Peter Thiel
Born 1967 · Age 58
German-born American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist; cofounder of PayPal, Palantir, Founders Fund; first outside investor in Facebook; founder of multiple VC and hedge funds and philanthropic initiatives.
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Life & Career Timeline
Family emigrated to U.S.
Thiel and his family moved to the United States (to Cleveland, Ohio) when he was about one year old.
Family moved to South Africa / South West Africa
Thiel family lived for a period in South Africa and in Swakopmund (then South West Africa, now Namibia); Peter attended a German-language school for two years.
Family settled in Foster City, California
Thiel and family moved back to the United States and settled in Foster City, California.
Chess & math accomplishments (youth)
Ranked 7th nationally in under-13 chess and scored first in a California-wide middle school mathematics competition.
High school valedictorian
Graduated from San Mateo High School as valedictorian.
Co-founded The Stanford Review
Co-founded the conservative/libertarian campus newspaper The Stanford Review in response to curriculum changes at Stanford.
BA in Philosophy, Stanford University
Graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in philosophy; served as The Stanford Review's first editor-in-chief until graduation.
Juris Doctor, Stanford Law School
Earned a J.D. from Stanford Law School (1992).
Clerked for Judge James L. Edmondson
Clerked for Judge James Larry Edmondson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit after law school.
Hired at Sullivan & Cromwell (left within a year)
Worked as a securities lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York; left the firm in under a year.
Derivatives trader at Credit Suisse; speechwriter for William Bennett
Worked as a derivatives trader (currency options) at Credit Suisse and also served as a speechwriter for former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett.
Published 'The Diversity Myth' (with David Sacks)
Coauthored 'The Diversity Myth: 'Multiculturalism' and the Politics of Intolerance at Stanford' (critique of campus multiculturalism).
Returned to Bay Area; founded Thiel Capital Management
Returned to California and raised $1 million from friends/family to found Thiel Capital Management (entry into venture investing).
Early VC setback: $100k calendar investment
Invested $100,000 in Luke Nosek's web-calendar project which failed.
Co-founded Confinity / Fieldlink (later PayPal)
Invested in and cofounded Fieldlink (renamed Confinity) with Max Levchin and Luke Nosek; initial product targeted PalmPilot payments.
Launched PayPal
Confinity launched PayPal as a digital payments service; Thiel articulated vision of a global digital wallet.
Early venture interest: $3M sent at PayPal launch demo
At PayPal's 1999 press conference representatives from Nokia and Deutsche Bank sent $3 million in venture funding using PayPal on PalmPilots.
Mergers with X.com (Elon Musk) and Pixo
PayPal (Confinity) merged with Elon Musk's X.com and acquired Pixo, accelerating expansion into online and mobile payments.
Used $10M to found Clarium Capital
Reinvested approximately $10 million of PayPal proceeds to create Clarium Capital Management (global macro hedge fund).
Sale of PayPal to eBay for $1.5B
eBay acquired PayPal (October 2002) for $1.5 billion; Thiel remained CEO until sale. His 3.7% stake was worth about $55M at acquisition.
Clarium: correctly predicted dollar weakening
Clarium made a successful macro bet in 2003 that the U.S. dollar would weaken.
Incorporated Palantir Technologies
In May 2003 Thiel incorporated Palantir Technologies, a big-data analytics company (named after Tolkien's palantír); has served as chairman since inception.
Spoke on dot‑com / financial bubble
Expressed views about a growing bubble in the financial sector and named specific vulnerable corporations.
First outside investor in Facebook ($500k for 10.2%)
In August 2004 Thiel invested $500,000 in Facebook for a 10.2% stake and joined the company's board; deal valued Facebook at ~$4.9M.
Clarium 2005 strong return
Clarium posted a 57.1% return in 2005 as Thiel predicted a dollar rally; firm performance notable.
Founded Founders Fund
Launched Founders Fund with PayPal partners (Ken Howery, Luke Nosek and others) focusing on technology and 'hard tech' investments.
Clarium 2006 loss
Clarium suffered a 7.8% loss in 2006.
Clarium 2007 return and AUM growth
Clarium had a 40.3% return in 2007; assets under management grew to more than $7 billion by Q1 2008.
Gawker outing (public outing as gay)
Gawker's Valleywag published an item in 2007 that outed Thiel as gay publicly (motivated later lawsuit funding).
Clarium AUM > $7B (Q1 2008)
Clarium's assets under management rose to over $7 billion by the first quarter of 2008 before subsequent market declines.
Co-founded Valar Ventures
Helped start Valar Ventures, an internationally focused VC firm that later invested in New Zealand and global fintech startups.
