Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel | |
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Thiel in 2022 | |
| Born | 11 October 1967 Frankfurt, West Germany |
| Citizenship |
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| Education | Stanford University (BA, JD) |
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| Title |
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| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Matt Danzeisen (m. 2017) |
Peter Andreas Thiel (/tiːl/ ⓘ; born 11 October 1967) is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist.[1][2][3] A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in Facebook.[4][5] According to Forbes, as of May 2025, Thiel's estimated net worth stood at US$20.8 billion, making him the 103rd-richest individual in the world.[6] Thiel has been described as "intellectual architect of Silicon Valley's contemporary ethos".[7]
Born in Germany, Thiel was brought to the US by his parents when he was one year old. In 1971, his family moved to South Africa then South West Africa,[8] before moving back to the US in 1977.[8] After graduating from Stanford, he worked as a clerk, a securities lawyer, a speechwriter, and subsequently a derivatives trader at Credit Suisse. He founded Thiel Capital Management in 1996 and co-founded PayPal with Max Levchin and Luke Nosek in 1998. He was the chief executive officer of PayPal until its sale to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.
Following PayPal, Thiel founded Clarium Capital, a global macro hedge fund based in San Francisco.[9] In 2003, he launched Palantir Technologies, a big data analysis company, and has been its chairman since its inception. In 2005, Thiel launched Founders Fund with PayPal partners Ken Howery and Luke Nosek. Thiel became Facebook's first outside investor when he acquired a 10.2% stake in the company for $500,000 in August 2004. He co-founded Valar Ventures in 2010, co-founded Mithril Capital, was investment committee chair, in 2012, and was a part-time partner at Y Combinator from 2015 to 2017.[10][11][12][13] He was granted New Zealand citizenship in 2011, which later became controversial in New Zealand.
Variously described as a conservative libertarian and democracy-skeptic authoritarian, Thiel has made substantial donations to American right-wing figures and causes. Through the Thiel Foundation, Thiel governs the grant-making bodies Breakout Labs and Thiel Fellowship. In 2016, when the Bollea v. Gawker lawsuit ended up with Gawker losing the case, Thiel confirmed that he had funded Hulk Hogan. Gawker had previously outed Thiel as gay.
- ^ Wiener, Anna (27 October 2021). "What Is It About Peter Thiel?". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 25 December 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
- ^ Heffernan, Virginia (21 September 2021). "The Alarming Rise of Peter Thiel, Tech Mogul and Political Provocateur". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 6 February 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
- ^ Purdy, Jedediah (30 November 2016). "The Anti-Democratic Worldview of Steve Bannon and Peter Thiel". Politico Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 February 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
- ^ Ciralsky, Adam (20 September 2017). "Is Trump Mulling Peter Thiel for a Top Intelligence Advisory Post?". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Peter Thiel". Forbes. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
- ^ Howard, Mark (2025). "Contrarian optionality and negative mimesis: venture capital and the institutional logic of Silicon Valley". Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory: 1–18. doi:10.1080/1600910X.2025.2550269.
- ^ a b McGreal, Chris (26 January 2025). "How the roots of the 'PayPal mafia' extend to apartheid South Africa". The Guardian.
- ^ Mann, Jyoti. "Peter Thiel paid staff an extra $1,000 a month if they lived close to the office so they were more likely to work late, book says". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
- ^ "Y Combinator Cuts Ties With Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program". BuzzFeed News. 17 November 2017. Archived from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
- ^ "The PayPal Mafia: Who are they and where are Silicon Valley's richest group of men now?". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ^ Waters, Richard (20 December 2013). "Lunch with the FT: Peter Thiel". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- ^ Hook, Leslie (11 November 2016). "Tech elite discovers it may need Peter Thiel". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.