Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel donated approximately $1.7 million to Republican candidates and PACs during the 2024 election cycle, including contributions to various GOP Senate candidates and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Speaking at the New Criterion Gala, Thiel attacked diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives by comparing them to the Chinese Communist Party. He stated 'It would be healthier that, whenever someone mentions DEI, you just think CCP' and called diversity initiatives 'fundamentally reactionary.' This built on his 1995 book 'The Diversity Myth' co-authored with David Sacks.

Peter Thiel donated $15 million to support JD Vance's successful 2022 Ohio Senate campaign through the Protect Ohio Values PAC. Vance later became Trump's 2024 running mate and Vice President. Thiel's investment in Vance represents one of the most consequential political donations in recent history.

Thiel donated $1.25 million to support Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, including contributions to the Make America Number 1 Super PAC. This made him one of the largest tech donors to Trump's first presidential bid.

Thiel became the first openly gay speaker to address the Republican National Convention, delivering a prime-time endorsement of Donald Trump. He declared 'I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a Republican. But most of all I am proud to be an American.' The speech marked a high-profile tech industry endorsement of Trump.

Peter Thiel secretly funded Hulk Hogan's invasion of privacy lawsuit against Gawker Media, which resulted in a $140 million verdict and Gawker's bankruptcy in 2016. Thiel funded the case in retaliation for Gawker's 2007 article outing him as gay. He spent approximately $10 million funding various lawsuits against Gawker before the Hogan verdict.

In June 2014, Peter Thiel awarded a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship (paid over two years) to Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum. The Thiel Fellowship, announced in 2010, provides funding to young entrepreneurs to skip college and pursue innovative projects. Buterin used this support to develop Ethereum, which became the second-largest cryptocurrency and a foundational platform for decentralized applications and smart contracts. Ethereum is open-source technology.

In May 2013, Founders Fund (Thiel's VC firm) led a $2 million funding round in BitPay, one of the earliest Bitcoin payment processing companies. This was an early institutional bet on cryptocurrency infrastructure when Bitcoin traded around $100. Thiel's libertarian philosophy aligned with Bitcoin's vision of currency free from government control - he had previously stated PayPal's original goal was to 'free currency from government intervention.'

In 2011, Peter Thiel was granted New Zealand citizenship despite spending only 12 days in the country over the prior five years, far short of the required 1,350 days. Internal Affairs approved his application under a 'public interest' provision citing his investments and a $1M earthquake donation. Thiel stated he would continue residing in the US. The controversy, revealed publicly in 2017, raised questions about preferential treatment for billionaires. Former Minister Peter Dunne said there were 'no reasonable grounds' for granting the citizenship.

In 2010, Peter Thiel established the Thiel Fellowship through the Thiel Foundation, offering $100,000 over two years (later raised to $200,000) to 20 people under age 23 to leave college and pursue entrepreneurial ventures. The program has produced notable alumni including Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum), Dylan Field (Figma), and Lucy Guo (Scale AI), generating over $750 billion in value. While praised for supporting unconventional talent, it was also criticized by some educators.

In his April 2009 Cato Unbound essay "The Education of a Libertarian," Peter Thiel wrote that he "no longer believed that freedom and democracy are compatible." He also stated that the extension of voting rights to women made capitalist democracy an "oxymoron," arguing that welfare beneficiaries and women generally favor redistributive policies. The essay advocated for escape from politics through cyberspace, outer space, and seasteading.

Peter Thiel provided approximately $1.7 million in funding to the Seasteading Institute between 2008-2011, including an initial $500K pledge in April 2008. The institute's mission was to 'establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation with diverse social, political, and legal systems' - essentially creating societies outside the reach of democratic governments. Thiel served on the board until 2011. He later expressed skepticism about the engineering feasibility in 2017.

Peter Thiel co-founded Palantir Technologies in 2003, which became a major provider of surveillance and data analytics tools to US government agencies including ICE, the Department of Defense, and intelligence agencies. Palantir built the Investigative Case Management system used by ICE to track immigrants, and its FALCON database was used in immigration raids. Federal contracts grew from $4.4M in 2009 to $970.5M in 2025. Thiel remains a board member and major shareholder.