Peter Thiel Net Worth and Business Ventures

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Peter Thiel's net worth is estimated to be around $2.5 billion, making him one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.

He co-founded PayPal, which was later sold to eBay for $1.5 billion, providing him with a significant chunk of his net worth.

Thiel's business ventures extend beyond PayPal, as he also co-founded Palantir, a data analytics company valued at over $20 billion.

He has also invested in numerous startups through his venture capital firm, Founders Fund, which has backed companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Yelp.

Early Life and Career

After graduating from Stanford Law School, Peter Thiel clerked for Judge James Larry Edmondson of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

He then worked as a securities lawyer for Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, but left the law firm in under a year. Thiel took a job as a derivatives trader in currency options at Credit Suisse in 1993, while also working as a speechwriter for former United States Secretary of Education William Bennett.

Thiel returned to California in 1996, where he capitalized on the dot-com boom and raised $1 million toward the establishment of Thiel Capital Management, marking the beginning of his venture capital career.

Early Career

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Credit: pexels.com, From below of delighted aged male entrepreneur in classy outfit standing on street and speaking on cellphone while laughing and looking away

After graduating from Stanford Law School, Thiel clerked for Judge James Larry Edmondson of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

He then worked as a securities lawyer for Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, but left the law firm in under a year.

Thiel took a job as a derivatives trader in currency options at Credit Suisse in 1993, while also working as a speechwriter for former United States Secretary of Education William Bennett.

He returned to California in 1996, where he capitalized on the dot-com boom with financial support from friends and family.

Thiel raised $1 million toward the establishment of Thiel Capital Management, marking the beginning of his venture capital career.

He experienced a setback early on, investing $100,000 in his friend Luke Nosek's unsuccessful web-based calendar project.

Thiel's friend Max Levchin later shared his cryptography-related company idea with Thiel, leading to the formation of their first venture, Fieldlink, later renamed Confinity, in 1998.

Who Is?

Credit: youtube.com, Early Life & Career

Peter Thiel is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. He was born on October 11, 1967, in Frankfurt, West Germany, to Klaus Friedrich Thiel and Susanne Thiel.

Peter's family migrated to the U.S. when he was just one year old and lived in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Bowditch Middle School in Foster City and San Mateo High School.

He went on to study philosophy at Stanford University. Thiel served as The Stanford Review's first editor-in-chief and remained in that post until completing his Bachelor of Arts in 1989.

Business Ventures

Peter Thiel has a diverse range of business ventures, including Clarium Capital Management, which he launched with $10 million of his PayPal windfall in the early 2000s.

He also founded Palantir Technologies in 2003, a big data analysis company that was initially backed by the Central Intelligence Agency's venture capital arm In-Q-Tel. Palantir's valuation reached $20 billion in 2015, with Thiel as its largest shareholder.

Thiel's venture capital fund, Founders Fund, was established in 2005 and has invested in numerous startups, including Facebook, Airbnb, and Spotify.

Clarium Capital Management

Credit: youtube.com, Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital backstage at TC Disrupt

Clarium Capital Management was founded by Peter Thiel with $10 million of his PayPal windfall. He used this capital to launch a global macrohedge fund focusing on directional and liquid instruments in currencies, interest rates, commodities, and equities.

Thiel's big idea at Clarium was the peak-oil theory, which held that the world was running out of oil and had no easy alternatives. This idea drove his investment decisions and led to some successful bets.

In 2003, Thiel successfully bet that the US dollar would weaken. He also spoke of the dot-com bubble migrating into a growing bubble in the financial sector, singling out General Electric and Walmart as vulnerable.

Clarium saw a 57.1% return in 2005 as Thiel predicted the dollar would rally. However, the firm faltered in 2006 with a 7.8% loss.

Thiel's petrodollar analysis, which foresaw the impending decline in oil supplies, led to a 40.3% return in 2007. This growth brought Clarium's assets under management to more than $7 billion by the first quarter of 2008.

But the firm's fortunes reversed later in 2008 and again in 2009 after financial markets collapsed. By 2011, many key investors had pulled out, reducing Clarium's assets to $350 million.

You might enjoy: Net Assets and Equity

Palantir

Credit: youtube.com, Palantir Explained: Chief Architect on Foundry in 2022

Palantir was founded in May 2003 by Peter Thiel, who continues to serve as its chairman as of 2022. Thiel's vision for the company was to provide data mining services to government intelligence agencies that were maximally unintrusive and traceable.

Thiel's idea for Palantir was born out of his experiences at PayPal, where they used data analysis to fight fraud. He realized that these approaches could be extended to other areas, such as fighting terrorism.

The Central Intelligence Agency's venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel, was Palantir's first backer. This partnership helped the company grow steadily over the years.