Granted New Zealand citizenship
Was granted New Zealand citizenship (later controversial in New Zealand).
Founded Thiel Capital (family office) and incubated multiple projects
Established Thiel Capital (family office) in Los Angeles (also referred to as Thiel's family office) — incubated Founders Fund, Mithril, Valar, Thiel Fellowship and Breakout Labs.
Facebook IPO and sales
Facebook IPO in May 2012 (~$100B market cap). Thiel sold 16.8M shares for about $638M at IPO and later sold most remaining shares in Aug 2012 for about $395.8M — total proceeds > $1B.
Launched Mithril Capital ($402M at launch)
Launched Mithril Capital Management in June 2012 (named after Tolkien metal) targeting growth-stage companies; fund size at launch ~$402M.
Published 'Zero to One' (with Blake Masters)
Co-authored and published the influential entrepreneurship book 'Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future' (2014).
Part-time partner at Y Combinator (start)
Became a part-time partner at startup accelerator Y Combinator (tenure 2015–2017).
Thiel Foundation governance of Breakout Labs & Thiel Fellowship (ongoing)
Through the Thiel Foundation, he governs Breakout Labs and the Thiel Fellowship (which awards grants to young entrepreneurs to drop out of college).
1517 Fund backed (Thiel support)
Thiel backed the 1517 Fund (founded 2015) which extends support to Thiel Fellows and deep-tech dropouts; portfolio includes Luminar, Atom Computing, etc.
Donated $1.25M to Donald Trump's campaign
Reportedly donated $1.25 million to Donald Trump's campaign in the final weeks of the 2016 election and later served on the Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee.
Funded Hulk Hogan (Bollea) lawsuit against Gawker (confirmed)
Confirmed in 2016 that he funded lawsuits (notably Hulk Hogan's) that led to Gawker's bankruptcy; motivated by prior outing by Gawker in 2007.
Part-time Y Combinator partnership ends (2017)
Concluded his part-time partnership at Y Combinator (tenure 2015–2017).
Sold Facebook shares (Nov 2017 sale)
Sold another 160,805 Facebook shares in Nov 2017 for approx $29M, reducing his holdings to 59,913 Class A shares.
Married Matt Danzeisen
Married longtime partner Matt Danzeisen (reported marriage year 2017).
Publicly associated with support for Trump (RNC speech)
Spoke at the Republican National Convention and publicly stated 'I am proud to be gay' while expressing political support for Donald Trump (2016–2017 era activity).
Moved Thiel operations to Los Angeles
Reportedly moved offices of Thiel Capital and the Thiel Foundation from Silicon Valley to Los Angeles in 2018.
Facebook holdings reduced to under 10,000 shares (Apr 2020)
As of April 2020 Thiel owned fewer than 10,000 shares of Facebook/Meta.
Left Meta (Facebook) board
Announced on 7 February 2022 that he would not stand for re-election to the board of Meta and would leave after 17 years (said reason: to support pro–Trump candidates in 2022).
Included on Forbes/industry coverage and public criticism
Continued public profile with coverage of Palantir, investments, political activity and controversies (ongoing press coverage through 2023).
Founders Fund led $85M seed for SentientAGI
Founders Fund led an $85 million seed round for SentientAGI (Sentient Foundation) in 2024.
Founders Fund investments (Impulse Space, Ramp, Crusoe)
Founders Fund invested in Impulse Space, Ramp and Crusoe (2024 rounds mentioned).
Public sale of Palantir stock by Thiel (reported)
Reports in 2024 noted Thiel sold ~$600M of Palantir stock that week (indicative of ongoing portfolio liquidity events).
America's Frontier Fund developments (SBICCT approval Dec 2024)
America's Frontier Fund (co-founded by Thiel and Eric Schmidt) received approval to receive funding from the SBIC Critical Technology Initiative in Dec 2024.
General Matter emerges from stealth (Apr 2025); Thiel on board
General Matter, focusing on HALEU production and enrichment, emerged from stealth in April 2025; Thiel is on the company's board.
Founders Fund / portfolio activity 2025 (Erebor, EnduroSat, Varda, Hadrian)
Founders Fund investments in Erebor (2025, $2B valuation quickly), EnduroSat, Varda, Hadrian indicated as 2025 portfolio moves.
Forbes net worth estimate (May 2025) $20.8B
Forbes estimated Thiel's net worth at US$20.8 billion as of May 2025, ranking him among the world's richest.
Quantum Systems becomes Europe's dual-use unicorn (May 2025)
Thiel-backed Quantum Systems became Europe's first dual-use unicorn in May 2025 (Thiel Capital invested previously).
Key Achievement Ages
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