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Peter Thiel
| Peter Thiel | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Organization: | The Founders Fund |
| Role: | Partner |
| Location: | San Francisco, California |
| Expertise: | Venture capitalist and entrepreneur |
| Education: | • Stanford University (B.A., philosophy, 1989) • Stanford University (J.D., 1992)[1] |
| Website: | Official website |
Peter Thiel is the co-founder and former CEO of PayPal and co-founder and partner at Founders Fund, a tech investment firm.[1][2]
Thiel was a member of Donald Trump's presidential transition team in 2016, a group of advisors tasked with recommending presidential appointments for the incoming administration.[3]
Biography
Thiel graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in philosophy in 1989. He also received a J.D. from Stanford Law School.[1]
In 1998, Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal. He served as CEO and chairman until 2002, when eBay purchased PayPal for $1.5 billion.[1][4] He then founded Clarium Capital Management, a venture capital and pooled investments firm.[5] Thiel has also launched Palantir Technologies, which provides analytical software, and was an investor in LinkedIn and Facebook.[4][1] Thiel was on Facebook's board from 2005 to 2022.[6]
In 2006, Thiel co-founded the Founders Fund, a tech industry investment firm that provides funding and resources to developing tech firms.[4]
As of August 2025, Forbes reported Thiel had a net worth of $23.9 billion.[7]
Work and activities
Political activity
2024
In April 2023, Reuters reported that Thiel told associates he was not planning to donate to political candidates in 2024. According to sources interviewed by Reuters, Thiel disagreed with the Republican Party's focus on cultural issues.[8] Thiel ultimately gave over $1.7 million to candidates for federal office and political parties during the 2024 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records.[9]
2022
According to Forbes, Thiel donated $35 million across 16 federal races in 2022. At least $20 million went to Saving Arizona PAC, which was formed to support Blake Masters (R) in his campaign for U.S. Senate in Arizona. Masters was the chief operating officer of Thiel Capital and president of Thiel Foundation.[10] Another $10 million went to Protect Ohio Values, a super PAC formed to back J.D. Vance's (R) U.S. Senate bid in Ohio.[10]
2020
In the 2020 election cycle, Thiel donated more than $2 million to Free Forever PAC.[11][12] The organization primarily focused on spending to support Kris Kobach (R) in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Kansas.[13]
He also donated $100,000 to the Senate Leadership Fund.[11]
2018
In 2018, Thiel donated $1 million to Club for Growth Action and $100,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund.[14]
2016
Thiel was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from California. All 172 delegates from California were bound by state party rules to support Donald Trump at the convention.[15] Thiel spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Thiel was the third openly gay speaker to address the Republican convention—Steve Fong of the Log Cabin Republicans spoke in 1996 and Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) in 2000.[16]
2015
Thiel gave $2 million to Conservative, Authentic, Responsive Leadership for You and for America, a super PAC supporting former 2016 Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina.[17]
2012
Thiel was a donor to Ron Paul's (R) presidential campaign and also supported Ted Cruz's (R) U.S. Senate bid in 2012.[10][17]
Donald Trump presidential transition team, 2016-2017
Peter Thiel was a member of Donald Trump's presidential transition team in his first presidential term. The transition team was a group of around 100 aides, policy experts, government affairs officials, and former government officials who were tasked with vetting, interviewing, and recommending individuals for top cabinet and staff roles in Trump's administration.[18]
Notable endorsements
This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope. Know of one we missed? Click here to let us know.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Peter Thiel'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- What is an influencer?
- Republican National Convention, 2016
- 2016 presidential nominations: calendar and delegate rules
- RNC delegate guidelines from California, 2016
- Republican delegate rules by state, 2016
- Presidential election, 2016
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Donald Trump presidential transition team, 2016-2017
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 LinkedIn, "Paul Thiel," accessed August 26, 2025
- ↑ Founders Fund, "Team," accessed August 26, 2025
- ↑ Fox News, "Who's who in the new Trump transition team line-up," November 11, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Founders Fund, "Peter Thiel," accessed July 18, 2016
- ↑ Bloomberg, "Company Overview of Clarium Capital Management LLC," accessed July 18, 2016
- ↑ Protocol, "After 17 years, Peter Thiel has officially left Meta's board," May 25, 2022
- ↑ Forbes, "Peter Thiel," accessed August 26, 2025
- ↑ Reuters, "Exclusive: Peter Thiel, Republican megadonor, won’t fund candidates in 2024, sources say," April 26, 2023
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Peter Thiel," accessed August 26, 2025
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Forbes, "GOP Donor Peter Thiel Reportedly Sitting Out 2024 Race—Despite Donating $35 Million Last Year," April 27, 2023 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "forbes" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 11.0 11.1 OpenSecrets, "Peter Thiel: Donor Lookup," accessed June 1, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets, "Free Forever PAC Donors," accessed August 26, 2025
- ↑ Vox, "Tech billionaire Peter Thiel is searching for new political allies. He’s found one in Kansas," July 27, 2020
- ↑ OpenSecrets, "Thiel, Peter: Donor Detail," accessed August 26, 2025
- ↑ CA GOP, "Updated delegate list," accessed July 11, 2016
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "An Openly Gay Speaker Will Address The GOP Convention For The First Time In 16 Years," July 14, 2016
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Wired, "Ultimate Tech Bro Peter Thiel Will Be a Delegate for Trump," May, 10, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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