Peter Thiel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Peter Thiel
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Thiel in 2022
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Peter Andreas Thiel
11 October 1967 |
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| Education | Stanford University (BA, JD) |
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| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) |
Matt Danzeisen (m. 2017)
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Peter Andreas Thiel (born 11 October 1967) is an American businessman, investor, and supporter of political causes. He helped start companies like PayPal and Palantir Technologies. He was also the very first outside investor in Facebook. As of July 2024, Peter Thiel is estimated to be worth around $8.2 billion.
Thiel worked as a lawyer and a financial trader early in his career. In 1996, he started Thiel Capital Management. Then, in 1998, he co-founded PayPal with Max Levchin and Luke Nosek. He was the CEO of PayPal until eBay bought it for $1.5 billion in 2002.
After PayPal, Thiel started Clarium Capital, a type of investment fund. In 2003, he launched Palantir Technologies, a company that helps analyze large amounts of data. He has been its chairman ever since. In 2005, Thiel also started Founders Fund with some of his PayPal partners. He became Facebook's first outside investor in 2004, putting in $500,000 for a part of the company. He sold most of his Facebook shares for over $1 billion in 2012. He also helped start Valar Ventures in 2010 and Mithril Capital in 2012.
Thiel supports certain political ideas and has given money to American politicians and causes. He was given New Zealand citizenship in 2011, even though he had only spent a short time there.
Through the Thiel Foundation, he supports research in areas like artificial intelligence, ways to live longer, and building communities on the ocean.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Peter Thiel was born in Frankfurt, West Germany, on October 11, 1967. His family moved to the United States when he was one year old. His father worked as a chemical engineer, which meant the family moved around a lot. Before settling in Foster City, California, in 1977, they lived in South Africa and what is now Namibia. Peter changed elementary schools seven times.
Childhood Interests
Peter enjoyed playing Dungeons & Dragons and loved reading science fiction books. His favorite authors included Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein. He was also a big fan of J. R. R. Tolkien's books, like The Lord of the Rings. He even named six of his companies after places or things from Tolkien's stories!
School Days
Thiel was very good at mathematics. He won a math competition in California while in middle school. At San Mateo High School, he read books by Ayn Rand and admired President Ronald Reagan. He was the top student in his graduating class in 1985.
Stanford University
He studied philosophy at Stanford University. During his time there, he helped start The Stanford Review, a newspaper that shared conservative and libertarian ideas. He was the first editor-in-chief of this newspaper. He earned his first degree in 1989 and then went on to get his law degree from Stanford Law School in 1992.
While at Stanford, Thiel learned about something called "mimetic theory" from René Girard. This theory suggests that people often want things because others want them, which can lead to competition. Thiel applied this idea to business, believing that too much competition can make people lose sight of what's truly important.
Career Highlights
Early Work
After law school, Thiel worked as a lawyer for a short time. He then became a financial trader at Credit Suisse. In 1996, he moved back to California to find more meaningful work.
He saw how the internet was growing and decided to start his own investment company, Thiel Capital Management. He invested in a friend's unsuccessful project at first. But then, his luck changed when his friend Max Levchin introduced him to an idea for a company that used cryptography. This idea later became Confinity in 1998.
PayPal's Story
With Confinity, Thiel realized they could create software to make online payments easier. Many stores didn't have the right equipment to accept credit cards, so people had to pay with cash or checks. Thiel wanted to create a "digital wallet" that would be convenient and secure. In 1999, Confinity launched PayPal.
PayPal aimed to give people more freedom with their money. When it launched, big companies like Nokia and Deutsche Bank sent $3 million in funding to Thiel using PayPal on their PalmPilot devices. PayPal grew by merging with other companies, including Elon Musk's X.com. This helped PayPal expand and become a safer way to send money using just an email address.
PayPal became a public company in 2002 and was bought by eBay for $1.5 billion later that year. Thiel was the CEO until the sale. He is sometimes called the "Don of the PayPal Mafia" because many early PayPal employees went on to start other successful companies.
Palantir Technologies
In 2003, Thiel started Palantir Technologies. The company is named after a special seeing stone from J. R. R. Tolkien's books. Palantir helps analyze large amounts of data. Thiel said the idea came from how PayPal fought fraud. He thought the same methods could be used to fight terrorism.
Palantir's first investor was the Central Intelligence Agency's investment group, In-Q-Tel. The company grew steadily and was valued at $20 billion in 2015. Thiel is still the chairman of Palantir.
Investing in Facebook
In August 2004, Peter Thiel made a $500,000 investment in Facebook. This was the very first outside investment Facebook received. It gave him a 10.2% share of the company and a seat on Facebook's board of directors.
Thiel wasn't involved in Facebook's daily operations. However, he helped the company with its funding rounds. He sold most of his shares in Facebook for over $1 billion in 2012. He remained on the board of directors until 2022, when he decided not to seek re-election.
