How Peter Thiel chooses investments
Peter Thiel is a well-known figure in business circles and a successful financier. His most famous project is the payment system PayPal, which he co-founded with Max Levchin.
Thiel was born in Germany in 1967, but his family soon moved to the United States. He studied law and philosophy of art at Stanford University. At the same time, the young man has always been interested in technology and finance.
His career began after graduation at the Court of Appeals, where Thiel worked as a law clerk. However, after a year in this position, Peter decided to change direction and became a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell.
In 1993, the young man worked as a trader with a central bank, Credit Suisse. His career did not last long here, however, as a big mistake forced Thiel to quit.
The turning point in Peter’s professional life was a partnership with Max Levchin, with whom he founded the PayPal payment system in 1996. They later sold their development to eBay for USD 1.5 billion. Thiel’s share was around USD 55 million.
Despite his success, Peter was not content to rest on his laurels. In 1998, he founded the hedge fund Clarium Capital, worth USD 8 billion before the 2008 crisis. Today, the firm’s capital stands at around USD 350 million. In 2004, the American financier also invested in the fledgling Facebook in exchange for 10% of its shares. Some time later, he sold part of his stake, and the rest allowed him to take a seat on the board of directors of what is now Meta Corporation. Thiel is also the founder of several companies, including Palantir and the Mithril Foundation. As of mid-2023, Thiel’s net worth was worth USD 9.7 billion.
Peter Thiel’s Investment Strategy
Peter’s investment focus is on technology start-ups. He believes that innovation opens up a wide range of business opportunities and enables a qualitative change in the way the world works. The Thiel investment strategy follows several principles:
– focus on the long term rather than making a quick profit;
– investing in early-stage start-ups to maximise future profits;
– portfolio diversification to reduce the risk of loss.
Thiel uses the classic investing method – investing in promising projects with great potential. He is not interested in the stock market but likes to find promising technology start-ups and become their first investor.
