With his new riches, Errol also bought half of an emerald mine. "So we decided to head back to Lake Tanganyika from where we were, I think we were in Djibouti.". Elon Musk: The Truth About His Dad and Emerald Mines - Trending A common story about Musk on social media is that his father owned part of an emerald mine, providing a bedrock of wealth that buoyed Elon up to his current level of success. I couldnt even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. @Keewa tweeted on May 9, 2020, Remind: Elon Musk inherited money from his fathers apartheid emerald mine, that doesnt mean hes clever. His net worth is. Errol Musk bought 50% of the emerald mine in 1969 for about 40,000, which is equal to about 160 000 today. There, the two South Africans ran into a group of Italians who, as it happened, were in the market for an airplane. In Errol's case, we sent a message to his Facebook profile. Worked on my Moms cousins farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. In addition, they offered Errol a chance to buy partial ownership of a Zambian emerald mine. Errol and a co-pilot were flying a plane from South Africa to England to sell the aircraft but when they couldn't make a scheduled stop in Saudi Arabia, he pivoted his plan and changed his life. The patriarch confirmed the shootings to the publication in 2017, saying manslaughter charges were later dropped because he acted in self-defense. "I started my first company with $2,500, and I had one computer and a car that I bought for $1,400, and all that debt. I tried threats, rewards, intellectual arguments, emotional arguments, everything to try to change my father for the better, and he no way, it just got worse., Errol subsequently told the publication in an email: Ive been accused of being a Gay, a Misogynist, a Paedophile, a Traitor, a Rat, a St (quite often), a Bastard (by many women whose attentions I did not return) and much more. Standing with the cash in his hand, Errol was made another offer he couldnt refuse: Would he like to buy half an emerald mine for half of his new riches? We were going to fly into Jeddah and there was a religious holiday and they said if we come in now we have to pay $2,000 but if we wait 10 days we can come in at no charge. On May 22, 2020, Bloomberg.com published an interview with Elon, which was penned by Ashlee Vance. ", Errol and Elon have an acrimonious relationship. I arrived by myself in Canada in 89 with ~CA$2500 Paid my own way through college, ending with ~$100k student debt Started 1st company with no funding & just one computer I built Theres no evidence whatsoever of an emerald mine, 2/2My father & his extended family have been dependent on financial support from my brother & me for over 20 years. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month. Errol and Elons feud has reportedly been exacerbated by the patriarchs eyebrow-raising relationships. Errols grandmother was Canadas first chiropractor, while Errols own mom and dad were the first two people to fly from South Africa to Australia in a single-engine airplane, according to Forbes magazine. Elon Musk says he had six figures in student debt after college - CNBC "We were going to fly into Jeddah and there was a religious holiday, and they said if we come in now we have to pay $2,000, but if we wait 10 days we can come in at no charge," he recalled to Business Insider. Errol Musk was born in 1946 in Pretoria to Walter Henry James Musk and Cora Amelia Robinson. The Save Journalism Committee, 9 Mar. He is the father of business magnate and billionaire Elon Musk, restaurateur Kimbal Musk, and filmmaker Tosca Musk. So it was very formative for him. And, on at least one occasion, his now famous son also took his hand at dealing in the gems, with peculiar results. His mother Maye responded on Twitter in December 2019 in defense of Elon. ---. Jordan Liles is a Snopes reporter with expertise in investigating misinformation, inauthentic social media activity, and scams. In a 2019 . ", Five days later on Feb. 28, Business Insider SA published a second article with the headline, "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine in Zambia here's the fascinating story of how they came to own it.". He also co-founded PayPal, which means a Twitter user said The WHOLE bank on the internet was started by him (yes, your credit card as well). An avid pilot and sailor, as well as an electrical and mechanical engineer, he made his money consulting and developing properties and retired early. According to Ashlee Vances 2017 biography of the Tesla founder, The Musk family owned one of the biggest houses in Pretoria thanks to the success of Errols engineering business, which included large projects such as office buildings, retail complexes, residential subdivisions, and an air force base.. We sought evidence in the case that they still had any documentation from past decades about the mine, the around $100,000 in student debt that Elon has repeatedly said he had accumulated during college, or anything else related to Elon's early finances that they have mentioned in past interviews. The buyer also offered Errol the option to buy half of an emerald mine with that cash. Bloomberg.com, 22 May 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-22/elon-musk-speaks-frankly-on-coronavirus-spacex-and-rage-tweets. He was married to Maye Musk and also to Heide Musk, with whom he has two children, Alexandra and Rose. . In a 