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. They still dont like it. In 1970, Errol married modelMaye Haldeman Musk before the pair welcomed three children: Elon, Kimbal and Tosca. 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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. He is the father of business magnate and billionaire Elon Musk, restaurateur Kimbal Musk, and filmmaker Tosca Musk. 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. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years.". There were AK-47s all over the place and I'm thinking, "Man, this could really go bad.". On holidays, Errol and his kids would travel, he said: to Europe, Hong Kong, throughout the United States. ", 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. At some point after the shooting, the relationship between dad Errol and son Elon soured. He was married to Maye Musk and also to Heide Musk, with whom he has two children, Alexandra and Rose. "In my experience, there is nothing you can do," he added. 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. 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. D'Innocenzio, Anne. 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. Elon also denied that Errol invested in the company. The child, a boy named Elliot Rush, is now 5 years old. 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. 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. "Is It True That Elon Musk's Family Got Their Wealth from Apartheid Emerald Mining?" Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. Errol and his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, share two children. The Onion, 22 Mar. After obtaining the mine, he tells that he had so much money, that 'he couldn't close his safe'. This is not true," Elon told Rolling Stone in 2017. He also added, "'Self-made billionaires' are a myth." In addition to Elon, Errol is dad to son Kimbal Musk and daughters Tosca, Alexandra and Asha Rose Musk. It spoke of the divorce of Elon's parents, Errol and Maye Musk, and also contained a quick mention of an emerald mine. 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. 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. Instead, Musk has sought to dispel the general belief that he comes from wealth. However, Errol also told the outlet that life in apartheid South Africa was ultimately "better" and "safer" than it is today. "'His Family Stole an Emerald Mine.'" [4], Musk met Maye Haldeman when he was 11 years old and they were childhood friends before marrying in 1970. 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. 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. Invest in the future today. "They were confronted by it every day," he said. ", 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.". ", Errol and Elon have an acrimonious relationship. Offers may be subject to change without notice. However, both Elon and . The article was titled, "I Talked to Elon Musk about Journalism and the Blood Emeralds Story.". 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. So we had this planeload of contraband and an overdue passport from another person. @Keewa tweeted on May 9, 2020, Remind: Elon Musk inherited money from his fathers apartheid emerald mine, that doesnt mean hes clever. Jain, Sanya. Fortier, Alexander. 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. 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. 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 entire episode started when the satirical publication The Onion published a piece on the wealthiest person in each American state. I can't see any reason not to. Where is this bs coming from? The tweet was shared as a screenshot on Imgur.com, which showed the image had been viewed more than 300,000 times. He once tweeted he arrived in 1989, not 1988, however. 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. It is often claimed that Musk's father, Errol Musk, once owned shares in a Zambian emerald mine, and that Musk subsequently enjoyed an . He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. 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. 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. 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. However, that as well as Errol's claim of owning half of an emerald mine is in stark contrast to what Elon has said about his father's wealth. South Africa Blue Sky Publications (Pty) Ltd T/A TheSouthAfrican Number: 2005/028472/07. [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 and Heide had two children together, Alexandra and Asha Rose. My Dad provided 10% of a ~$200k angel funding round much later, but by then risk was reduced & round would've happened anyway.". Elon, by his father's recollection then probably 16 years old, and his brother Kimbal, decided to sell emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York . He added that Elon left the country as "a clear indication of his willingness to not support the political suppression in the country. Bloomberg.com, 22 May 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-22/elon-musk-speaks-frankly-on-coronavirus-spacex-and-rage-tweets. Meanwhile, Musk's defenders often say that the mogul has denied this story, though that is not precisely true either. 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. Nothing, nothing. 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. Are you prioritizing your cable entertainment bill over protecting and investing in your family? He will plan evil. It was a lucrative decision. "Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves." EM: Company death not succeeding with the company causes me a lot more stress than physical danger. Born in 1971, Musk grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. 