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Peter Thiel

German-American entrepreneur and venture capitalist (born 1967) · New Zealand · Founders · also Germany · also United States

Peter Thiel is read about 18,338 times a day, in 46 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.

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He wrote the first outside check to Facebook for $500,000 in 2004, then spent two decades building a reputation as Silicon Valley's most politically unorthodox billionaire - a self-described libertarian who questions democracy and bankrolls the right.

A life in dates

2026Axel Springer AwardAward2025“One of my friends was telling me that I should not pass up on the opportunity to tell those people in San Francisco that Bill Gates is the antichrist.”In their words10 October 2025Quoted in "Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist", The Guardian (10 Oct 2025).

2021Frank Schirrmacher AwardAward2019“I think the future is something that always has to be thought of in relatively concrete terms - and it has to be different from the present ...”In their words5 September 2019(quote at 39:02 of 47:25 video, recorded on September 5, 2019)

2017“Confirm [the age of Apple is over]. We know what a smartphone looks like and does. It's not the fault of Tim Cook, but it's not an area where there will be any more innovation.”In their words11 January 2017Confirm or Deny: Peter Thiel in The New York Times (January 11, 2017)

2016“[The media] never takes [Trump] seriously, but it always takes him literally. I think a lot of the voters who vote for Trump take Trump seriously, but not literally.”In their words31 October 2016Speech at the National Press Club (October 31, 2016)

2014“We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.”In their wordsquoted at Peter Thiel at Yale: We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters (2014)

“Every moment in business happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won't make a search engine.”In their words(p. 1)

1967Born11 October 1967

Also in Deutsch

Photos 4

Aron D'Souza in 2025Aron D'Souza in 2025Peter Thiel and David Graeber discussing technology, democracy and the future in 2014[338]Peter Thiel and David Graeber discussing technology, democracy and the future in 2014[338]

In their own words 10

,
Peter Thiel
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. One of my friends was telling me that I should not pass up on the opportunity to tell those people in San Francisco that Bill Gates is the antichrist.

    Oct 10, 2025, Quoted in "Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist", The Guardian (10 Oct 2025)., Own words

  2. I don't think the intellectual battle is ever fully over because I don't think history is over.

    Jan 17, 2020, Interview with Peter Robinson, Uncommon Knowledge, 17 January 2020 (transcript), Own words

  3. I think the future is something that always has to be thought of in relatively concrete terms - and it has to be different from the present ...

    Sep 5, 2019, (quote at 39:02 of 47:25 video, recorded on September 5, 2019), Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Axel Springer Award2026
Frank Schirrmacher Award2021

Family

Peter Thiel

Partners

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About this person

Born in Germany in 1967, Thiel moved to the US as an infant, spent part of his childhood in South African-occupied Namibia, and later graduated from Stanford before working as a securities lawyer and derivatives trader. He co-founded PayPal with Max Levchin and Luke Nosek in 1998, served as CEO until eBay bought it for $1.5 billion in 2002, then turned that exit into a sprawling investment empire. He launched Palantir in 2003, took his 10.2% Facebook stake in 2004, and founded Founders Fund in 2005 with former PayPal partners. A string of ventures followed - Valar, Thiel Capital, Mithril - and he quietly secured New Zealand citizenship in 2011, which became a flashpoint when revealed in 2017. Through the Thiel Foundation he runs Breakout Labs and the Thiel Fellowship, but his lasting influence comes from the ideological space he occupies: described as Silicon Valley's political theologian and intellectual architect, he channels libertarian instincts and skepticism of democracy into substantial donations to American right-wing figures, making him as much a subject of political scrutiny as financial envy.

Country
New Zealand
Category
Founders
Type
Founder
Status
living
Dates
Born 1967 · age 59

In common with Peter

Elon MuskAlso in Thank You for Smoking (2005)Robert DuvallAlso in Thank You for Smoking (2005)Rob LoweAlso in Thank You for Smoking (2005)Katie HolmesAlso in Thank You for Smoking (2005)

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