R/EnoughMuskSpam via Reddit.com, 5 Dec. 2019, www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/e6j76f/his_family_stole_an_emerald_mine/. "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. Worked on my Moms cousins farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. Once the Musk emerald story started circulating, and information about Musk's father Errol's past business dealings got out, a cavalcade of internet poo-pooers flocked to Twitter to lambast Musk . Note: Reporting from Esquire.com said that Elon moved from South Africa to Canada in 1988. [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. The funny thing is I've not actually been that nervous. In an interview with The Sun, Errol recalled the attack, claiming that he was confronted by a group of seven men inside his home and shot back at the intruders after they opened fire. [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. 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. Who is Errol Musk? What we know about Elon's dad - New York Post Elon Musk Denies The Existence Of His Family's Emerald Mine In Africa He's having a tantrum, like a spoilt child. 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. For example, on Dec. 28, 2019, hetweetedthat his father "didn't own an emerald mine" and that he (Elon) had worked his way through college, ending up with around $100,000 in student debt. You have no idea. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. He was married to Maye Musk and also to Heide Musk, with whom he has two children, Alexandra and Rose. I wish. Elon would later get his own pilot's license but no longer has time to fly. On an undisclosed date, Errol reportedly shot and killed three of up to a half-dozen armed intruders who broke into his Johannesburg home, according to Rolling Stone. "Is It True That Elon Musk's Family Got Their Wealth from Apartheid Emerald Mining?" And thats when Musk's father was offered half an emerald mine in return for half of his earnings. If I could have another child I would. Below we have provided a small sampling of the many different ways the rumor has been framed in past years. Their plane got diverted, which led to a chance meeting with Italians who wanted to buy the plane in cash. How Elon Musk made his money - from emeralds to SpaceX and Tesla The gist of the claim was that Elon's father, Errol Musk, who reports say has been estranged from his son for some time, owned an emerald mine during apartheid in South Africa, and that it was seed money from his father's wealth from the mine that made it possible for him to become the American billionaire he is today. Elon Musk Says He and His Brother Financed Their Father Errol Since 1990s Not for 'At Least' a Few Weeks, Says Elon Musk, Elon Musk's Ex Justine Calls Twitter Employees' Letter Protesting Reported Staff Cuts a 'Very Bad Idea', Elon Musk Says He's Buying Twitter to 'Help Humanity' And Doesn't Want It to Be 'Free-for-All Hellscape', Elon Musk Says Kanye West's Twitter Was Reinstated Before He Took Over the Company, Elon Musk Plans to Cut 75 Percent of Twitter's Workforce If He Takes Over the Company: Report. "And then there'd still be all these notes sticking out and we'd sort of pull them out and put them in our pockets.". Errol Musk is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. What We Know About Elon Musk and the Emerald Mine Rumor [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). 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. He added that Elon left the country as "a clear indication of his willingness to not support the political suppression in the country. 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. This is going to sound slightly crazy, but my father also had a share in an Emerald mine in Zambia. The wealth earned from the investment in the mine was quantified to be about $400,000 USD, taking into account inflation when Arnold's piece was written in 2021, according to Errol. The claim attracted a response from the billionaire, who said that the claim isn't true. "They didn't like it.". Imgur, 5 Dec. 2019, https://imgur.com/SHGhIY2. Inside the fabulous Dior couture world of 'Mrs. We had so much money at times we couldn't even close our safe," Errol said, explaining that one person would hold the money down while a second would slam the safe door shut. 2014, https://www.newspapers.com/image/878211644/. It is still hard to discern whether this story is true and what conclusions can be drawn. Elon may have been 6 or 7 years old at the time and begged his dad to get him a ticket to a very early computer conference in South Africa. "Like every abused woman, I was embarrassed, and I knew I had made a mistake, you know? "Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves." Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. luis carruthers @orthereaboot tweeted, When the same pattern of racist behavior happens at all $tsla locations, its the company thats racist, and the fish rots from @elonmusks head.. ---. Musk replied, linking to Jeremy Arnolds article, which gave Musks side of the story. When Errol and Maye divorced in 1979, a then-8-year-old Elon chose to live with his dad. Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. 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. The interview is no longer available on the Forbes website. In the meantime, Musk continues to make waves on multiple technological fronts, all while raising concerns about workers' rights and income inequality. Elon and other family members have opened up about years of living in debt after they left South Africa. After obtaining the mine, he tells that he had so much money, that 'he couldn't close his safe'. 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. Theyd seen I was sleeping in one morning, and they said, Oh lets just try, lets go.. He seemed very sad and lonely by himself. In 2017, Errol told Rolling Stone that while he has never intentionally hurt or threatened anyone, he once shot and killed a group of burglars at his home in Johannesburg, though he says he was cleared of all charges because he acted in self-defense. 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.. His children were reportedly influenced by his liberal political views. Still, Elon's tweets leave just enough room for Errol's story to be accurate, even if the inferences about his family's wealth are not. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.". I couldn't even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. Errol. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com, Image Via PHILIP PACHECO/AFP via Getty Images. The same story appeared to have also been published the day before with the headline, "A teenage Elon Musk once casually sold his father's emeralds to Tiffany & Co. while his dad was sleeping. I'm going to wait until he comes to his senses. odakyu11. While the story merely pointed to the facts that apartheid existed at the time and the Musk family made money from emerald mining, Musk to his frustration has found it hard to brush off the narrative of his wealth being linked to apartheid. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. He said that he sold and traded these emeralds himself and that at one point, Elon himself even went out to sell some of the stones. 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. He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. The Onion, 22 Mar. To me, he sure is trying to make the world better right now, and thats the best thing he could do with his fathers money. "Elon Musk: The College Years." Musk's revelation about his father's financial situation in the '90s comes after a Berkeley professor and former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, claimed on Twitter that 'self-made billionaires' are a myth and Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa. The share in the mine wasnt acquired until the 1980s. Regardless of your opinion of him, he is aself-made billionaire. Did Elon Musk's Father Really Own Half of an Emerald Mine? - Market Realist Jordan Liles is a Snopes reporter with expertise in investigating misinformation, inauthentic social media activity, and scams. While in Djibouti, he and his co-pilot sold their plane to some Italian nationals. Errol Musk was born in Pretoria South Africa to Walter Henry James and Cora Amelia Robinson. He was such a terrible human being. @Keewa tweeted on May 9, 2020, Remind: Elon Musk inherited money from his fathers apartheid emerald mine, that doesnt mean hes clever. There was a shooting in the living room, and I guess his father shot them dead. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done., He was such a terrible human being. "Elon Musk Left a South Africa That Was Rife With Misinformation and White Privilege." Errol Musk (born 1946) is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer who was once a co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika. "'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." Note: Some of the tweets that promoted the rumor said that Elon did not found Tesla, which was true. We were very wealthy. . His brother Kimbal was with him when the two brothers sold two of the gems to Tiffany & Co. for $2,000, according to their father. How A Rumor About Elon Musk's Family Emerald Mine Fortune Took A Life Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done. "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. "There's no evidence whatsoever of an 'emerald mine,'" the last part of the tweet read. The Associated Press, 20 July 2021, https://apnews.com/article/business-science-3546262d41f4c84763aa15339f642a5a. The tweet was shared as a screenshot on Imgur.com, which showed the image had been viewed more than 300,000 times. . "'His Family Stole an Emerald Mine.'" Errol and Heide had two children of their own, but he also helped raise Jana. Viral: When Elon Musk's bank account was in negative due to student Forbes, 1 Oct. 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2016/10/01/can-elon-musk-really-get-us-to-mars-within-10-years/. Vance, Ashlee. "Elon Musk Tells Me His Secret Of Success (Hint: It Ain't About The Money)." Elon Musk was highlighted as the wealthiest resident of Texas, Americas second-biggest state. 