Elon Musk had just $4,000 when he moved to Canada and shared a room with 5 other people: book

• Elon Musk left South Africa in 1989 with $4,000 from his parents, per Walter Isaacson's biography.
• Musk initially stayed in a youth hostel, sharing a room with 5 other people, per the book.

Elon Musk had just $4,000 to his name when he left South Africa at the age of 17 and moved to Canada to study, according to Walter Isaacson's biography.

His father, Errol Musk, "gave him $2,000 in traveler's checks" and his mother, Maye Musk, handed him $2,000. His mother was born in Canada, which meant he was able to obtain a Canadian passport.

Isaacson writes in the biography, released this week, that when Musk arrived, he shared a room with five other people at a youth hostel.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

In 2018, Musk tweeted that he "arrived in North America at 17 w $2000, a backpack & a suitcase full of books." He also claimed he'd paid his own way through college and dropped out of Stanford University with "$110k in college debt."

The revelation follows speculation recounted in the book that he departed with "pockets filled with emeralds" from a mine that his father supposedly owned. However, the biography also confirmed that Errol Musk did not actually own a mine.

Isaacson said Errol Musk had swapped a light plane he owned for some emeralds.

Errol Musk told Insider in an email: "I exchanged the Cessna 421 Golden Eagle for a share in the mine in 1985. As initial payment I received 108 quality cut emeralds. Thereafter I received rough emeralds."

He added that "the mine was registered," but that "no government office had paper, let alone a pencil" during the 1980s in Zambia.

Errol Musk also claimed that the emerald business collapsed in 1990 when Russia bought lab-grown artificial emeralds, which sent prices dropping by 90%.

"The emerald business helped us through a very difficult time in South Africa, when the white government collapsed and black government took over," he said. "All development collapsed with the white government. As a property developer that affected me a lot."

Elon Musk didn't respond to a request for comment from Insider.