Image via Instagram @mayemusk. "The Richest Person In Every State And How They Made Their Money." It was a lucrative decision. To summarize Arnold's story would be difficult, as it contained a considerable amount of data and analysis. He added that Elon left the country as "a clear indication of his willingness to not support the political suppression in the country. The Twitter account no longer exists. SpaceX, his rocket company, is valued at $20 billion-plus. [11][5] Maye has stated that Errol beat her. 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. Elon and Kimbal allegedly sold 2 emeralds: one worth $800 and another worth $1200. Forbes, 1 Oct. 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2016/10/01/can-elon-musk-really-get-us-to-mars-within-10-years/. Born in 1971, Musk grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. ", The Tesla founder also said there was no way to repair his relationship with his father. After obtaining the mine, he tells that he had so much money, that 'he couldn't close his safe'. [4], Musk met Maye Haldeman when he was 11 years old and they were childhood friends before marrying in 1970. After the divorce, Elon lived with his father in Pretoria, where he attended Pretoria Boys High. "Elon Musk and the Emerald Mine." Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done. Not all the tweets were supportive of Elon. The interview is no longer available on the Forbes website. 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. R/EnoughMuskSpam via Reddit.com, 5 Dec. 2019, www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/e6j76f/his_family_stole_an_emerald_mine/. 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 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. One of their homes was in Waterkloof, a leafy suburb of Pretoria that was popular with foreign diplomats. He said, They just walked into Tiffanys and said, Do you want to buy some emeralds? And they sold two emeralds: one was for $800, and I think the other one was for $1,200. How much of a Momentum Proteas Womens cricket fan are you? Theyd seen I was sleeping in one morning, and they said, Oh lets just try, lets go.. The constant resurfacing of the story is probably what spurred Musk into replying on Twitter. Hes the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. An avid pilot and sailor, as well as an electrical and mechanical engineer, he made his money consulting and developing properties and retired early. Journalism strengthens democracy. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. In that way, Errol might be like estranged Elon after all. 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. However, $800 was probably pocket change for the family, judging by what Musk's father told the site. They also emphasize anecdotes from Elon and his mother about the hard work and squalor they endured in Canada in those years. Answer these 2 simple questions & WIN R1000 in cash! Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zip2. On July 28, 2014, Forbes.com published an interview with Elon Musk, which was conducted by Jim Clash. r/EnoughMuskSpam via Reddit.com, 18 Dec. 2021, https://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/rj689s/elon_musk_and_the_emerald_mine/. Musk had earlier slammed Reich for misrepresenting his background in the post, which argued that "self-made billionaires are a myth" and named the SpaceX founder and other prominent business. Elon Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa. His parents divorced. Errol Musk bought 50% of the emerald mine in 1969 for about 40,000, which is equal to about 160 000 today. 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. While His Dad Was Sleeping." Address: Riverbank House, 1 Putney Bridge Approach, London, SW6 4TJ. We contacted Elon publicly on Twitter. All the Musk siblings did well, Forbes reported. Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble? 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. And he had a disastrous relationship with his father. Elon Musk does not care about Black people.Example after example after example. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford., In a follow-up tweet, Elon said his father didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt.. The 76-year-old hasnt ruled out having more children, saying: The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce.. He has also dismissed rumors that his father co-owned a Zambian emerald mine, writing on Twitter in 2019: He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. In my experience, there is nothing you can do, Elon said of Errol. Errol was born in South Africa to a British mother and a South African father. In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. "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. Its obvious why Musk would want to distance himself from apartheid in every possible way. "Elon Musk's Vision of an Electric-Car Future." 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Soon after Elon left for Canada, his mother, Maye, moved there too, along with Elons brother, Kimbal, and sister, Tosca. "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. On May 22, 2020, Bloomberg.com published an interview with Elon, which was penned by Ashlee Vance. You have no idea.. 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. It was a lucrative decision. Whats very difficult for others is easy for me. "I said, 'Oh, all right.' "A Teenage Elon Musk Once Casually Sold His Father's Emeralds to Tiffany & Co. 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. Errol employed a cutter in Johannesburg and sold the stones wherever his travels as an engineer or family holidays took him. In the meantime, Musk continues to make waves on multiple technological fronts, all while raising concerns about workers' rights and income inequality. In 1972, Errol was elected to the Pretoria City Council in his native South Africa. According to a Facebook post from Errol, the Zambian emerald mine he held a stake in "collapsed in 1989. "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine" was corrected to "Elon Musk's family once owned an emerald mine." "There was just stacks of money and he paid me out, 80,000, it was a huge amount of money." The Onion, a satirical publication, shared. So I became a half owner of the mine," he told the outlet. At the conference, Elon talked to some professors who told Errol, This boy needs to get his hands on one of these computers. Theyre the same, except for the fact that he is a billionaire, started multiple successful companies and doesnt live in his mothers basement. Curiously, Errol has said nothing more about the controversial emerald mine story in the years since, even in recent interviews like his discussion with Forbes last year. 