Peter Thiel

President, Clarium Capital Management

Peter Thiel is an American entrepreneur, hedge fund manager and venture capitalist. He is Clarium’s President and the Chairman of the firm’s investment committee, which oversees the firm’s research, investment, and trading strategies. Before starting Clarium, Peter served as Chairman and CEO of PayPal, an Internet company he co-founded in December 1998 and was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in October 2002.

Prior to founding PayPal, Peter ran Thiel Capital Management , the predecessor to Clarium, which started with $1 million under management in 1996. Peter began his financial career as a derivatives trader at CS Financial Products, after practicing securities law at Sullivan & Cromwell.

In addition to managing Clarium, Peter is active in a variety of philanthropic and educational pursuits; he sits on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Research Institute, the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School, and is an adviser to the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Peter received a BA in Philosophy from Stanford University and a JD from Stanford Law School. He is self-described libertarian and a minority investor in Big Think.

Everything Videos Articles

Peter Thiel: What Happened to Innovation?

Peter Thiel delivers the keynote address at the 2012 Nantucket Project, arguing that the U.S, is resting on its laurels, and no longer innovating.

How to End the Google Monopoly

Companies that will win at search are those that successfully deal with the problem of fixed costs, said Thiel in his keynote address at Big Think’s Farsight 2011 forum.

Who Is Eduardo Saverin?

Hollywood caricatures capitalism as a zero-sum game. But all of Facebook’s stakeholders have done extraordinarily well—including Eduardo Saverin.

College Debt Limits Innovative Risk-Taking

Technological innovation requires risk and sacrifice, which may be very hard to do if you have an enormous debt burden to try to repay.

Why Young People Should Think Beyond Professional Tracks

In this Summer School for the Real World feature, PayPal founder Peter Thiel says people can get locked into rigid tracks too early, preventing them from developing their interests and […]

Peter Thiel: Today, Silicon Valley; Tomorrow, the Atlantic

California is still the best place for tech companies to do business. But colonies on offshore platforms might one day become our centers of innovation.

Big Think Interview With Peter Thiel

A conversation with the venture capitalist.

The Developing World Copies Our Technologies

During the next 20 years, the plan for China and India is basically to catch up to the U.S.—to get 19th century plumbing and 20th century railroads. That is not […]

Government Regulation Stifles Innovation

There has been lots of innovation recently in areas without regulation—heavily regulated fields like transportation, health care, and energy have been much slower to progress.

Does the Free Market Encourage Long-Term Innovation?

The venture capitalist agrees with Bill Gates that the free market often fails to encourage long-term innovation. But governments are not the solution.

There Will Not Be Another Bailout

Dubai’s current situation shows us that we are quickly shifting from an inflationary toward a deflationary political world, says Peter Thiel, one with much less tolerance the second time around.

Baby Boomers: The Dumbest Generation?

How did everyone fail to recognize an $8 trillion housing bubble? Peter Thiel weighs in on what happened, and why he sees the next 20 years as crucial.

The Misplaced Regulatory Focus on Hedge Funds

Peter Thiel explains that the real problem lies with hidden leverage.

Keynesian Economics Will Be Dead

Peter Thiel sees John Maynard Keynes as his economic villain. He explains why the current financial crisis was caused by short-run thinking.

Policy Makers: “Living in the Dark Ages”

The $700 billion bailout of the financial industry would never have been offered to Internet companies during the tech bubble bust—and that is problematic, says Peter Thiel.

Peter Thiel’s four theories on the bubble and bust economy

Peter Thiel articulates the divergent perspectives on what brought the U.S. economy to the brink.

Peter Thiel on whether the United State is the next Japan

Peter Thiel on whether the United State is the next Japan.

How Peter Thiel foresaw the economic crisis

Peter Thiel explains the lessons learned from the burst of the technology bubble.

Peter Thiel on what the decline of hedge funds means for Main Street

Peter Thiel on what the decline of hedge funds means for Main Street.

Peter Thiel on the 25-year history of economic bubbles

Peter Thiel provides full context for the current economic crisis.

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