Peter Thiel, the billionaire founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, has played a prominent role in shaping the modern technology landscape.
Through the German-American entrepreneur’s career as a founder and financier, the billionaire has played a key role in some of the most influential tech companies in the world.
With Big Tech increasingly cozying up to President-elect Donald Trump, Thiel has seemingly reversed his previous support for the upcoming leader.
After posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Monday, Feb. 3, Palantir stock jumped over 24% in extended trading, further boosting Theil’s success as one of the richest and most successful men in the world.
According to Forbes , Thiel’s net worth is estimated at around $13.6 billion as of January 2025. However, Bloomberg reported in January that Thiel’s net worth was over $15 billion.
Thiel’s immense fortune has been built through early investments in Facebook and other major tech companies.
The billionaire also cofounded PayPal in 1998 and cofounded Palantir Technologies in 2003.
Thiel has invested indirectly in various companies through his venture capital firm Founders Fund, which he co-founded in 2005. He currently owns a 42.5% stake in the firm.
Thiel was born on October 11, 1967, in Frankfurt, West Germany, and moved to the U.S., California with his family in 1977.
The billionaire excelled with academic talent throughout his school years, finding a deep interest in reading, mathematics, and chess.
After completing his undergraduate degree in philosophy, Theil attended Stanford Law School and acquired his Doctor of Law qualification.
Following a short stint as a lawyer for Sullivan and Cromwell, a high-end New York law firm, Thiel pivoted to finance. He worked as a derivatives trader at Credit Suisse and later as a speechwriter for former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett.
In the 1990s, Thiel moved back to California to explore new entrepreneurial opportunities in the then-burgeoning Silicon Valley.
This was where Thiel’s foray into the world of technology began.
In 1998, Thiel cofounded PayPal, originally Cofinitiy , with Max Levchin and Luke Nosek. During the early days of e-commerce, Thiel and his fellow founders identified a growing need for secure and seamless online payments.
Initially focusing on providing security software for mobile devices, the company shifted its focus to creating a digital payment platform.
While the internet was becoming more widely adopted, there was a significant lack of trusted ways for individuals and businesses to transfer money online.
PayPal’s initial concept of creating a digital payment platform aligned with the emerging demand for online financial transactions.
The company’s rapid growth caught eBay’s attention, and in 2002, eBay acquired the company for $1.5 billion.
Thiel, who held a significant stake in the company, made hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale.
Following the sale of PayPal to eBay, Thiel became a well-known figure in Silicon Valley and used his newfound wealth to establish several new ventures.
In 2003, Thiel founded Palantir Technologies, a massive data analytics company that specializes in working with government agencies.
Drawing on his experience at PayPal, Thiel envisioned a company that used the same fraud detection methods, built on data analysis, to larger, more complex systems.
The company is now considered ahead of its time, as many enterprises had failed to see the power of big data in the early 2000s.
As data became more and more lucrative throughout the 2010s, Palantir remained at the forefront.
Palantir is now best known for working with U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Defence and law enforcement.
On Feb. 3, 2025, Palantir reported soaring Q4 2024 results, which saw revenue grow 36% year-over-year to $828 million.
Palantir’s stock traded up 24% following the glowing results.
According to an October 2024 company filing , Thiel currently owns around 4.5% of Palantir Technologies’ floating shares, which will now be worth an estimated value of $7.63 billion.
“Palantir is here to disrupt and make the institutions we partner with the very best in the world, and when it is necessary to scare enemies and on occasion kill them,” Thiel said on an earnings call with investors.
Thiel’s investment portfolio is one of the most successful in the industry and is littered with early investments in companies that have shaped the industry.
One of Thiel’s most significant investments is Facebook.
The billionaire was one of the first tech investors to invest in the company, providing a $500,000 investment in 2004 for a 10.2% stake.
Thiel went on to sell half his stake in Facebook five years later, in 2009. The stake was sold to Digital Sky Technology for an estimated $200 million.
Thiel’s early vision of Facebook, which was still a low-level startup, indicates his successful career of good predictions.
In addition to Facebook, Thiel made early-stage investments in numerous startups, both personally and through the Founders Fund.
Early investments from the billionaire included Airbnb, LinkedIn, SpaceX, Stripe, Spotify and more.
Thiel has had a complicated relationship with President-elect Donald Trump.
The billionaire has recently set his own lane in an industry increasingly moving to align with the upcoming President’s views.
Thiel announced in 2023 that he would be stepping back from political funding in the 2024 election cycle.
This was a U-turn from 2016 when Thiel was one of the only tech figures to publicly support Trump with a $1.25 million contribution.
However, the billionaire recently said that his experiences during that time were “crazier” and “more dangerous” than he had anticipated.
In 2023, Thiel stated that he had declined Trump’s earlier request for a $10 million donation.
Despite moving away from political backing, Thiel has had an unofficial and steady influence over the President-elect’s campaign.
In September, Thiel accurately predicted Trump’s 2024 victory.
“I think the odds are slightly in favor of Trump, but it’s basically 50-50. My one contrarian view on the election is that it’s not going to be close,” Thiel said in September. “You know, most presidential elections aren’t.”
Trump has also appointed JD Vance as Vice President of the U.S., a close ally to Thiel.
In August 2024, Senator JD Vance said he had continued to urge Thiel to support the President-elect.
Talking to the Financial Times, Vance said , “I’m going to keep on talking to Peter and persuading him that—you know, he’s obviously been exhausted by politics a little bit—but he’s going to be really exhausted by politics if we lose and if Kamala Harris is president.”