Founders Fund
In 2005, Thiel created Founders Fund, a company that invests in new businesses. Other partners in the fund include Sean Parker and Luke Nosek.
Through Founders Fund, Thiel invested early in many well-known startups. These include Airbnb, LinkedIn, Spotify, SpaceX, and Stripe. In 2017, Founders Fund also bought a significant amount of bitcoin.
Valar Ventures
Thiel also co-founded Valar Ventures, a company that focuses on international investments. Through Valar Ventures, he was an early investor in Xero, a software company based in New Zealand.
Mithril Capital
In 2012, he launched Mithril Capital Management. This company is also named after a fictional metal from The Lord of the Rings. Mithril Capital invests in companies that are past the startup stage and ready to grow bigger.
Political Views and Activities
Peter Thiel describes himself as a conservative libertarian. This means he believes in limited government and individual freedom.
In 1995, Thiel co-authored a book called The Diversity Myth. This book criticized certain ideas about political correctness and multiculturalism in universities.
Thiel has supported various political causes and candidates. He has given money to both Libertarian and Republican candidates.
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In 2016, Thiel supported Donald Trump's presidential campaign. He spoke at the Republican National Convention and later donated a large amount of money to Trump's campaign. After Trump won, Thiel was part of his transition team.
Thiel also has his own political group, Free Forever. This group supports candidates who believe in stricter border control, limited immigration, and a foreign policy that avoids getting involved in other countries' conflicts.
Philanthropy and Foundations
Thiel does most of his charitable work through the Thiel Foundation.
Supporting Research
Artificial Intelligence
Since 2006, Thiel has supported research into artificial intelligence (AI). He has given money to organizations like the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, which works on developing safe AI. He also helped fund OpenAI, a company focused on the safe development of advanced AI.
Life Extension
Thiel has donated millions of dollars to the Methuselah Mouse Prize foundation. This foundation supports research into anti-aging and ways to extend human life. He believes that science can help people live longer and healthier lives. Thiel has also said that he plans to be cryonically preserved after his legal death, hoping that future technology might revive him.
Seasteading
In 2008, Thiel pledged money to the Seasteading Institute. This group aims to create floating communities on the ocean. The idea is to allow people to experiment with new ways of living and governing themselves. Thiel believes this could create new spaces for human freedom.
Thiel Fellowship
In 2010, Thiel created the Thiel Fellowship. Each year, this program gives $100,000 to 20 young people under the age of 23. The goal is to encourage them to leave college and start their own businesses or projects instead.
Breakout Labs
In 2011, the Thiel Foundation launched Breakout Labs. This program gives grants of up to $350,000 to science-focused startups. It helps new companies that are doing innovative research but might not get funding from traditional sources.
Other Causes
The Thiel Foundation also supports the Committee to Protect Journalists, which works to protect journalists' rights. He has donated over $1 million to this group. He also supports the Human Rights Foundation. In 2011, Thiel donated NZ$1 million to help people affected by the 2011 Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand.
Personal Life
Peter Thiel married Matt Danzeisen in October 2017 in Vienna, Austria. Matt Danzeisen works as a portfolio manager at Thiel Capital. Thiel lives in San Francisco, California.
Religious Views
Thiel is a Christian. He grew up in an evangelical household. He has described his religious beliefs as "somewhat different" from traditional views. He has discussed religion, politics, and technology at various events.
Chess
Thiel started playing chess at age six and was once one of the best young players in the United States. He holds the title of Chess title#Life Master, but he stopped competing in 2003.
Media Appearances
Thiel sometimes appears as a commentator on TV channels like CNBC and PBS. He has also written articles for newspapers and journals.
In the movie The Social Network, which is about the founding of Facebook, Peter Thiel was played by Wallace Langham. Thiel said the movie was "wrong on many levels." He was also the inspiration for the character Peter Gregory in the TV show Silicon Valley.
New Zealand Citizenship
Peter Thiel was born a German citizen and later became an American citizen. In 2011, he was granted permanent residency in New Zealand, which became public in 2017. He had visited New Zealand only a few times before applying, spending much less time there than usually required for citizenship. The government minister at the time allowed this under a special "exceptional circumstances" rule.
Thiel's application mentioned his contributions to New Zealand's economy. He had started an investment fund there and invested in two local companies. He also donated $1 million to the Christchurch earthquake relief fund.
Books by Peter Thiel
Zero to One
In 2012, Thiel taught a class at Stanford University about starting new companies. Notes from this class, taken by a student named Blake Masters, were turned into a book called Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. The book was released in September 2014.
The book is seen as a guide for entrepreneurs. It talks about how to create new things and build a successful future.
See also
In Spanish: Peter Thiel para niños
