OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
9:29 AM – Friday, January 9, 2026
Billionaires, including Google CEO Larry Page and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, are reportedly considering leaving California by the end of the year due to the threat of a proposed “wealth tax.”
The proposed state ballot initiative, likely to be voted on in November, would impose a one-time tax of 5% of the net worth of those who were California residents on January 1st with over $1 billion.
This measure could potentially generate about $100 billion in revenue for the state.
David Lesperance, a tax adviser who specializes in relocating wealthy clients to avoid high-tax areas, told Bloomberg News that he personally assisted four billionaires to flee California before New Year’s Day.
Divesh Makan, co-founder of ICONIQ Capital, a Silicon Valley investment firm, said that he knows as many as five residents who have already left the Golden State. He told the outlet he expects another 15 to 20 billionaires to leave with their families if the tax is approved by voters — nearly 10% of California’s billionaire class.
Page, 52, has an approximate net worth of $263.8 billion, while Thiel’s, 58, is estimated at around $27.5 billion, putting the two among roughly 200 California residents whose wealth exceeds $1 billion. A 5% deduction from Page’s net worth would be $13.19 billion.
The Google co-founder has quietly moved his assets to Florida after accruing roughly $173 million worth of waterfront property in Miami’s upscale Coconut Grove neighborhood in December, including a $101.5 million estate and a $71.9 million mansion.
According to Business Insider, Page has officially cut ties with California.
Tech venture capitalist Thiel, a conservative donor who has long criticized wealth taxes, has opened a Miami office for Thiel Capital, his investment firm. Though he still maintains a Los Angeles home, he has already registered to vote in Florida.
Other members of the top 1% have set their sights on income-tax-free Texas.
David Sacks, co-founder of Craft Ventures, announced on the last day of 2025 that his firm had opened an office in Austin, Texas, having previously relocated from San Francisco.
In 2020, Elon Musk, 54, moved from California to Texas, which is now the headquarters of Tesla, SpaceX, X and the Boring Company. Musk has a net worth estimated at over $700 billion.
Other major companies that fled California for the Lone Star State include Oracle, Hewlett-Packard and Charles Schwab.
Finally, In-N-Out President Lynsi Snyder, 43, worth $8.7 billion, left the Golden State with her family for Tennessee last summer.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, 62, is seemingly unbothered by a possible 5% deduction of his approximate $164.2 billion net worth.
“I haven’t thought about it even once,” Huang told Bloomberg in an interview on Tuesday. “We chose to live in Silicon Valley, and whatever taxes I guess they would like to apply, so be it. I’m perfectly fine with it.”
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