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. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford. [13] After engaging in extra-marital affairs,[4] Errol and Maye divorced in 1979, and both sons moved in with their father. Get down!'. That conversation is more valuable but less newsworthy than just resurfacing the same lazy claims every few months, which are guaranteed to get clicks. It was also shared on Reddit.com. In that way, Errol might be like estranged Elon after all. 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." By email, Clash told us he had no idea why it was no longer hosted by Forbes. Aside from that hes just dumb. Errol Musk was born in 1946 in Pretoria to Walter Henry James Musk and Cora Amelia Robinson. "I screwed up the marriage, I was totally responsible. 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.". At the conference, Elon talked to some professors who told Errol, This boy needs to get his hands on one of these computers. ---. All the Musk siblings did well, 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. 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. 2023 The Moguldom Nation. 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." The patriarch confirmed the shootings to the publication in 2017, saying manslaughter charges were later dropped because he acted in self-defense. Related stories Making better AI is Elon Musk's new object of . The story made no further mention of the mine. The story included reporting of Elon's denials that the emerald mine had provided any seed money for the wealth he would later accumulate. "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine" was corrected to "Elon Musk's family once owned an emerald mine." In that context, its probably understandable that Musk decided enough was enough and felt he needed to answer the claims online. Meet. 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. "We went to this guy's prefab [home] and he opened his safe," Errol said. [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. 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. And we spent three weeks making our rent-controlled apartment livable in Toronto, Maye tweeted. The Associated Press, 20 July 2021, https://apnews.com/article/business-science-3546262d41f4c84763aa15339f642a5a. 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 was elected to the Pretoria City Council in 1972 and was an outspoken advocate for abolishing apartheid. You could tell by the way that he told the story. 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. 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. By Michael Hein 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 . 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. "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. 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. Errol also added that his children were keenly aware of the country's government-sanctioned racial segregation. Elon has himself admitted that his father has a very high IQ and is brilliant at engineering.. 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. The Tesla CEO has fathered 10 children. His tweet is now viral with over 9.1 million views. Bill Gates' mom helped Microsoft get a deal with IBM. I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books. At 17, Musk decided to leave home, heading first to Canada and then the U.S. for university. All Rights Reserved. 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. Where is this bs coming from? "Back when I was ~$100k negative with student debt," he wrote. As a child, Elon had a close relationship with his father and grew up prosperous in Pretoria. The funding we raised for our first company came from a small group of random angel investors in Silicon Valley. This is why people are switching to @TheBabylonBee! Musk wrote. "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. 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 headline of the story read, "Elon Musk Tells Me His Secret Of Success (Hint: It Ain't About The Money).". Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. [15][16] At the time of their marriage, Jana Bezuidenhout was only four years old and lived together with them. Father and son have a complicated history. The Save Journalism Committee, 9 Mar. On July 28, 2014, Forbes.com published an interview with Elon Musk, which was conducted by Jim Clash. TheSouthAfrican.com is all about South Africa and the stories that affect South Africans, wherever they are in the world. Musk's father, Errol, an engineer, married Maye when she was 22, and Musk was born shortly . This article is actually accurate: https://t.co/eVpCX9V1NB. 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. Kaizer Chiefs to sign more Stellenbosch players? "Errol also quoted a lower number to me over the phone," Arnold wrote. You can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you won't be billed. Black Americans Have the Highest Mortality Rates But Lowest Levels of Life Insurance coming from?. "Zip2." 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. "Tesla, Inc."Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tesla-Motors. 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. 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. There, the two South Africans ran into a group of Italians who, as it happened, were in the market for an airplane. 