2023 The Moguldom Nation. 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). "There was just stacks of money and he paid me out, 80,000, it was a huge amount of money." All Rights Reserved. This article forms part of the archives of Business Insider South Africa, which was published as a partnership between News24 and Insider Inc between 2018 and 2023. Theyre the same, except for the fact that he is a billionaire, started multiple successful companies and doesnt live in his mothers basement. Ask him." 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? Errol Musk (born 1946) is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer who was once a co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika . Errol met Maye Haldeman the lady who would become his wife at Clapham High School. Standing with the cash in his hand, Errol was made another offer he couldn't refuse: Would he like to buy half an emerald mine for half of his new riches? 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? For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this.". It was a lucrative decision. Related stories Making better AI is Elon Musk's new object of . (We'll have more on Vance's Bloomberg.com interview later in this story.). "Exploring the otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk", "How To Raise A Billionaire: An Interview With Elon Musk's Father, Errol Musk", "Who Is Elon Musk's Estranged Father? Where is this bs coming from? Errol and his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, share two children. More answers and details are available in Arnold's article. He said that they stopped in Djibouti to avoid pricey airport fees, and there happened to meet some Italian merchants who offered to buy the plane from him then and there. Smart Policies are as low as $30 a month, No Medical Exam Required Other companies started by Musk include Neuralink, which is working on developing implantable brainmachine interfaces. 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. [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. They never made it to their destination. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. I said, Oh, all right. In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. My dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil. Moneycontrol.com, 21 Sept. 2022, https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/elon-musk-hits-out-at-us-professor-over-emerald-mine-claims-idiot-and-liar-9208281.html. "[4][8], In 1972, he was elected to the Pretoria City Council as a representative of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party. Elon Musk does not care about Black people.Example after example after example. In addition, they offered Errol a chance to buy partial ownership of a Zambian emerald mine. He's the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. In Errol's case, we sent a message to his Facebook profile. ", The Tesla founder also said there was no way to repair his relationship with his father. by Marilynn Manuel 13-02-2023 13:43 While he has given a few rare interviews, much of the publicly known information about him has come from his estranged son Elon or his ex-wife Maye Musk, neither of whom have had complimentary things to say about the engineer and onetime emerald mine owner. So we went to this guy's prefab and he opened his safe and there was just stacks of money and he paid me out, 80,000, it was a huge amount of money, he said. The article attributed the source of Elon Musks wealth to apartheid. "Can Elon Musk Really Get Us To Mars Within 10 Years?" They also emphasize anecdotes from Elon and his mother about the hard work and squalor they endured in Canada in those years. 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. Twitter, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/. According to the story, "When [Elon] was elevenabout the time that he sold his first piece of software, a video game called Blastar Musk told his mother that he was going to move back to Pretoria to live with his father, Errol, an electrical engineer who would later own an auto-parts store and a share in an emerald mine.". [3][4], Musk worked as a pilot, a sailor, an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer, a consultant, and a property developer, before retiring early. 2021, https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Elon-Musks-family-got-their-wealth-from-apartheid-emerald-mining. Jain, Sanya. And we spent three weeks making our rent-controlled apartment livable in Toronto, Maye tweeted. Zip2's purpose was to provide "a searchable business directory that could be described as an internet version of the yellow pages telephone directory with maps included," according to Britannica.com. