly not something any of them expected.<\/p>\n

\u2018Idiots finally\u2019 watching<\/p>\n

There was only one man I interviewed willing to speak on the record. Joe Lonsdale had long since, and quite famously, left California by November. We had a fun conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m ecstatic because these idiots are finally waking up,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know why they\u2019re quite so politically retarded, but this is the nature of people. Until you come to their house and threaten them with violence, they just ignore what\u2019s happening . . . now they are finally realizing we have to fight to win, and it\u2019s going to take hundreds of millions of dollars a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fighting to save the country, but these people are realizing they have to fight for their state, and how many levels they are behind in that game. There\u2019s basically a default over a billion dollars a year that goes into the far left in California via unions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Joe\u2019s sense, which I share, is there are three political camps in California including the far left, the \u201cmoderate\u201d left, and the center right. The far left is by far the most organized. This leaves an alliance between the \u201cmoderate\u201d left and the center right over the issue of permanently stopping a wealth tax targeting unrealized assets and the founders of private companies as the only way to secure a place for tech in the state.<\/p>\n

While an alliance like this would have been difficult to imagine even before Trump\u2019s second term, which has ushered in a new age of political polarization, billionaires from the center left and center right are at least privately signaling openness to cooperation. This is not only because of a California wealth tax.<\/p>\n

Rather, the looming threat of a wealth tax has catalyzed a much wider-ranging conversation among these men on the many challenges facing the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens as America splits?\u201d one man asked. \u201cYou have this exodus of capital and businesses from one set of states to another set of states . . . the states left behind largely have state pension plans. In California, the pension obligation accounting is done in such a way as they are allowed to obscure the real liability. When this is properly calculated, there is somewhere between a $600 billion and $1 trillion shortfall on pensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens when a state can\u2019t pay its bills? We federalize the debt. This is where the union breaks. This is where America enters civil war. Because if you are living in Texas or Tennessee, you are living within your means, now taxes have to be raised to bail out a trillion dollars of pension liabilities in California. The whole thing breaks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Written by communists\u2019<\/p>\n

One man I spoke to thought of his life a year from now, after having moved his office. He imagined having new friends. His kids would be happily re-enrolled in school on the other side of the country. The ballot proposition would no longer matter to him, nor would the whims of a random angry mob. That would be nice, he thought. It would be nice to never think about this or any other ballot proposition again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was written by communists who actually believe that the concentration of wealth is society\u2019s greatest evil,\u201d he said, \u201cand who are hoping they can remove wealth from everyone who has it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was not about a law. This was about a terrifying class of people rapidly amassing power in this country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been telling the kids that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t go back to California because of communists<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This abridged excerpt run with permission from Pirate Wires<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re a little over a month into an industry-wide conversation about the future of tech in California, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2080,9329,19093,7,9,8,9180,975,3880,9560],"class_list":["post-153079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-billionaires","tag-biotech","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-finance","tag-opinion","tag-software","tag-wealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}