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. Bill Gates' mom helped Microsoft get a deal with IBM. [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. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years.. In 2019, a Twitter user claimed that Musk's father Errol owned an emerald mine. . 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." Errol and Heide had two children together, Alexandra and Asha Rose. On March 25, 2021, Elon Musktweetedthat the emerald mine inheritance rumor was false, and that he had arrived by himself in Canada in 1989 "with ~CA$2,500." You have no idea. The funding we raised for our first company came from a small group of random angel investors in Silicon Valley. Aside from that hes just dumb. 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. Musk's defenders have also pointed out that Errol's alleged trade took place in the mid-1980s, at which point Zambia was independent. Heres his story. He is the father of business magnate and billionaire Elon Musk, restaurateur Kimbal Musk, and filmmaker Tosca Musk. Ive tried everything. "So I became a half-owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years," Errol said. The 51-year-old has refuted claims that he grew up rich amid statements that his father Errol owned an emerald mine in . Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. "My brother and I paid for college through scholarships, loans and working two jobs simultaneously. 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.. Wayback Machine. [Jana] stayed here for about 18 months after Rushi was born. Errol built his wealth as a prominent electromechanical engineer and entrepreneur in South Africa, reports The South African. ", 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.". My Dad provided 10% of a ~$200k angel funding round much later, but by then risk was reduced & round would've happened anyway.". The headline of the story read, "Elon Musk Tells Me His Secret Of Success (Hint: It Ain't About The Money).". Elon has himself admitted that his father has a very high IQ and is brilliant at engineering.. Bloomberg.com, 22 May 2020. www.bloomberg.com, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-22/elon-musk-speaks-frankly-on-coronavirus-spacex-and-rage-tweets. Errol told BI that he was flying from his home in South Africa to the U.K. to sell the plane he was on, with a young Elon in tow. Instead, we will concentrate on the two Business Insider South Africa articles mentioned by Arnold that appeared to provide the roots of the "apartheid emerald mine" rumor. There were AK-47s all over the place and I'm thinking, "Man, this could really go bad.". All rights reserved. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. So we got one, thank God at a discount, and with that computer he taught himself, using Disk Operating System, which is DOS, to program, Errol said. 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"Who Is Elon Musk's Estranged Father? "He also claims he was getting emeralds from other sources, with only 60-70% coming from this venture." 1/2This article is false. It was not a good idea.. Elon Musks family wealth has once again resurfaced as a talking point. "Can Elon Musk Really Get Us To Mars Within 10 Years?" [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. "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? His grandmother broke barriers of her own, becoming the first-ever chiropractor in Canada. You can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you won't be billed. Elon called the story "actually accurate." He did the investment after selling a plane for about 80 000. Musk, Elon. We also reached out to media relations personnel at SpaceX, where he is the founder and CEO, as well as Tesla and Twitter. The story made no further mention of the mine. Though Errol has made headlines in recent years after the births of his two youngest children, he seemingly avoids the spotlight. His father, Errol Musk, had a casual attitude towards the family's considerable wealth, including the stones that came from the Zambian emerald mine in which Errol owned a half share. The story included reporting of Elon's denials that the emerald mine had provided any seed money for the wealth he would later accumulate. Business Insider South Africa, 28 Feb. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.co.za/how-elon-musks-family-came-to-own-an-emerald-mine-2018-2. However, both Elon and . Errol owned one of the largest homes in Pretoria and took his children on many overseas trips, according to the book, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, written by Ashlee Vance. Note: Reporting from Esquire.com said that Elon moved from South Africa to Canada in 1988. In a 2019 . But that's more or less where the good fortune ended. Our offices are for administrative purposes only, no visitors will be accepted without an appointment. 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. "I screwed up the marriage, I was totally responsible. "Nothing, nothing. 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. Still, it wasarchived by the Internet Archive. Jana was 4 years old when Errol married her mother, Heide Bezuidenhout though he claims that he didn't consider Jana his stepdaughter, as she primarily grew up separate from the Musks. Beyond that, we were unable to find any evidence that showed money generated from his father's involvement in the mine helped Elon build his wealth in North America. The 76-year-old is most notable for. