Elon Musk's father planned to fly a plane from South Africa to England and sell it once they got there. The most direct address was a tweet that said his father "didn't own an emerald mind [and] I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt.". The Onion, 22 Mar. 2021, https://www.theonion.com/the-richest-person-in-every-state-and-how-they-made-the-1846312073. 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. Musk responded about the time when the photo was clicked. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years., When the Tesla CEO was around 16 years old, he and his brother Kimbal sold two emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York City while Errol snoozed, according to what Musk's father told Business Insider South Africa. "The Richest Person In Every State And How They Made Their Money." We did not receive a response from Forbes PR. 2021, https://savingjournalism.substack.com/p/i-talked-to-elon-musk-about-journalism. 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. His children were reportedly influenced by his liberal political views. "I said, 'Oh, all right'. [1] His father was a South African veteran of World War II and his mother was British. 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. He just had a rich dad and a got lucky. He told The New York Times that as a member of the Progressive Party, he opposed apartheid. de Wet, Phillip. [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. Did Elon Musk's Father Really Own Half of an Emerald Mine? - Market Realist 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. He told me over and over that I was stupid, ugly, boring. "So I became a half-owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years," Errol said. odakyu11. Errol Musk says teenage Elon Musk once casually walked around with emeralds in his pocket. ", 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.". Theyre the same, except for the fact that he is a billionaire, started multiple successful companies and doesnt live in his mothers basement. They still dont like it. 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. "Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done It's so terrible, you can't believe it. The buyer also offered Errol the option to buy half of an emerald mine with that cash. Ashlee Vance interviewed hundreds of people. However, Errol also told the outlet that life in apartheid South Africa was ultimately "better" and "safer" than it is today. 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. Instead, Musk has sought to dispel the general belief that he comes from wealth. We sent these messages on Nov. 16, but did not receive responses before publishing this story on the following day. There, the two South Africans ran into a group of Italians who, as it happened, were in the market for an airplane. Errol named his price, and a deal was done. @spylinen tweeted, The mine was in Zambia, which became independent of the UK in 1964. He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. Errol Musk Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements "So we decided to head back to Lake Tanganyika from where we were, I think we were in Djibouti.". To me, he sure is trying to make the world better right now, and that's the best thing he could do with his father's money. According to the Internet Archive, the article was still available months after it was published, onSept. 1, 2014, but was gone by Sept. 18. The emerald mine was not mentioned in that interview. "Errol also quoted a lower number to me over the phone," Arnold wrote. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com, Image Via PHILIP PACHECO/AFP via Getty Images. Although Musk said that his father was brilliant at engineering in the Rolling Stone interview, thats where the praise ended. Errol also added that his children were keenly aware of the country's government-sanctioned racial segregation. He continued: He grabbed some weapons, as you could see on the cameras there were some intruders that were coming over the walls, and they were also armed. Errol and a co-pilot were flying a plane from. Elon Musk Emerald Mine (Blood Emeralds & Apartheid?) ", 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. This story will be updated if any further details come to light. 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? Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. 2014, https://www.newspapers.com/image/878211644/. But that's more or less where the good fortune ended. Errol was a successful consulting engineer, and also owned an emerald mine in Zambia. 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). [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. 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. Clearly, Elon Musk doesn't like being mocked. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Errol Musk's Emerald Mine (@ErrolsEmeralds) / Twitter He will plan evil. Then he'd sue me and say that I was unfit to parent.". "Elon Musk: The College Years." 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. In that context, its probably understandable that Musk decided enough was enough and felt he needed to answer the claims online. It is often claimed that Musk's father, Errol Musk, once owned shares in a Zambian emerald mine, and that Musk subsequently enjoyed an . 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. Errol Musk said he bought half of an emerald mine after selling a plane. But by many accounts, the issues at the Tesla factory go beyond the need for a thick skin, New York Times reported. @Keewa tweeted on May 9, 2020, Remind: Elon Musk inherited money from his fathers apartheid emerald mine, that doesnt mean hes clever. Who is Errol Musk? Five things to know about Elon's SA father The Twitter account no longer exists. 