2017 Rolling Stone cover story, the Tesla CEO described his childhood and revealed that he moved in with his father at eight years old after his parents split. Has even greenlit racism by saying those on receiving end need thick skin.https://t.co/DhpANcrqNp https://t.co/OESO1BJTtE, Can he be held responsible for his dad's ethics tho? "Can Elon Musk Really Get Us To Mars Within 10 Years?" Ive tried everything. I wish. In December 2019, Elon denied the emerald mine-and-lavish-lifestyle story on Twitter, saying it was a lie. Not all the tweets were supportive of Elon. The narrative of Elon Musks wealth coming from his familys apartheid gains is one that started a few years ago when Business Insider wrote an article highlighting the Musk familys involvement in mining during SAs apartheid years. Errol made money by consulting and developing properties, Forbes reported. Later, on Sept. 20, 2022, hecalledRobert Reich "an idiot and a liar" for tweeting a video that pushed the emerald mine wealth rumor as fact. Behind the billions: Inside Errol Musk's emerald mine, net worth & scandals His parents divorced. He just had a rich dad and a got lucky. They also emphasize anecdotes from Elon and his mother about the hard work and squalor they endured in Canada in those years. Where is this bs coming from? A common story about Musk on social media is that his father owned part of an emerald mine, providing a bedrock of wealth that buoyed Elon up to his current level of success. Elon and other family members have opened up about years of living in debt after they left South Africa. Errols other children we also shocked and uncomfortable about the surprise pregnancy. This story will be updated if any further details come to light. On July 3, 2020, Elon tweeted about the subject again, responding to a since-deleted tweet with, "I don't have an 'emerald mine,' nor was I given free money from anyone, inheritance or otherwise. Here is the incredible true story of Errol Musk and the striking similarities he shares with his powerful son. "And we got emeralds for the next six years.". He will plan evil. "There was just stacks of money and he paid me out, 80,000, it was a huge amount of money." The headline of the story read, "Elon Musk Tells Me His Secret Of Success (Hint: It Ain't About The Money).". Musk's father said that Tiffanys set the $800 emerald in a ring and offered it for $24,000, which he said was an object lesson in retail markup for the family. In a February 2018 interview with Business Insider South Africa, Musk's father said he did own half share in an emerald mine in Zambia. He can't have what he wants and now I am apparently an evil monster.". And we spent three weeks making our rent-controlled apartment livable in Toronto, Maye tweeted. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. It was a lucrative decision. Behind the billions: Errol Musk's net worth, scandals and more Errol also added that his children were keenly aware of the country's government-sanctioned racial segregation. Errol. To summarize Arnold's story would be difficult, as it contained a considerable amount of data and analysis. 2023 The Moguldom Nation. Elon Musk denies his family's emerald mine ever existed It was kind of weird for them to walk into Tiffanys. We had so much money at times we couldnt even close our safe, he explained, adding that they would need one person to hold the money in place and another to close the safe door. "So I became a half-owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years," Errol said. A post on Reddit mentioned a theory that said Elon "convinced these publications to remove the articles," but there's no evidence to support that. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. . The constant resurfacing of the story is probably what spurred Musk into replying on Twitter. Fortier, Alexander. He didnt own an emerald mine, and I worked my way through college, ending up [around] $100,000 in student debt, Elon tweeted. Aside from that hes just dumb. In 1972, Errol was elected to the Pretoria City Council in his native South Africa. All Rights Reserved. He told The New York Times that as a member of the Progressive Party, he opposed apartheid. In the past, the Tesla CEO hasrespondedseveral times on Twitter about the emerald mine rumors. But I didnt really understand at the time what kind of person he was. Clash, Jim. Elon Musk Once Called His Father, Errol Musk, a 'Terrible Human' The Tesla CEO has fathered 10 children. "Elon Musk Left a South Africa That Was Rife With Misinformation and White Privilege." "What's very difficult for others is easy for me. The emerald mine story, reported in 2018 in Business Insider, tells how, in the mid-1980s, Errol acquired a half-share in a Zambian emerald mine, which would help to fund his familys lavish lifestyle of yachts, skiing holidays, and expensive computers.. Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. Note: Some of the tweets that promoted the rumor said that Elon did not found Tesla, which was true. Elon Musk: The Truth About His Dad and Emerald Mines, Amy Robach and T.J. 