German-American billionaire Peter Thiel first created a name for himself in tech. But the venture capitalist has merged his passion for tech with politics, supporting Donald Trump and pitting him against some Silicon Valley elites.
Thiel supported the growth and success of some of the world’s most successful companies. He co-founded PayPal and was one of Facebook’s outside investors and a longtime board member.
“Peter Thiel’s presence on that board has been controversial for quite some time,” Bloomberg News ‘ Romaine Bostick said. “We know he was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump. He appears now to be moving on to pursue whatever that political agenda is going to be.”
In February, Thiel stepped down from the board of Facebook’s parent company Meta. After the announcement, reports surfaced that he invested $1.5 million into a new tech venture, a conservative dating app called The Right Stuff.
“He’s not just this tech guy,” Thiel biographer Max Chafkin said in an interview on Amanpour & Co. “This guy kinda helped create Silicon Valley as it exists today, but he’s had this really long history and decades-long career in conservative politics.”
Thiel made a name for himself at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio as the first openly gay man to give a speech and endorse then-candidate Donald Trump for president.
“I’m not a politician, but neither is Donald Trump. He is a builder, and it’s time to build America,” Thiel said.
Thiel’s blame him for the current political climate in the tech industry.
“It’s really that man you just heard, Peter Thiel, speaking at the RNC in 2016 who could be credited with inspiring the anti-Democratic, hyper-capitalist and unabashedly dangerous expansion of a now over-mighty and very tech industry,” MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan said.
When Thiel is not dabbling in politics, he’s focused on building Founder’s Fund, a venture capital firm in San Francisco that invests in Space X, Facebook, Airbnb and more.
Thiel’s personal interests include breakthrough technologies, such as Unity Biotechnology, a start-up that aims to “slow, halt, or reverse diseases of aging.” He also funds Life Extension, a research company he hopes will allow him to achieve a feat yet to be achieved by man: living forever.