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/. You have no idea. Elon would later get his own pilot's license but no longer has time to fly. And then thered still be all these notes sticking out, and wed sort of pull them out and put them in our pockets.. 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.. 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.. Still, it wasarchived by the Internet Archive. Elon Musk Denies The Existence Of His Family's Emerald Mine In Africa 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. ", Musk tackled it on Twitter as the story circulated, but his denials do not explicitly contradict his father's tale of the bizarre airplane-emerald mine trade. 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. In Errol's case, we sent a message to his Facebook profile. "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine" was corrected to "Elon Musk's family once owned an emerald mine." In December 2019, Elon denied the emerald mine-and-lavish-lifestyle story on Twitter, saying it was a lie. Hes the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. 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. For what it's worth, my reporting, based on conversations with hundreds of people, confirms Musk's story. Our offices are for administrative purposes only, no visitors will be accepted without an appointment. [2] His grandmother was the first chiropractor in Canada. "What's very difficult for others is easy for me. Viral: When Elon Musk's bank account was in negative due to student Elon Musk says he had six figures in student debt after college - CNBC We went to this guys prefab, and he opened his safe, and there [were] just stacks of money, and he paid me out 80,000, It was a huge amount of money, he said. Born in 1971, Musk grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. Bill Gates' mom helped Microsoft get a deal with IBM. After Maye and Errol divorced in 1980, Elon mostly lived with his father, who says he owned thoroughbred horses, a yacht, several houses and a Cessna. "Tesla, Inc."Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tesla-Motors. Once the kids were living with me, they visited their father some weekends. In a 2017 email to employees which the company later released in response to one of the lawsuits, Elon warned against being a huge jerk to members of a historically less represented group. He also wrote, if someone is a jerk to you, but sincerely apologizes, it is important to be thick-skinned and accept that apology.. And thats when Musk's father was offered half an emerald mine in return for half of his earnings. The story made no further mention of the mine. 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. In 1972, Errol was elected to the Pretoria City Council in his native South Africa. The claim attracted a response from the billionaire, who said that the claim isn't true. Shame on you, Onion. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done," Elon said. How A Rumor About Elon Musk's Family Emerald Mine Fortune Took A Life "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. Instead, they focus on describing how hard he worked in his teenage years and early adulthood, how much debt he accrued by attending college and his disdain for his father. 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.. More answers and details are available in Arnold's article. All Rights Reserved. Image via Instagram @mayemusk. Errol built his wealth as a prominent electromechanical engineer and entrepreneur in South Africa, reports The South African. 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. What Happened: Musk's comments came on a Twitter. The netizen claimed that the Business Insider article didnt show the real extent of the Musk family profiting from apartheid. He also sent a link to another interview he did with Elon in 2016. 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. Errol Musk bought 50% of the emerald mine in 1969 for about 40,000, which is equal to about 160 000 today. Meanwhile, Elon has himself admitted that his father has a very high IQ and is brilliant at engineering. In 2017, he also told Rolling Stone that Errol was the youngest person to get a professional engineers qualification in South Africa., Im naturally good at engineering thats because I inherited it from my father, the worlds richest man stated. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Errol Musk was born in 1946 in Pretoria to Walter Henry James Musk and Cora Amelia Robinson. Invest in the future today. 