Joining Tesla, Hewlett-Packard and Charles Schwab, Oracle, the world's largest database management company, has announced that it will move its corporate headquarters from California to Texas. "We believe these moves best position Oracle for growth and provide our personnel with more flexibility about where and how they work," the company said in its SEC filing. In 1977, Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle with Bob Miner and Ed Oates in Santa Clara with just $2,000 in seed money.

In just the past decade, more than 13,000 businesses have left the Golden State for better business climates (they're increasingly going to Texas). The reasons most frequently cited for relocating are: California's highest-in-the-nation income tax rates, greatest regulatory burden and litigation risk along with the third-highest cost of living (after Hawaii and the District of Columbia).