The name Peter Thiel does not often appear in the news or on talk shows. When he is discussed, it is usually as one of the tech billionaires and venture capitalists who helped change the world with PayPal. Thiel has an air of mystery about him, giving limited interviews and making rare public appearances—a stark contrast to other billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who are constantly in the media. However, that does not mean Thiel is any better than Musk or Zuckerberg.
Peter Andreas Thiel was born in western Germany to Klaus Thiel and his wife, Susanne. When Thiel was one year old, his family emigrated to the United States, settling in Cleveland, OH, due to his father’s work as a chemical engineer. Thiel moved frequently in his early years, living in South Africa and Namibia for a time before finally settling in California. In school, he excelled in mathematics and was the valedictorian of his high school class before enrolling at Stanford University. It was at Stanford that Thiel first became involved in politics.
In high school, Thiel admired President Ronald Reagan. When Stanford replaced its “Western Culture” program with a new course titled “Culture, Ideas and Values” to promote multiculturalism, Thiel was upset. With the help of several classmates, he co-founded The Stanford Review, a conservative and libertarian student newspaper that challenged this and other university policies. Most recently, the newspaper criticized a professor for allegedly “dumbing down” the math curriculum with so-called “woke math.” Though Thiel no longer works at The Stanford Review, he still donates to it regularly and helps make staffing decisions. This would not be the last time Thiel was involved with the media.
Thiel graduated with a Juris Doctor degree and clerked for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals before briefly working as a securities lawyer. However, he soon left law to become a derivatives trader and later served as a speechwriter for President Reagan’s Secretary of Education. Neither career lasted long, and Thiel eventually returned to California just in time for the dot-com boom. After making a poor investment in a failed project, he founded a company called Fieldlink, later renamed Confinity.
Confinity was a software company aiming to bridge the gap between banking and the internet by creating a digital payment system—what would later become PayPal. PayPal pioneered the concept of a digital wallet and online transactions, attracting significant investments that helped it grow rapidly. Eventually, it merged with another online payment service, X.com, owned by Elon Musk. After the merger, the company went public and later sold to eBay, making Thiel a fortune.
Following his success with PayPal, Thiel founded a hedge fund focused on financial sector investments after the dot-com bubble burst. After some unsuccessful investments, he launched a big data analysis company called Palantir Technologies, which provided services to the U.S. government for fraud detection and counterterrorism efforts—earning Thiel billions. He then used some of that wealth to invest in a small social media startup called Facebook. He took a seat on Facebook’s board and became one of its strongest advocates.
Thiel did not stop there. He invested in nearly every major social media platform in the initial stages, from Friendster and LinkedIn to Spotify and Yelp. His investments helped these companies grow exponentially, shaping the modern internet. He was also one of the first investors in Bitcoin and early facial recognition AI.
With Thiel making such major moves in the tech world, it was no surprise that he caught the attention of the media. One tabloid that wrote about him was Gawker Media. Like many tabloids, Gawker thrived on rumors and sensationalism, and it was one of the few outlets to report on Thiel. In 2007, Gawker published an article outing Thiel, titled “Peter Thiel is Totally Gay, People.” Rather than taking immediate action, Thiel waited for the right moment to retaliate.
That moment arrived nearly a decade later when Gawker published a sex tape involving wrestler Hulk Hogan. Thiel secretly funded Hogan’s legal battle against Gawker, leading to the media company’s downfall. However, this was not the only time Thiel used his wealth to shape outcomes in his favor.
Thiel also poured money into U.S. Senate and House races, hoping to get Republican candidates who aligned with his views into positions of power. In the 2022 election cycle, he was one of the largest donors to Republican campaigns, contributing more than $20.4 million. He backed 16 senatorial and congressional candidates, including J.D. Vance, a tech investor who previously worked for Thiel and later became U.S. Vice President.
Unlike Musk, who frequently makes public statements and openly engages in politics, Thiel’s ultimate goals remain unclear. With his influence and financial power growing in U.S. politics, the question remains—what will Peter Thiel do next?
