Peter Andreas Thiel (born 1967) is an American financier, entrepreneur, and prominent donor to charities focusing on economic development and technology. With Max Levchin, Thiel co-founded PayPal and is its former CEO. Thiel once proposed that PayPal could be a catalyst for change in world politics.^[1] Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... An entrepreneur (a loanword from French introduced and first defined by the Irish economist Richard Cantillon) is a person who operates a new enterprise or venture and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks. ... Max Levchin (b. ... eBay North First Street satellite office campus (home to PayPal) PayPal is an e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ... For other uses, see Politics (disambiguation). ...

From Foster City, California, Thiel is an avowed libertarian. He studied 20th-century philosophy at Stanford University before going on to Stanford Law School. While at Stanford, he founded The Stanford Review, now the university's main conservative/libertarian newspaper. Thiel also has been a contributing author to the Hoover Institution's journal, Policy Review and the co-author of the book, The Diversity Myth: 'Multiculturalism' and the Politics of Intolerance at Stanford. See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ... For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... Stanford redirects here. ... Stanford may refer: Stanford University Places: Stanford, Kentucky Stanford, California, home of Stanford University Stanford Shopping Center Stanford, New York, town in Dutchess County. ... The Stanford Review is a conservative student-run newspaper at Stanford University. ... Hoover Tower at the Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded by Herbert Hoover at Stanford University, his alma mater. ... Policy Review is one of Americas leading conservative journals. ...

In 2002, Thiel sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion.^[2] His 3.7% stake in PayPal was worth approximately $55 million at the time of the acquisition.^[3] Since then, he has served as the Founder and Managing Member of Clarium Capital Management LLC, a global macro hedge fund company managing over $2 billion. In 2005, Clarium was honored as the global macro fund of the year by both MarHedge and Absolute Return, two hedge fund trade magazines. His fund has returned 240 percent since inception in October of 2002. Thiel’s approach to macro investing became the subject of a chapter in Steve Drobny’s book, Inside the House of Money. Also see: 2002 (number). ... This article is about the online auction center. ... One thousand million (1,000,000,000) is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001. ... A hedge fund is a private investment fund charging a performance fee and typically open to only a limited range of qualified investors. ... The term global macro is used to classify the strategy of certain hedge funds -- those that take large leveraged positions in financial derivatives, on the basis of forecasts about interest rate trends, movements in the general flow of funds, political changes, government policies, inter-government relations, and other broad systemic... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Thiel is also a partner in The Founders Fund [3], a $50 million venture capital firm. Thiel has personally made early-stage investments in several companies, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendster, Rapleaf, Palantir Technologies, and IronPort. The Founders Fund is a $50 million San Francisco, California venture capital firm that has led several early stage funding rounds for well known Web 2. ... Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, CA Facebook is a social networking website that allows people to communicate with their friends and exchange information. ... LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site, mainly used for professional networking. ... Friendster is an Internet social network service. ... Rapleaf is a portable reputation system where people can leave comments on email addresses or phone numbers. ... IronPort Systems of San Bruno, CA, USA is an email anti-spam appliance provider. ...

Thiel also serves on the boards of such nonprofit educational organizations as Stanford Law School (where he has also taught) and the Hoover Institution. His cultural pursuits most recently include co-producing Thank You for Smoking, a feature film based on the Christopher Buckley novel of the same name. He is also a chess master. Last year, he won the Herman Lay Award for Entrepreneurship. [4]. In 2007, he was honored as a Young Global leader by the World Economic Forum as one of the 250 most distinguished leaders age 40 and under. Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located near Palo Alto, California in Silicon Valley. ... Thank You for Smoking is a 2006, Golden Globe nominated film satire directed by Jason Reitman and produced by David O. Sacks. ... Christopher Buckley Christopher Taylor Buckley (born 1952) is an American political satirist and author of several novels. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Thiel The Billionaire

Thiel's investment in Facebook makes him a paper billionaire, for his angel investment of $500,000 Thiel was granted 10% equity in the social networking website^[4]. Microsoft recently purchased 1.6% of the company for $240 million dollars which places a valuation on Facebook of roughly $15 billion dollars^[5]. This valuation makes Thiel's stake in Facebook worth roughly $1.5 billion dollars. Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, CA Facebook is a social networking website that allows people to communicate with their friends and exchange information. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, CA Facebook is a social networking website that allows people to communicate with their friends and exchange information. ...

Philanthropy

In February 2006 Thiel provided $100,000 of matching funds to back the Singularity Challenge donation drive of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Additionally he joined the Institute's advisory board, pledged ongoing financial support, and participated in the May 2006 Singularity Summit at Stanford event. The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is a non-profit organization with the goal of developing a theory of Friendly artificial intelligence and implementing that theory as a software system. ...

In September 2006 Thiel announced that he would donate $3.5 million to foster anti-aging research through the Methuselah Mouse Prize foundation.^[6] He gave the following reasons for his donation: "Rapid advances in biological science foretell of a treasure trove of discoveries this century, including dramatically improved health and longevity for all. I’m backing Dr. de Grey, because I believe that his revolutionary approach to aging research will accelerate this process, allowing many people alive today to enjoy radically longer and healthier lives for themselves and their loved ones." The Methuselah Mouse Prize or Mprize is a growing $3. ...

In May 2007 Thiel provided half of the $400,000 matching funds for the annual Singularity Challenge donation drive of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is a non-profit organization with the goal of developing a theory of Friendly artificial intelligence and implementing that theory as a software system. ...

References

• The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
• PayPal Founder Pledges $3.5 Million to Antiaging Research
• Inside the House of Money: Top Hedge Funds Traders on Profiting in the Global Markets, Wiley 2006

Further reading

Drobny, Steven (2006). Inside the House of Money. The Dot-Commer: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-79447-3. 

External links

• Virtual Money on ITConversations.com - November 2004
• Peter Thiel - Friend of Liberty from the Advocates for Self-Government website
• Peter Thiel's LinkedIn profile