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. It was that lifestyle, Errol says, that turned Elon into the kind of merchant adventurer who would later break the rules of the motoring business with Tesla, then go on to change spaceflight with SpaceX. But little else is known about Errol outside of his native South Africa, where he has made a name for himself as a high-powered engineer, property developer and political advocate who vehemently opposed apartheid. We were very wealthy. Given Elon Musks interest in exploration and adventure, its no surprise he descends from intrepid stock, and its Errols side of the family that is seemingly responsible for his innovative, envelope-pushing genes. The entire episode started when the satirical publication The Onion published a piece on the wealthiest person in each American state. ", He grew up in South Africa and had the good fortune of doing so in an upper-middle-class home. Elon clarified that his father was never physically abusive toward him and that he once tried to mend the relationship by inviting his father to live with him in the United States. Elon Musk has a wild story!" he captioned it. ", In the post, he claimed that his family stood in opposition to apartheid, saying he went so far as to be elected as a Pretoria city councillor to aid that opposition. He was married to Maye Musk and also to Heide Musk, with whom he has two children, Alexandra and Rose. Here's what to know about Elon Musk's estranged father, Errol Musk. . Unlike his son, Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Errol has mostly flown under the radar, though the father of seven has had an increasingly public profile over the last few years, largely due to his complicated family relationships. TheSouthAfrican.com is all about South Africa and the stories that affect South Africans, wherever they are in the world. Elon Musk addressed the recent social storm when claims related his family's emerald mines in apartheid-South Africa resurfaced online. Errol and Heide eventually divorced after an 18-year marriage. After his divorce from Elons mother, Errol went on to wed HeideBezuidenhout, a young widow who already had two children, including 4-year-old Jana Bezuidenhout. Its so terrible, you cant believe it.. D'Innocenzio, Anne. ---. ", According to the story, Errol said that Elon "once walked the streets of New York with emeralds in his pocket." For the state of Texas, The Onion printed, "Elon Musk: Apartheid.". Facebook, 27 July 2020, https://www.facebook.com/errol.musk/posts/10218340000911015. ", Elon has said one of the reasons he is so skilled at engineering is because of his father. He began his career as an electromechanical engineer. The Tesla CEO has fathered 10 children. 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. ---. Errol was elected to the Pretoria City Council in 1972 and was an outspoken advocate for abolishing apartheid. With a net worth of $37 billion, Musk hopes to revolutionize transportation on Earth and in space, bringing fully-electric vehicles to the mass market through his auto manufacturing company, Tesla. This is not true," Elon told Rolling Stone in 2017. He is the father of business magnate and billionaire Elon Musk, restaurateur Kimbal Musk, and filmmaker Tosca Musk. To add to the truth, we went to Boston Chicken in Philadelphia for Thanksgiving because we couldnt afford a turkey. Errol told Business Insider South Africa that he once owned half of an emerald mine in Zambia, which he claimed to have purchased on a whim. "'His Family Stole an Emerald Mine.'" Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford. The article's headline was changed in late July or early August 2020, which appeared to be after Errol made his Facebook poston July 27, which called the dated article's claims into question. I can't see any reason not to. "The Man Who's Revolutionizing The Future Of Driving -- And The Universe." Elliot Rush Musk Biography: Age, Networth and All you need to know Jack @lets_gobaby tweeted, Ok but how does inheriting money mean you arent smart?. I couldnt even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. It was a lucrative decision. The Onion, a satirical publication, shared. Hull, Dana, and Patrick May. Elon called the story "actually accurate." He has also fathered two children, a son and a daughter, with his stepdaughter Jana Bezuidenhout. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and his mother, Maye Musk. He can't have what he wants and now I am apparently an evil monster.". 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. mark_able_jones_. It was a lucrative decision. Arnold, Jeremy. Elon Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa. "Exploring the Otherworldly Ambitions of Elon Musk." Elon Musk addressed the recent social storm when claims related his familys emerald mines in apartheid-South Africa resurfaced online. Errol Musk was born in Pretoria South Africa to Walter Henry James and Cora Amelia Robinson. [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. Regardless of your opinion of him, he is aself-made billionaire. Born in 1971, Musk grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. Several respondents on social media disputed the emerald mine and privileged-lifestyle story, defending Musks intelligence and questioning the intelligence of the person who started the thread. "She wasn't planned," Errol said of his youngest child. He confirmed the birth of their daughter to The Sun in 2022. ". If I could have another child I would. 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. Elon Musk Once Called His Father, Errol Musk, a 'Terrible Human' 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. "'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." "A Teenage Elon Musk Once Casually Sold His Father's Emeralds to Tiffany & Co. My Dad provided 10% of a ~$200k angel funding round much later, but by then risk was reduced & round would've happened anyway.". People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. 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. Musk's father, Errol, an engineer, married Maye when she was 22, and Musk was born shortly . He was such a terrible human being. And, on at least one occasion, his now famous son also took his hand at dealing in the gems, with peculiar results. He was bullied at school. ", 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.".