#12 Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel on Forbes

The latest Tweets from Peter Thiel (@peterthiel). Technology entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist. San Francisco

The man can surprise you!

As a venture capitalist and entrepreneur, Peter has been involved with some of the most dynamic companies to emerge from Silicon Valley in the past decade. Peter's first start-up was PayPal, which he co-founded in 1998, and led as Chairman and CEO. Peter's tenure culminated in PayPal's sale to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. After the eBay acquisition, Peter founded Clarium Capital Managements, a global macro hedge fund. Peter also helped launch Palantir Technologies, an analytical software company, and serves as a chairman of that company's board.

20 Facts about Peter Thiel!

Founders Fund is a San Francisco based venture capital firm investing in companies building revolutionary technologies.

'I think people actually do not learn very much from failure,' the PayPal co-founder says.

The Silicon Valley billionaire and scourge of Gawker describes his admiration for the president-elect, who told him, "We’re friends for life."

Peter Thiel on Forbes

Peter Andreas Thiel (/ˈtiːl/; born October 11, 1967) is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and author. Referred to as the "Don of the PayPal Mafia", Thiel was ranked No. 4 on the Forbes Midas List of 2014, with a net worth of $2.2 billion, and No. 246 on the Forbes 400 in 2016, with a net worth of $2.7 billion.[4][5][6]Thiel was born in Frankfurt, and holds German citizenship. He moved with his family to the United States as an infant, and spent a portion of his upbringing in Africa before returning to the U.S. and attending San Mateo High School. He studied philosophy at Stanford University, graduating with a B.A. in 1989. He then went on to the Stanford Law School, and received his J.D. in 1992. After graduation, he worked as a judicial clerk for Judge James Larry Edmondson, a securities lawyer for Sullivan & Cromwell, a speechwriter for former-U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett and as a derivatives trader at Credit Suisse prior to founding Thiel Capital in 1996. He then co-founded PayPal in 1999, and served as chief executive officer until its sale to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.