By 2015, Palantir was valued at $20 billion, with Thiel holding the largest share of the company. His shares in Palantir have been worth a significant amount of money, with 71 million shares valued at $5.3 billion as of 2024.

Founders Fund

Founders Fund was created by Thiel in 2005, a San Francisco-based venture capital fund with partners Sean Parker, Ken Howery, and Luke Nosek.

Credit: youtube.com, 2020 Founder's Fund Opening Video

Thiel made early-stage investments in numerous startups, including Airbnb, Slide.com, LinkedIn, Friendster, RapLeaf, Geni.com, Yammer, Yelp Inc., Spotify, Powerset, Practice Fusion, MetaMed, Vator, SpaceX, Palantir Technologies, IronPort, Votizen, Asana, Big Think, CapLinked, Quora, Nanotronics Imaging, Rypple, TransferWise, Stripe, Block.one, and AltSchool.

In 2017, Founders Fund bought $15–20 million worth of bitcoin, which became worth hundreds of millions of dollars just a year later.

Thiel was also an early investor in DeepMind, a UK start-up acquired by Google in 2014 for £400 million.

Clearview AI, a facial recognition technology startup, received investment from Thiel in 2017, sparking concerns about its potential risks.

Gawker Lawsuit

Peter Thiel funded a $10 million lawsuit against Gawker Media, which led to the company's permanent closure in August 2016.

The lawsuit was brought by Terry Bollea, also known as Hulk Hogan, for invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and infringement of personality rights after Gawker published a sex tape involving him.

Credit: youtube.com, Why tech titan is financing lawsuits against Gawker

Thiel was motivated to sue Gawker after they publicly outed him in a 2007 article, and he believed Gawker's actions had "ruined people's lives for no reason."

Thiel stated that his funding of lawsuits against Gawker was not about revenge, but rather about "specific deterrence."

He also highlighted his support for the Intimate Privacy Protection Act, which would give athletes and business executives the right to stay in the closet if they choose to.

Thiel's defense of online privacy was seen as a way to protect journalists, whom he respects, from being targeted by Gawker's aggressive tactics.

Seasteading

Thiel pledged $500,000 to the Seasteading Institute in 2008 to support the creation of permanent ocean communities.

The institute's mission is to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems.

Thiel described seasteading as "one of the few technological frontiers that has the promise to create a new space for human freedom" in one of the institute's conferences.

In 2011, Thiel gave $1.25 million to the Seasteading Institute, but resigned from its board the same year.

Seasteads are still in the future, according to Thiel, who said they are "not quite feasible from an engineering perspective" in a 2017 interview with The New York Times.

Breakout Labs

Credit: youtube.com, Breakout Labs Aims to Take Science from the Lab to Supercharge the Economy

Breakout Labs is a grant-making program that was announced by the Thiel Foundation in November 2011. It's designed to fill the funding gap for innovative research outside of traditional institutions.

The program offers grants of up to $350,000 to science-focused start-ups, with no strings attached. This means that the recipients have the freedom to use the funds as they see fit.

Breakout Labs announced its first set of grantees in April 2012, and a total of 12 startups received funding, amounting to $4.5 million in grants. One of the first ventures to receive funding from Breakout Labs was 3Scan, a tissue imaging platform.

Here's a breakdown of the funding received by the 12 startups:

Note that the article doesn't provide a detailed breakdown of the funding for each start-up, but it's clear that Breakout Labs made a significant investment in these innovative ventures.

PayPal

PayPal was founded by Max Levchin, a 23-year-old Stanford PhD student, with the initial goal of building a payment system for Palm electronics devices.

Credit: youtube.com, Peter Thiel (INTJ Example) on Business Ventures & Paypal Success

Max got the funding he needed from Peter, who would later serve as the company's Chairman and CEO. Peter also provided the funds necessary for PayPal to lease an office space in downtown Palo Alto.

A rival digital payment company called X.com, founded by Elon Musk, was leasing space on the same floor. Unlike PayPal's plan, X.com was working on a system for sending payments over the World Wide Web.

The competition between PayPal and X.com increased, and the two companies eventually merged. After the merger, Elon Musk became CEO of the combined company, which adopted the PayPal name.

PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. Peter's 3.7% stake in the company was worth $60 million at that time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did Peter Thiel make from selling PayPal?

Peter Thiel made $55 million from selling PayPal to eBay in 2002, a significant return on his initial investment. This windfall helped establish him as a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist.

Mike Kiehn

Senior Writer

Mike Kiehn is a seasoned writer with a passion for creating informative and engaging content. With a keen interest in the financial sector, Mike has established himself as a knowledgeable authority on Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), particularly in the UK market. Mike's expertise extends to providing in-depth analysis and insights on REITs, helping readers make informed decisions in the world of real estate investment.

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