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. [10][11] Musk told Agence France-Presse that he was a strict father who raised his children with discipline and austerity. When the same pattern of racist behavior happens at all $tsla locations, its the company thats racist, and the fish rots from @elonmusk s head.https://t.co/aKAP7vrT6G https://t.co/EMN9xQH06V. ", Elon has said one of the reasons he is so skilled at engineering is because of his father. "My brother and I paid for college through scholarships, loans and working two jobs simultaneously. In addition, they offered Errol a chance to buy partial ownership of a Zambian emerald mine. I couldnt even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. 2014, https://www.newspapers.com/image/878211644/. 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. Imgur, 5 Dec. 2019, https://imgur.com/SHGhIY2. mark_able_jones_. 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. He will plan evil, Elon tearfully told Rolling Stone in 2017. Errols other children we also shocked and uncomfortable about the surprise pregnancy. "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.". "[4][8], In 1972, he was elected to the Pretoria City Council as a representative of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party. The netizen claimed that the Business Insider article didnt show the real extent of the Musk family profiting from apartheid. Musk replied, linking to Jeremy Arnolds article, which gave Musks side of the story. But that's more or less where the good fortune ended. 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.. Jeff Bezos' garage-based start was funded by a quarter . We also reached out to media relations personnel at SpaceX, where he is the founder and CEO, as well as Tesla and Twitter. According to media reports Errol reportedly owned an emerald mine in Zambia near Lake Tanganyika which enabled his family to live in luxury at the time. 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. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Elon Musks bid to implant chips into human brains shot down by feds, How the feds spend $74M a year to try to censor Americans, US government-funded research tagged Americans for Twitter ban: report, Tesla stock slumps as Master Plan 3 event falls flat with investors, after confirming he fathered a second secret love child, once rumored to be the co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine, an outspoken advocate for abolishing apartheid, Ashlee Vances 2017 biography of the Tesla founder, that he welcomed twochildren with an executive, second child with his ex-girlfriend, Grimes. ---. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. However, any reconciliation was apparently short-lived. All Rights Reserved. He didnt own an emerald mine, and I worked my way through college, ending up [around] $100,000 in student debt, Elon tweeted. In South Africa, my father had a private plane we'd fly in incredibly dangerous weather and barely make it back. ERROL IS A RETIRED SOUTH AFRICAN ENGINEER. In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. Business Insider South Africa, 22 Feb. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.co.za/elon-musk-sells-the-family-emeralds-in-new-york-2018-2. It was revealed last weekthat he welcomed twochildren with an executiveat his artificial intelligence company, Neuralink, just weeks before hissecond child with his ex-girlfriend, Grimes,was born. 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/. Musk, Errol. This is a pretty awful lie. ", She added, "He was very rich, but he made sure I had nothing. The funny thing is I've not actually been that nervous. The article attributed the source of Elon Musks wealth to apartheid. Errol Musk, the familys patriarch, is in the news after confirming he fathered a second secret love child with his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, 35. I couldn't even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. This is going to sound slightly crazy, but my father also had a share in an Emerald mine in Zambia. For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this.". ", 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. The rumor of the "apartheid emerald mine" received a spike in shares around the time that Elon Musk completed his takeover of Twitter in late 2022. Instead Errol returned to South Africa with a half-share in a Zambian emerald mine, which would help to fund his family's lavish lifestyle of yachts, skiing holidays, and expensive computers. The billionaire, who was born in South Africa, took to. The Tesla CEO once called his South African dad 'evil' and denied rumours of family wealth fuelled by an emerald mine - but are they ready to reconcile? He was bullied at school. As well as providing links, people started commenting Musk's own words back at him under his tweet. 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. Errol told Business Insider South Africa that he co-owned an emerald mine in Zambia. Wayback Machine. Hull, Dana, and Patrick May. 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. On Wednesday, Errol confirmed that he and Jana had welcomed a second child, a daughter who is now 3. 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. And thats when Musk's father was offered half an emerald mine in return for half of his earnings. [3][4], Musk worked as a pilot, a sailor, an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer, a consultant, and a property developer, before retiring early. The buyer also offered Errol the option to buy half of an emerald mine with that cash. 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. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done.
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