'Billionaire Exodus? California Drew 10x More Venture Capital Than Any Other State This Year'
7 95California drew more than $335 billion in venture capital funding this year, reports the Los Angeles Times, citing data released Thursday by PitchBook on private market funding: Its next biggest competitor, New York, raised less than a tenth of California's total. Texas raised 1/40th of the amount... Although a campaign for a new tax on billionaires has convinced some ultra-rich residents to shift to other states and businesses often complain that high property and energy costs and an anti-business regulatory regime make it too tough to make money in the state, the inability of the top talent, companies and investors in AI to set up elsewhere shows California's enduring attraction.
The state's economy grew 5% last year to a record $4.25 trillion, making it larger than every country other than the U.S., China and Germany. It is home to nearly 400 billion-dollar startups — more than any other state, according to CB Insights... Among metropolitan regions, Los Angeles ranked behind only Silicon Valley and New York, which attracted $98 billion and $11.5 billion in venture investment, respectively... Investors poured in nearly $8 billion across 207 deals in the Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Santa Ana metro areas, up 28% from a year earlier, according to PitchBook...
Nearly 90% of invested dollars [in California] went to AI firms, up from last year, when around 65% of new funds were allocated to AI. "If you're a tech company and you're not an AI company, you have a very, very difficult opportunity ahead of you to raise capital," Stanford said.
7 comments
Re:Wait...? (Score: 5, Informative)
by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @08:08PM (#66235194)
You have no idea what the article is saying or what is real. here is an unbiased summary of reality.
No state 'dislikes' billionaires, they all want them.
All states have various taxes.
A bunch of conservatives claim California hates billionaries, because they tax them more than certain red states do.
Some conservatives think a proposed one time tax law in California will drive away billionaires.
The actual facts are that billionaires do MORE business in California than they do in ANY other state. After it is New York City.
California has not changed anything about themselves, they continue to do the same thing they always did.
This article is implying that the conservatives are wrong about the relationship between California and Billionaires, as demonstrated by these facts. But of course, the conservatives that hate California also do not respect the Los Angeles Times.
Re: Wait...? (Score: 5, Insightful)
by kenh ( 9056 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @10:25PM (#66235306)
Horseshit.
The article claimed an increase in venture capital investments in CA was proof that billionaires weren't fleeing CA to avoid a wealth tax.
The two things are untelated.
Re: Wait...? (Score: 5, Insightful)
by broward ( 416376 ) on <[moc.liamg] [ta] [enrohdraworb]> on Sunday July 12, 2026 @11:32PM (#66235392)
almost $1 trillion has left CA since that tax proposal was floated.
https://www.scry.llc/2026/01/1... [scry.llc]
and most of the VC capital is AI bubble investment? :)
yeah, let's see how that works out.
Leaving. Billionaires or billionaires' money? (Score: 5, Insightful)
by Todd Knarr ( 15451 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @07:56PM (#66235174)
Sure the billionaires can leave CA. No loss there, because their money will stay there. That's where the businesses they want to fund are. That's where the talent they want to attract is. And billionaires themselves pay jack shit in taxes, it's the businesses that the money's in that matter. And for that matter, where are the billionaires going to move? Manhattan, Kansas?
Re: Leaving. Billionaires or billionaires' money? (Score: 5, Interesting)
by Todd Knarr ( 15451 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @11:49PM (#66235412)
That works short-term, but then they become a non-resident with CA-based income which means they have to file CA taxes under non-resident rules. Much less favorable, and leaves them open to CA doing any number of things to tax rules. One would be considering loans secured by stock options (not actual shares) to be income.
Going to be interesting in CA (Score: 5, Informative)
by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @08:19PM (#66235202)
Once, the one time 5% is spent the state will have to figure out how to do the one time 5% more than once to keep feeding the spending machine.
The problem is Fraud, Grift and run away Government spending can not co exist so they will need to do something different at some point.
Re: Going to be interesting in CA (Score: 5, Insightful)
by broward ( 416376 ) on <[moc.liamg] [ta] [enrohdraworb]> on Monday July 13, 2026 @12:15AM (#66235442)
nope, they expected everyone to sit quietly to get plucked. CA budget is already in a hole now due to exodus, so now they MUST pass the tax to limit their losses. That's why they're floating a bunch more taxes now, the billionaire tax will probably create a permanent, net loss of tax revenue in the range of $50 to 100 billion per year.
https://www.scry.llc/2026/01/1... [scry.llc]
Me, now residing comfortably in Florida on an $80/month property tax. :)