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Instead, Musk has sought to dispel the general belief that he comes from wealth. The story also included the same information from Elon's tweets where he said again that he had "ended up with $100,000 of student debt. He also sent a link to another interview he did with Elon in 2016. The funding we raised for our first company came from a small group of random angel investors in Silicon Valley. ", In 2018, he explained that he was helping Jana get over a breakup at the time of Rushi's conception, but he initially assumed the baby's father was Jana's ex. For what it's worth, my reporting, based on conversations with hundreds of people, confirms Musk's story. Musk responded about the time when the photo was clicked. Musk, who is never shy of saying his say online, took to Twitter to show his disappointment with The Onion and took the opportunity to shout-out the publications competition, The Babylon Bee. [2] In 1969, he became a 50% owner of an emerald mine on Lake Tanganyika,[2][5] that he bought for 40,000, funded by selling an airplane for 80,000 (the equivalent of 320,000 today). The Daily Mail has reported that Errol was a multimillionaire before the age of 30. Musk replied, linking to Jeremy Arnolds article, which gave Musks side of the story. The entire episode started when the satirical publication The Onion published a piece on the wealthiest person in each American state. A recurring theme on social media is the claim that Musks father owned an emerald mine and paid for his sons privileged upbringing and education. Musk has denied that story. "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt," Elon tweeted in December 2019. Musk's father, Errol, an engineer, married Maye when she was 22, and Musk was born shortly . Musk readily jumps onto Twitter to refute the charges that his empire was forged with the aid of family wealth, and part of the reason he wanted to talk to merather comically given the rocket launch and, well, trollswas because the jabs bug him, and he hopes to set the record straight. The funny thing is I've not actually been that nervous. https://web.archive.org/. Meanwhile, Musk's defenders often say that the mogul has denied this story, though that is not precisely true either. Copyright Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Elon Musk helped his financially 'broke' father but on 1 condition Errol Musk, the familys patriarch, is in the news after confirming he fathered a second secret love child with his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, 35. Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this.". Musk may not be a great guy, but I fail to see any apartheid link to his fathers emerald mine., @grard97 tweeted, Remind: Elon Musk owns an electric and autonomous car companyA private space landing rockets companyAn AI companyA Neuroscience companyA Solar Panel and energy storage companyThe WHOLE bank on the internet was started by him (yes, your credit card as well), @C49015142 tweeted, I thought I read in Malcolm Gladwells book David and Goliath that his company received $500 million from the US government, so we are all subsidizing him. Recently, Elon Musk had to set the record straight on a narrative spun over three years ago about his family owning an emerald mine in South Africa. This is not true," Elon told Rolling Stone in 2017. So I became a half owner of the mine," he told the outlet. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and his mother, Maye Musk. Errol and Heide eventually divorced after an 18-year marriage. However, Errol also told the outlet that life in apartheid South Africa was ultimately "better" and "safer" than it is today. ---. "Nothing, nothing. Forbes, 1 Oct. 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2016/10/01/can-elon-musk-really-get-us-to-mars-within-10-years/. Elon would later get his own pilot's license but no longer has time to fly. The billionaire, who was born in South Africa, took to Twitter to answer claims made by The Onion about how his family made their money in apartheid South Africa. In April 2014, Dana Hull and Patrick May penned an article for San Jose's The Mercury News with the headline, "The otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk." Musk left his father behind at the age of 17 to pursue his dreams in North America and escape conscription into the South African military. [10] She gave birth to three children; Elon Reeve Musk born on 28 June 1971, Kimbal Reeve Musk born on 20 September 1972, and Tosca Musk born on 20 July 1974. Errol told Business Insider South Africa that he co-owned an emerald mine in Zambia. Reich, theformer secretary of labor under U.S. President Bill Clinton and a professor of public policy at University of California, Berkeley, had tweeted,"Elon Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in apartheid South Africa." In 2018, Musk also told Business Insider that his father Errol purchased a 50 per cent share in the mine after selling a plane. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years.". The story included reporting of Elon's denials that the emerald mine had provided any seed money for the wealth he would later accumulate. Im not sure if replying to a satire site and amplifying their articles reach is necessarily the best idea, but Musk felt that this was a hill worth dying on. Once again, he said that he paid his own way through college, ending with around $100,000 in student debt, and added thathe started his first company with no funding and one computer he built himself. [23], In 1998, Musk shot and killed three out of six or seven burglars who forced their way into his Johannesburg home and who opened fire upon detection.