Peter Thiel

German-American entrepreneur and venture capitalist (born 1967)

Peter Andreas Thiel (teel; born October 11, 1967) is an American entrepreneur. He helped create PayPal, Palantir Technologies and Founders Fund. In 2018, he supposedly had $2.5 billion.[3][4]

Peter Thiel
Man in his 40s with short, dark hair wearing a shirt and blazer
Thiel in 2014
Born
Peter Andreas Thiel

(1967-10-11) October 11, 1967 (age 56)
Citizenship
  • Germany (1967–1978)
  • United States (1978–present)
  • New Zealand (2011–present)
EducationStanford University (BA, JD)
Occupations
Political partyRepublican[1]
Spouse
Matt Danzeisen
(m. 2017)

Thiel was born in Frankfurt. As a baby, he moved with his family to the United States. He spent some time in Southern Africa. He studied philosophy at Stanford University, graduating with a B.A. in 1989. He then went on to the Stanford Law School and received his J.D. in 1992. He worked as a lawyer, speechwriter, and trader. He founded Thiel Capital in 1996. He co-founded PayPal in 1999. He was chief executive officer until he sold the company to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.

He founded Clarium Capital, a global macro hedge fund. He launched Palantir Technologies, a big data analysis company, in 2004 and continues to serve as its chairman as of 2018. He helped create Founders Fund, a venture capital firm.

Thiel became Facebook's first outside investor by buying 10.2% for $500,000 in August 2004. He sold the majority of his shares in Facebook for over $1 billion in 2012, but remains on the board of directors. He also co-founded Valar Ventures in 2010, co-founded Mithril Capital.[5][6][7]

References

change
  1. Schwab, Florian. "Interview of the Week: Peter Thiel". Die Weltwoche. Archived from the original on July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  2. Staff writer(s) (March 27, 2019). "Peter Thiel". Forbes.
  3. Staff writer(s) (April 3, 2014). "Midas List 2014: The Billionaires". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  4. "Peter Thiel profile". Forbes. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  5. "The PayPal Mafia: Who are they and where are Silicon Valley's richest group of men now?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2014-09-23.
  6. Waters, Richard. "Lunch with the FT: Peter Thiel". Financial Times.
  7. Hook, Leslie. "Tech elite discovers it may need Peter Thiel". Financial Times.