PETER THIEL

Founder

Thiel Capital

Peter Thiel is the founder of Thiel Capital, a Northern California investment firm that is relocating to Los Angeles. The former Silicon Valley entrepreneur co-founded Pay Pal Holdings and was an investor in dozens of startup companies including LinkedIn and Yelp. He was the first outside investor in Facebook Inc.; he paid $500,000 for a 10 percent stake in 2004, which turned into more than $1 billion. He also has an estimated 10-percent stake in Palantir Technologies Inc., a Palo Alto-based big-data firm he co-founded in 2004, which has been valued at $10 billion. Thiel made news when the conservative venture capitalist announced he was moving his company to Los Angeles because he was frustrated with Silicon Valley’s liberal politics. His Thiel Foundation also is moving to Southern California. Thiel has an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion and is No. 29 on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s list of Wealthiest Angelenos.