Photo: Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Peter Thiel is one of those figures I find impossible to dismiss even when I disagree with him. A Stanford-trained chess player who co-founded PayPal and Palantir and bankrolled Facebook before anyone else, he has spent his career shaping outcomes from behind the curtain rather than chasing the spotlight. What interests me most is his contrarian instinct, the willingness to bet against consensus and be right often enough to matter. He is deeply polarizing, and I think that is the point. Whatever you make of his politics, his way of thinking is not ordinary, and that alone makes him worth understanding rather than caricaturing.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Peter Thiel
- Name (Japanese)
- ピーター・ティール
- Reading
- ぴーたー・てぃーる
- Born
- October 11, 1967 (age 58)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Goat
- Origin
- Frankfurt, Darmstadt Government Region, Germany
- Occupation
- financier / computer scientist / banker / entrepreneur / chess player
2. Background
- High school
- San Mateo High School
- University
- Stanford University
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | The Stanford Review | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Peter Thiel born?
Born October 11, 1967 (age 58).
Where is Peter Thiel from?
Peter Thiel is from Frankfurt, Darmstadt Government Region, Germany.
What does Peter Thiel do?
Peter Thiel works as financier, computer scientist, banker, entrepreneur, chess player.
What is Peter Thiel known for?
Notable works include The Stanford Review.
Financier — see all → · Computer scientist — see all → · More people from Germany →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.