Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford. On May 22, 2020, Bloomberg.com published an interview with Elon, which was penned by Ashlee Vance. Musk, Errol. 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. [9], Errol Musk's claims that he invested in Elon Musk's software company Zip2 have been rejected by Elon Musk. Esquire, 5 June 2015, https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a35508/elon-musk-college-years-canada-u-penn/. Meanwhile, Musk's defenders often say that the mogul has denied this story, though that is not precisely true either. Jack @lets_gobaby tweeted, Ok but how does inheriting money mean you arent smart?. ", "You have no idea about how bad. Vance, Ashlee. 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. 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. "But I mean, we were living together. The child, a boy named Elliot Rush, is now 5 years old. I was 15 and really wanted to go with him but didn't realize how dangerous it was. For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this.". Errol built his wealth as a prominent electromechanical engineer and entrepreneur in South Africa, reports The South African. In addition, they offered Errol a chance to buy partial ownership of a Zambian emerald mine. The emerald mine was not mentioned in that interview. There were AK-47s all over the place and I'm thinking, "Man, this could really go bad.". Where is this bs coming from? Here's a summary of our findings: We located reporting from as far back as 2009 and 2014 that said when Elon Musk ("Elon" hereafter) was a child in South Africa in the 1980s, his father ("Errol" hereafter) at some point owned "a stake in an emerald mine" near Lake Tanganyika in Zambia, not South Africa. 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. It was authored by Jeremy Arnold with The Save Journalism Committee. 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. Move over, Elon theres another Musk hitting the headlines. 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. I wish. It was that lifestyle, Errol says, that turned Elon into the kind of merchant adventurer who would laterbreak the rules of the motoring businesswith Tesla, then go on tochange spaceflight with SpaceX, BI reported. We did not receive a response from Forbes PR. My dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil. It is often claimed that Musk's father, Errol Musk, once owned shares in a Zambian emerald mine, and that Musk subsequently enjoyed an . The user tweeted: If this is half of an article is a small glimpse into the apartheid mines his [family-owned] haha even [T]he Onion tells more truthful stories than CNN and Fox. 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. 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. Elon and Kimbal allegedly sold 2 emeralds: one worth $800 and another worth $1200. Musk's defenders have also pointed out that Errol's alleged trade took place in the mid-1980s, at which point Zambia was independent. Business Insider South Africa, 23 Feb. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musks-dad-tells-bi-about-the-familys-casual-attitude-to-wealth-2018-2. By email, Clash told us he had no idea why it was no longer hosted by Forbes. Its obvious why Musk would want to distance himself from apartheid in every possible way. 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. Elon would later get his own pilot's license but no longer has time to fly. Elon tweeted that he had $100,000 debt after college. Shame on you, Onion. 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. Still, it wasarchived by the Internet Archive. Below we have provided a small sampling of the many different ways the rumor has been framed in past years. 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. 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. 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. Sager, Jessica. R/EnoughMuskSpam via Reddit.com, 5 Dec. 2019, www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/e6j76f/his_family_stole_an_emerald_mine/. Musk, Elon. Errol employed a cutter in Johannesburg and sold the stones wherever his travels as an engineer or family holidays took him. Errol talked about Elons fascination with computers when they first came out in the mid-80s, during an interview on radio station 702 in Johannesburg, as reported by Forbes. 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. At the conference, Elon talked to some professors who told Errol, This boy needs to get his hands on one of these computers. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years.. For what it's worth, my reporting, based on conversations with hundreds of people, confirms Musk's story. He is the father of business magnate and billionaire Elon Musk, restaurateur Kimbal Musk, and filmmaker Tosca Musk. 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. He didnt own an emerald mine, and I worked my way through college, ending up [around] $100,000 in student debt, Elon tweeted. His parents divorced. 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. South Africa Blue Sky Publications (Pty) Ltd T/A TheSouthAfrican Number: 2005/028472/07. Arnold's story included answers from Errol about the mine, who said he had "very limited involvement" in it. Elon Musk addressed the recent social storm when claims related his family's emerald mines in apartheid-South Africa resurfaced online. What Happened: Musk's comments came on a Twitter. Errol and Elons feud has reportedly been exacerbated by the patriarchs eyebrow-raising relationships. Elon Musk said he and his brother have supported their father since he "ran out of money in 90s." He was reacting to a tweet saying he was from a family that owned an African emerald mine.. When Errol and Maye divorced in 1979, a then-8-year-old Elon chose to live with his dad. People.Com, 7 Nov. 2022, https://people.com/human-interest/who-is-errol-musk-elon-musk-father/. All Rights Reserved. "My brother and I paid for college through scholarships, loans and working two jobs simultaneously. Regardless of your opinion of him, he is aself-made billionaire. I couldn't find my passport so I ended up grabbing my brother's which turned out to be six months overdue! I wish. Or they'd take the plane to Lake Tanganyika [in Zambia], where Errol had a stake in an emerald mine. ", The Tesla founder also said there was no way to repair his relationship with his father. "Elon Musk's Vision of an Electric-Car Future." [18][19] Musk described the first child as unplanned. Meet. Click Here to Get Smart on Protecting Your Family and Loves Ones, No Matter What Happens. The 76-year-old hasnt ruled out having more children, saying: The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce.. 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." At some point after the shooting, the relationship between dad Errol and son Elon soured. We contacted Elon publicly on Twitter. Copyright Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 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. "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. The entire episode started when the satirical publication The Onion published a piece on the wealthiest person in each American state. Are you prioritizing your cable entertainment bill over protecting and investing in your family? "In my experience, there is nothing you can do," he added. Copyright 2023 Market Realist. 