Why are California’s tech millionaires and billionaires flocking to Las Vegas?
Kent Yoshimura moved his multimillion-dollar business from Los Angeles to Las Vegas a few years ago and said he has little regrets about leaving California.
One of the co-founders of NeuroGum, which produces caffeinated gum for memory and focus, Yoshimura said access to local politicians and hiking at Red Rock Canyon are just a few of the perks he’s noticed.
“The employment laws are a lot easier here, the affordability of a house, transportation,” he said at the third annual Vegas Tech Summit, held Thursday at a private residence in the affluent Summit Club in Summerlin, where tech entrepreneurs and others discussed the region’s business landscape. “I live in Summerlin and it’s 20 miles to my office and it takes 20 minutes. … When I was in downtown (Los Angeles) to Koreatown where my office was it was only 8 miles away and it took me 45 minutes.”
Yoshimura said part of the allure of Las Vegas is much like the products he sells — extra energy and focus — something he was unable to get in California because of several factors that bogged down his personal and professional life. He also has set up a warehouse and office just off the Strip and moved part of his staff to the valley.
“When you don’t have to think about that excess stuff as much it makes life much easier and it allows you to maintain a higher level of focus,” he said. “And I probably see more people now being in Vegas than I did in L.A. because everybody wants to come visit here.”
Yoshimura’s story is just one of a growing number of California’s tech millionaires and billionaires who are trading the Golden State for the Silver State. California has made up approximately a third of new residents to Nevada dating back decades, and Los Angeles specifically has topped Redfin’s immigration surveys for residents moving to Las Vegas consistently since the start of the pandemic.
California leavin’
Nearly 158,000 people relocated to Nevada from California from 2020 though 2023, making up 43 percent of all new residents to the Silver State during the past four years, according to driver’s license surrenders from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.
Several high-profile business leaders have already made the jump from California to Las Vegas, including billionaire Andrew Cherng, co-founder of Panda Express, and David Chao, co-founder and general partner at DCM, a multibillion-dollar venture capital firm.
Teddy Liaw, founder of NexRep, who relocated to Southern Nevada a few years ago after becoming “disenchanted” with the San Francisco Bay Area said a lot of what he is pitching to California’s tech entrepreneurs, millionaires, billionaires and CEOs can be boiled down to two words with a hyphen: “pro-business.” Liaw is the founder of the tech summit which is sponsored by Howard Hughes Holdings, the master plan developer of Summerlin.
Nevada has a number of tax incentives for businesses, including no taxes on corporate income or corporate shares as well as no franchise taxes, no personal income, inheritance or gift taxes and no unitary and estate taxes.
Liaw said he’s not worried about Las Vegas becoming California 2.0 and adopting the Golden State’s left-leaning political scene which many claim chokes the business community.
“There’s a reason they’re leaving California in the first place: the politics and the regulatory environment,” he said. “They are seeing the allure here in terms of access and quality of life and the opportunities we have here. At the end of the day California has lost population, this is a big deal because it’s the first time in history that California has lost congressional seats because of population decline.”
Las Vegas is not without its issues as well as the valley finds itself in the middle of a growing housing crisis. Residential real estate prices are close to breaking record highs, and the average price of a home has skyrocketed over the past few years. Nevada Treasurer Zach Conine said they are acutely aware of the affordability issues hitting many valley residents and working to make sure Southern Nevada doesn’t become unaffordable for the average citizen much like California has become.
“We are spending a lot of time talking about housing right now, affordable housing, attainable housing, housing for all,” he said. “Housing instability is economic instability, if we do not have a housing market that works it makes it harder for people to start businesses, it makes it harder for kids to do well in school, nothing is easy when we have a housing problem.”
Liaw mentioned the migration trend of Los Angeles entrepreneurs to Las Vegas is similar to people leaving New York for Miami, another business-friendly region where the tech scene has flourished over the past few years.
Retired short track speed skater Apolo Ohno, who lives in Miami, was in Las Vegas for the tech summit and said the valley definitely has a tempting environment and allure to it, noting he’s also noticed a shift in the landscape regarding places like California.
Ohno is an entrepreneur and investor, and the eight-time Olympic medalist said he could definitely envision himself living here.
“Vegas has got a special vibration to it right now,” he said.
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.