[24]. [17] Later in life, after splitting from Heide Bezuidenhout, he fathered two children with her daughter (his former step-daughter) Jana Bezuidenhout; a son born in 2017 and a daughter born in 2019. Shame on you, Onion. He has a net worth of $2 million and is living quite comfortably. While in Djibouti, he and his co-pilot sold their plane to some Italian nationals. It was not a good idea.. Elon and Kimbal allegedly sold 2 emeralds: one worth $800 and another worth $1200. Who is Errol Musk? What we know about Elon's dad - New York Post Errol Musk said he bought half of an emerald mine after selling a plane. His tweet is now viral with over 9.1 million views. Errol Musk's Emerald Mine (@ErrolsEmeralds) / Twitter Errol and Heide had two children of their own, but he also helped raise Jana. [3][4], Musk worked as a pilot, a sailor, an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer, a consultant, and a property developer, before retiring early. While His Dad Was Sleeping." Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. Esquire, 5 June 2015, https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a35508/elon-musk-college-years-canada-u-penn/. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.". ", For his part, Errol told the Daily Mail that Elon "needs to grow up" and "get over himself," adding, "I'm not going to hit back. Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. In 2018, Errol Musk interviewed Business Insider South Africa, where he told a story about bartering his way into partial ownership of an emerald mine in Zambia. Click Here to Get Smart on Protecting Your Family and Loves Ones, No Matter What Happens. For the state of Texas, The Onion printed, "Elon Musk: Apartheid.". Smart Policies are as low as $30 a month, No Medical Exam Required I tried threats, rewards, intellectual arguments, emotional arguments, everything to try to change my father for the better, and he no way, it just got worse. Black Americans Have the Highest Mortality Rates But Lowest Levels of Life Insurance In an interview with Express, Cattrell recalled: One night, they were sitting in the living room and his dad said Everybody down! Headded, also on Dec. 28, "We started Zip2 with ~$2k from me plus my overclocked home-built PC, ~$5k from my bro & ~$8k from Greg Kouri (such a good guy he is greatly missed). Errol Musk Net Worth: Inside the Fortune of Elon Musk's Dad In an interview with Business Insider South Africa, Musk's father Errol Musk said he negotiated his way into having partial ownership of an Emerald mine in Zambia along with other assets. [14], Musk was married to Heide Bezuidenhout for eighteen years and helped her raise her young daughter Jana Bezuidenhout, a child from a previous relationship. On Aug. 17, 2009, The New Yorker printed one of the earliest known searchable records of an emerald mine being tied to the Musk name. "There's no evidence whatsoever of an 'emerald mine,'" the last part of the tweet read. Errol has long since retired from the engineering business and now lives a quiet life in the Western Cape in South Africa. The billionaire, who was born in South Africa, took to. Below, we have laid out all of the data that we found, including examples of the rumor, as well as stories from newspaper archives and blogs. He was bullied at school. The Associated Press, 20 July 2021, https://apnews.com/article/business-science-3546262d41f4c84763aa15339f642a5a. odakyu11. Ask him." "One thing he claims is he gave us a whole bunch of money to start, my brother and I, to start up our first company. Wanderlust ran on both sides of the family. By email, Clash told us he had no idea why it was no longer hosted by Forbes. TheSouthAfrican.com is all about South Africa and the stories that affect South Africans, wherever they are in the world. Or they'd take the plane to Lake Tanganyika [in Zambia], where Errol had a stake in an emerald mine. Errol met Maye Haldeman the lady who would become his wife at Clapham High School. And I was too scared to tell anyone [about his violence]," Maye told Harper's Bazaar in 2019. First, we have republished past statements from both Errol and Elon. Errol Musk says teenage Elon Musk once casually walked around with emeralds in his pocket. [6][7] In a 2018 interview with Business Insider, Musk boasted that as a result of the emerald mine "we had so much money we couldn't even close our safe. In that context, its probably understandable that Musk decided enough was enough and felt he needed to answer the claims online. ---. Inside the fabulous Dior couture world of 'Mrs. The interview is no longer available on the Forbes website. Where is this bs coming from? That conversation is more valuable but less newsworthy than just resurfacing the same lazy claims every few months, which are guaranteed to get clicks. "One thing led to another you can call it God's plan or nature's plan. In 2019, Elon Musk confronted the Twitter talking point about his father's supposed emerald mine head on, writing, "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending. Theyd seen I was sleeping in one morning, and they said, Oh lets just try, lets go.. EM: Company death not succeeding with the company causes me a lot more stress than physical danger. Errol named his price, and a deal was done. Arnold, Jeremy. Elon Musk says he 'financially supported' dad Errol since the 1990s In the mid 1980s, Elon Musks father Errol and a copilot were on their way to England aboard a plane they