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. Quora, 9 Mar. In 2019, a Twitter user claimed that Musk's father Errol owned an emerald mine. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com, Image Via PHILIP PACHECO/AFP via Getty Images. To summarize Arnold's story would be difficult, as it contained a considerable amount of data and analysis. In a rare interview with Forbes, Errol revealed that his parents were the first to ever fly from South Africa to Australia in a single-engine airplane. Elon has himself admitted that his father has a very high IQ and is brilliant at engineering.. Invest in the future today. . 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. [11][5] Maye has stated that Errol beat her. The tweet was shared as a screenshot on Imgur.com, which showed the image had been viewed more than 300,000 times. 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. "Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves." He will plan evil. Note: Reporting from Esquire.com said that Elon moved from South Africa to Canada in 1988. 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. The New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2009, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/08/24/plugged-in. However, $800 was probably pocket change for the family, judging by what Musk's father told the site. 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. The claim attracted a response from the billionaire, who said that the claim isn't true. Bloomberg.com, 22 May 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-22/elon-musk-speaks-frankly-on-coronavirus-spacex-and-rage-tweets. 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 New York Times, 5 May 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/world/africa/elon-musk-south-africa.html. On their way to England, Errol and his copilot got word that their original flight plan was going to cost a lot of money. In the interview, the Tesla owner briefly mentioned that his father had a share in an emerald mine in Zambia. "Who Is Elon Musk's Estranged Father? One of their homes was in Waterkloof, a leafy suburb of Pretoria that was popular with foreign diplomats. The buyer also offered Errol the option to buy half of an emerald mine with that cash. In an interview with Business Insider South Africa, Errol admitted that, at one point, he literally made more money than he could physically handle. Errol told Business Insider South Africa that he co-owned an emerald mine in Zambia. Errol and Jana welcomed a son, Elliot "Rushi" Rush, in 2017 and a daughter in 2019. "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. His children were reportedly influenced by his liberal political views. Musk replied, linking to Jeremy Arnolds article, which gave Musks side of the story. "Elon Musk: The College Years." Where is this bs coming from? "'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." 2023 The Moguldom Nation. He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. It was kind of weird for them to walk into Tiffanys. 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. According to reporting we reviewed, the stake his father had in the emerald mine appeared to have both started and ended in the 1980s. There, the two South Africans ran into a group of Italians who, as it happened, were in the market for an airplane. Errol has long since retired from the engineering business and now lives a quiet life in the Western Cape in South Africa. 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. In an interview with Express, Cattrell recalled: One night, they were sitting in the living room and his dad said Everybody down! Errol himself has an adventurous streak and is an avid sailor and pilot. "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine" was corrected to "Elon Musk's family once owned an emerald mine." 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 . * The headline of this article was updated toreflect that the Musk family once owned the mine in question, and no longer do. - February 10, 2021 02:34 pm EST. All rights reserved. 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. 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. This is not true," Elon told Rolling Stone in 2017. The article was republished in several other newspapers around the U.S. Clearly, Elon Musk doesn't like being mocked. Elon was a witness to this, bullets flying around, Cattrell further claimed. You could tell by the way that he told the story. (We'll have more on Vance's Bloomberg.com interview later in this story.). Elon Musks family wealth has once again resurfaced as a talking point. 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. In 2018, Musk also told Business Insider that his father Errol purchased a 50 per cent share in the mine after selling a plane. The netizen claimed that the Business Insider article didnt show the real extent of the Musk family profiting from apartheid. SpaceX, his rocket company, is valued at $20 billion-plus. The 76-year-old is most notable for. A Twitter user claimed in December 2019 that Elon Musk's privileged upbringing included his father, Errol Musk, who owned an emerald mine [and] who could bankroll his education. However, the Tesla CEO begged to differ. Answer these 2 simple questions & WIN R1000 in cash! ", 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. However, Errol also told the outlet that life in apartheid South Africa was ultimately "better" and "safer" than it is today. "One thing led to another you can call it God's plan or nature's plan. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.". It didn't work out too well in the end," he said. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. We were very wealthy. 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. "The Man Who's Revolutionizing The Future Of Driving -- And The Universe." 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? "Like every abused woman, I was embarrassed, and I knew I had made a mistake, you know? 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. However, again, the story was at least partially unavailable on that website, too. Whats very difficult for others is easy for me. ERROL IS A RETIRED SOUTH AFRICAN ENGINEER. Errol employed a cutter in Johannesburg and sold the stones wherever his travels as an engineer or family holidays took him. 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. But I didnt really understand at the time what kind of person he was. Their plane got diverted, which led to a chance meeting with Italians who wanted to buy the plane in cash. 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. Journalism strengthens democracy. He's having a tantrum, like a spoilt child. We reached out to Clash and Forbes PR to ask why the interview was no longer available. 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.". 2014, https://www.newspapers.com/image/878211644/. So it was very formative for him. In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. "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? He has a net worth of $2 million and is living quite comfortably. Image via Instagram @mayemusk. ---. The Tesla CEO has fathered 10 children. 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. But the emerald mine story keeps coming back. AskMen, 2 Jan. 2015, https://www.askmen.com/entertainment/right-stuff/elon-musk-interview.html. Errol named his price, and a deal was done. 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.