Peter Thiel

Founder

Thiel Capital

THE LATEST: Thiel's data mining and analytics firm, Palantir, received one of the biggest government contracts issued to a Silicon Valley company to assist in combating Covid-19. The $17.3 million contract was signed in April with a subsidiary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

BACKGROUND: In addition to co-founding PayPal Holdings, Thiel has invested in many of Silicon Valley's most successful startups, including LinkedIn and Yelp. He was the first outside investor in Facebook Inc. and paid $500, 000 for a 10% stake in the company in 2004. In 2011, Thiel started the Thiel Fellowship, which gives young students $100, 000 to pursue creative ideas rather than taking a more traditional route of attending college. Thiel has an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion and was No. 29 on the Los Angeles Business Journal&s 2019 list of Wealthiest Angelenos.

YEARS ON THE LA500: 3

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