About Peter Thiel

As a college student, Peter Thiel resolved to devote his life to combating oppression and advancing freedom through business, philanthropy, and writing.

His first projects included founding the Stanford Review, a student newspaper, and co-writing The Diversity Myth. After graduating from Stanford with degrees in philosophy and law, he worked in finance as a derivatives trader at Credit Suisse Financial Products. He began his entrepreneurial career as head of Thiel Capital Management.

Soon after, he made e-commerce easier, faster, and more secure by founding and leading PayPal, which now manages more than 175 million financial accounts.

Mr. Thiel now serves as president of Clarium, a global macro hedge fund manager. He started Clarium in 2002 after the sale of PayPal to eBay.

He is also a founding investor and board member of Facebook, which serves more than a quarter-billion active users. As a founder and partner of the Founders Fund as well as through private investment, he has helped to launch many other new technology companies, including SpaceX, LinkedIn, Causes, Yelp, Quantcast, Palantir Technologies, The Big Think, and Zynga. In different ways, each project expands people’s control over their lives, experiences, or information.

In addition to businesses that enhance liberty, Mr. Thiel promotes freedom by sponsoring the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Seasteading Institute, and the Human Rights Foundation. He funds the artificial intelligence research of the Singularity Institute. He also aids work against violence through the Oslo Freedom Forum and through the research of philosopher René Girard, which is extended and promulgated by Imitatio.

Mr. Thiel also promotes better health through investments in innovative companies like Halcyon Molecular, Pathway Genomics, and Navia, and by funding the longevity research of Drs. Cynthia Kenyon and Aubrey de Grey.

Mr. Thiel occasionally teaches on globalization and sovereignty at Stanford and serves on the board of overseers of the Hoover Institution. His articles have appeared in Policy Review, First Things, and the Wall Street Journal. He co-produced the film Thank You for Smoking, and was rated a master by the United States Chess Federation.

He established and funds the Thiel Foundation.