hoped to sell when they landed there. Soon after Elon left for Canada, his mother, Maye, moved there too, along with Elons brother, Kimbal, and sister, Tosca. "Bezos' Comments on Workers after Spaceflight Draws Rebuke." He attended Queens University in Canada. The story made no further mention of the mine. Did Elon Musk's Father Really Own Half of an Emerald Mine? - Market Realist The 51-year-old has refuted claims that he grew up rich amid statements that his father Errol owned an emerald mine in South Africa. Errol Musk, the father of Elon Musk, told British tabloid The Sun Wednesday that he had a second and previously-unknown child with his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, in 2019 leaving many. I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books. Meet. One thing most of us can agree on is that there is a more nuanced conversation to be had about how Musk specifically and South Africas white population in general, even those who didnt own mines benefitted from apartheid. In the mid-1980s, the family profited handsomely from Errol Musk's purchasing of an emerald mine, after selling their airplane for 80,000 (the equivalent of 320,000 today). Answer these 2 simple questions & WIN R1000 in cash! Errol built his wealth as a prominent electromechanical engineer and entrepreneur in South Africa, reports The South African. Business Insider South Africa, 28 Feb. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.co.za/how-elon-musks-family-came-to-own-an-emerald-mine-2018-2. r/EnoughMuskSpam via Reddit.com, 18 Dec. 2021, https://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/rj689s/elon_musk_and_the_emerald_mine/. However, in the recent Channel 4 documentary Elon Musk: Superhero or Supervillain, co-founder of SpaceX, Jim Cattrell, claimed Elon was home at the time. ", According to the story, Errol said that Elon "once walked the streets of New York with emeralds in his pocket." Kimbal is a millionaire who owns restaurant chains and spearheads a nonprofit education program, The Kitchen Community, which grows vegetables in the U.S. Tosca is a film producer and director. Rolling Stone reported in 2017 that Errol was, by his own account, making money in the often dangerous worlds of construction and emerald mining at times so much that he claims he couldnt close his safe.. Address: Regus Business Centre 1st Floor, Block B, North Park, Black River Park, 2 Fir Street, Observatory, Cape Town, 7925, South Africa Postal: Blue Sky Publications (Pty) Ltd T/A TheSouthAfrican, PO Box 44354, Claremont, 7735, South Africa, United Kingdom Blue Sky Publications Ltd Company Registration Number: 04683692. After the divorce, Elon lived mostly with his father until he left South Africa at age 17 partly to avoid conscription in the South African army. ". He added that Elon left the country as "a clear indication of his willingness to not support the political suppression in the country. He also claimed, "My father & his extended family have been dependent on financial support from my brother & me for over 20 years.". He is the father of Elon Musk, the CEO of 'SpaceX,' 'Tesla, Inc.,' and 'Neuralink' and one of the co-founders of 'PayPal.' Errol is mostly known for his scandalous life and his estranged relationship with his children. According to the story, in the mid-1980s, Errol and a copilot landed their plane near Lake Tanganyika in Zambia, where "a group of Italians" offered them 80,000 pounds in British currency in order to buy the plane. Elon tweeted that he had $100,000 debt after college. "I'm naturally good at engineering that's because I inherited it from my father," he told Rolling Stone. de Wet, Phillip. It was a lucrative decision. However, any reconciliation was apparently short-lived. The article was titled, "I Talked to Elon Musk about Journalism and the Blood Emeralds Story.". Errol and Jana welcomed a son, Elliot "Rushi" Rush, in 2017 and a daughter in 2019. Elon Musk isn't innovative. [4], Musk met Maye Haldeman when he was 11 years old and they were childhood friends before marrying in 1970. Vance, Ashlee. Elon Musk's father, Errol Musk, remains a mysterious figure, and there is still no common consensus how his work or his wealth during Elon's childhood. ", His post ended with this: "Finally, it is necessary to acknowledge the wrong and oppressive nature of apartheid and we do need to recognise the pain and suffering it caused for many South Africans, but I do not feel it is fair to associate any of that with what Elon has achieved through hard work since he left South African shores as a teenager of 17.". He also called the whole rumor "BS.". Elon Musk's father, Errol Musk, remains a mysterious figure, and there is still no common consensus how his work or his wealth during Elon's childhood. Viral: When Elon Musk's bank account was in negative due to student On Feb. 23, 2018, Business Insider SA published a story with the headline, "'We had so much money we couldn't even close our safe': Elon Musk's Dad tells BI about the family's insanely casual attitude to wealth." The netizen claimed that the Business Insider article didnt show the real extent of the Musk family profiting from apartheid. [1] His father was a South African veteran of World War II and his mother was British. Like his son, the wealthy business owner who was once rumored to be the co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine has also been mired in controversy.