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done," Elon said. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford. It was authored by Jeremy Arnold with The Save Journalism Committee. Errol was elected to the Pretoria City Council in 1972 and was an outspoken advocate for abolishing apartheid. He was bullied at school. Clash's same 2014 interview was also republished by AskMen.com on Jan. 2, 2015. 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. I felt sorry for my father, because my mother had all three kids. Friend, Tad. First, we have republished past statements from both Errol and Elon. Elon, 51, was brought to tears discussing his dad in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, describing him as evil and a terrible human being.. Errol Musk, an engineer, owned a small percentage of an emerald mine and had a couple of good years before the mine went bust and wiped out his investment. "Everybody I knew called him 'the Pig' because he treated me so badly in public. Worked on my Moms cousins farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. 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. Copyright 2023 Market Realist. In his interview with Business Insider South Africa, Errol said that he was to blame for his divorce from model Maye Musk, with whom he shares Elon, Kimbal and Tosca. 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). My dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil. And thats when Musk's father was offered half an emerald mine in return for half of his earnings. 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. You have no idea. [22] He is estranged from his son Elon. "We went to . Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done., He was such a terrible human being. In Errol's case, we sent a message to his Facebook profile. So we decided to head back to Lake Tanganyika from where we were, I think we were in Djibouti., Errol Musk (father of one Elon Musk) on raising one of the world's most famous billionaires: http://t.co/Fg8xmqN1L0 pic.twitter.com/LVJyMdebZK. We also reached out to both men for additional comment and to ask if they could potentially provide any evidence that would support their statements, even though they didn't start the rumor. This article is actually accurate: https://t.co/eVpCX9V1NB. 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. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done, he continued. You could tell by the way that he told the story. In South Africa, my father had a private plane we'd fly in incredibly dangerous weather and barely make it back. Note: Some of the tweets that promoted the rumor said that Elon did not found Tesla, which was true. 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. 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. "In my experience, there is nothing you can do," he added. ", "You have no idea about how bad. As a child, Elon had a close relationship with his father and grew up prosperous in Pretoria. AskMen, 2 Jan. 2015, https://www.askmen.com/entertainment/right-stuff/elon-musk-interview.html. Former Tesla employees have reported racist behavior and attempted to sue over it. Errol and Jana welcomed a son, Elliot "Rushi" Rush, in 2017 and a daughter in 2019. Nothing, nothing. It didn't work out too well in the end," he said. It spoke of the divorce of Elon's parents, Errol and Maye Musk, and also contained a quick mention of an emerald mine. Get down!'. Elon Musk has a wild story!" he captioned it. (We'll have more on Vance's Bloomberg.com interview later in this story.). When Errol and Maye divorced in 1979, a then-8-year-old Elon chose to live with his dad. The Buffalo News via San Jose Mercury News via Newspapers.com, 20 Apr. ---. The entire episode started when the satirical publication The Onion published a piece on the wealthiest person in each American state. Here is the incredible true story of Errol Musk and the striking similarities he shares with his powerful son. In 2017, family members were left stunned when Jana became pregnant with Errols baby. 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? "She wasn't planned," Errol said of his youngest child. ", Inoneof the tweets from Elon in which he refuted the emerald mine rumor, he linked to an article that had been published on March 9, 2021. "They were confronted by it every day," he said. "What's very difficult for others is easy for me. 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. FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ERROL MUSK 1. As well as providing links, people started commenting Musk's own words back at him under his tweet. . 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. 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). "Back when I was ~$100k negative with student debt," he wrote. In the interview, Musk's father explained that he bought his share of the emerald mine after selling a plane to a group of Italians. 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. 2021, https://savingjournalism.substack.com/p/i-talked-to-elon-musk-about-journalism. This is why people are switching to @TheBabylonBee! Musk wrote. ", He grew up in South Africa and had the good fortune of doing so in an upper-middle-class home. With his new riches, Errol also bought half of an emerald mine. For the state of Texas, The Onion printed, "Elon Musk: Apartheid.". Chromatica Warrior @DebbieTweeted Can he be held responsible for his dads ethics tho? He began his career as an electromechanical engineer. At some point after the shooting, the relationship between dad Errol and son Elon soured. Former Tesla employee Marcus Vaughn, who worked in the Fremont, California, factory in 2017, alleged that the companys production floor was a hotbed for racist behavior. Supervisors regularly used the N word around Black workers and he said he was fired after complaining to human resources about workplace harassment. He was married to Maye Musk and also to Heide Musk, with whom he has two children, Alexandra and Rose. In 1970, Errol married modelMaye Haldeman Musk before the pair welcomed three children: Elon, Kimbal and Tosca. 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.