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done, he continued. What Happened: Musk's comments came on a Twitter. coming from?. Though Errol has made headlines in recent years after the births of his two youngest children, he seemingly avoids the spotlight. We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, grew up in South Africa and made his way via Canada to the U.S. as a transfer student before attending the Wharton School and becoming the billionaire tech founder he is today. [10][11] Musk told Agence France-Presse that he was a strict father who raised his children with discipline and austerity. The Save Journalism Committee, 9 Mar. He was such a terrible human being, Musk told the magazine. Errol Musk - Wikipedia But I didnt really understand at the time what kind of person he was. However, both Elon and . Facebook, 27 July 2020, https://www.facebook.com/errol.musk/posts/10218340000911015. We also reached out to media relations personnel at SpaceX, where he is the founder and CEO, as well as Tesla and Twitter. Some of his most vocal detractors have promoted the idea that Musk, like Trump, began his career backed by the deep pockets of dear old dad. Elon Musk (~16 years old) & Kimbal Musk sold gems from the Zambian emerald mine to world-famous "Tiffany & Co." on Fifth Avenue in New York - one of the world's most famous jewelers. First, we have republished past statements from both Errol and Elon. It would have been great if someone was paying for my college, but my dad had neither the ability nor the inclination to do so. These tweets from December 2019 appeared to have stemmed, at least in part, from a since-deleted tweet from a user with the handle @1aprildaniels. Its so terrible, you cant believe it.. ". Address: Riverbank House, 1 Putney Bridge Approach, London, SW6 4TJ. Forbes, 28 July 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2014/07/28/elon-musk-tells-me-his-secret-of-success-hint-it-aint-about-the-money/. Errol Musk, the family's patriarch, is in the news after confirming he fathered a second secret love child with his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, 35. For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this., However, Elon has disputed claims that he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. Or they'd take the plane to Lake Tanganyika [in Zambia], where Errol had a stake in an emerald mine. His parents divorced. Regardless of your opinion of him, he is aself-made billionaire." Get down!'. Sager, Jessica. Arnold, Jeremy. The constant resurfacing of the story is probably what spurred Musk into replying on Twitter. Get to Know Errol Musk, Elon's "Brilliant," "Terrible" Father - MSN On July 28, 2014, Forbes.com published an interview with Elon Musk, which was conducted by Jim Clash. In an email to Rolling Stone, Musk's father said he smacked the Tesla CEO only once and on the bottom. He also said that the only criminal charges that had been filed against him from when he killed three home invaders in self-defense had been cleared. It didn't work out too well in the end," he said. He has a net worth of $2 million and is living quite comfortably. Elon also denied that Errol invested in the company. FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ERROL MUSK 1. By some accounts, Elon is reported to have witnessed the attack, with Errol later telling Rolling Stone that he acted in self-defense; he was never convicted of any crime. He also claimed, "My father & his extended family have been dependent on financial support from my brother & me for over 20 years.". 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. ", He grew up in South Africa and had the good fortune of doing so in an upper-middle-class home. @spylinen tweeted, The mine was in Zambia, which became independent of the UK in 1964. Elon Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa. 2021, https://www.theonion.com/the-richest-person-in-every-state-and-how-they-made-the-1846312073. "Back when I was ~$100k negative with student debt," he wrote. All About Errol Musk", "50 years of Elon Musk's huge wealth, from emeralds to SpaceX and Tesla", "How Elon Musk made his money - from emeralds to SpaceX and Tesla", "Elon Musk Left a South Africa That Was Rife With Misinformation and White Privilege", "At 68, Maye Musk, the Mother of Elon, Is Reclaiming the Spotlight", "El padre de Elon Musk dice que la ambicin de su hijo se debe a la educacin austera que recibi: "Fui un padre estricto", "BBC Two - The Elon Musk Show, Series 1, Episode 2", "Elon Musk's dad reveals he fathered an "unplanned" child with his stepdaughter", "Elon Musk's father has baby with step-daughter he has known since she was four", "Elon Musk's father confirms second child with his own stepdaughter - report", "Errol Musk explains why he got his stepdaughter pregnant", "Ayah Elon Musk Punya Bayi dari Hubungan dengan Putri Tirinya", "Meet Elon Musk's controversial father, Errol", "Errol Musk hat Kind mit Stieftochter: "Wir sind zum Fortpflanzen auf der Welt", "Elon Musk's Dad Says Company Wants His Sperm to Impregnate 'High-Class' Women", Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Errol_Musk&oldid=1142497006, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 18:50.