• peter thiel

    Billionaire Facebook investor's anti-immigrant heresy

    Insiders at Clarium Capital, the $5.3 billion hedge fund run by Facebook investor Peter Thiel, are buzzing about their boss's $1 million donation to NumbersUSA, an anti-immigrant group. The donation is an open secret within Clarium, and it has enraged several staff members who joined Clarium because they believed Thiel shared their libertarian ideals. When I asked Thiel if he'd made the donation, an underling passed on a nondenial saying the company didn't comment on "gossip and heresy." A typo — he meant to say "hearsay" — but a suggestive one. Thiel has fallen under the sway of Robertson "Rob" Morrow III, a Christian right-wing thinker who has personally donated to NumbersUSA, and persuaded Thiel to make his own, much larger donation. More »

    Feature

    11:20 AM on Fri Nov 14 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    6,749 views, 36 comments

    Most discussed zach: I think someone at Valleywag might be confusing anti-"immigrant" with the fact that organizations like NumbersUSA are working to stop more »

  • schemes

    Is Elon Musk aiming to take over Tesla?

    Tesla Motors, Silicon Valley's troubled electric carmaker, is still running on financial fumes, with $9 million or less in the bank. It's been widely misreported that the company has already raised $40 million. In fact, that's the amount it's hoping to raise, in the form of convertible debt, from current investors in a rights offering, which will take 30 days to complete. Musk made a fortune from PayPal, the online payments startup purchased by eBay, and other startups. He says he has enough money to take the entire round if other investors don't step up. And that may be exactly what he's hoping will happen. More »

    1:20 PM on Fri Nov 7 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    2,777 views, 9 comments

    Most discussed wiseleo: I would argue that Tesla is in a far better position that other automakers: 1. Fossil fuel vehicles will be extinct more »

  • peter thiel

    Clarium Capital's billion-dollar loss

    Remember Clarium Capital, the $7 billion hedge fund run by former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel? Oops: Make that the $5.2 billion hedge fund run by Thiel. The fund was down 18 percent in October alone. August was also a disastrous month, as Thiel's bets on the economy went sour. After running up 58 percent from January to June, it's now down 3 percent for the year. Thiel is also an investor in Facebook, but that doesn't seem like much of a hedge right now.

    9:00 AM on Fri Nov 7 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    1,254 views, 3 comments

    Latest by insidefb: down 3 percent isn't bad, compared to the general market! go peter! more »

  • rob morrow

    Peter Thiel underling backs anti-immigrant group

    A source within Clarium Capital, Facebook investor Peter Thiel's multibillion-dollar hedge fund, claims that Thiel has just donated $1 million to NumbersUSA, the largest anti-immigration group in the U.S. Another source denies that Thiel made the donation — but Rob Morrow, a principal at Clarium and close Thiel associate, has backed the group with a small donation of $1,000 or less. NumbersUSA likes to position itself as an "immigration reduction" organization; it seeks to roll back legal immigration limits to pre-1965 levels. Morrow's support of the cause is inevitably embarrassing for Thiel. More »

    5:20 PM on Wed Nov 5 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    2,566 views, 19 comments

    Most discussed Hey_mikey: Self hating gays are as common as oxygen. "Conservative" gays always need to find someone weaker to screw over. It's more »

  • crash this bash

    Party GOP-style with Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina

    We don't know if our tipster was drunk or if the event got relocated after we wrote about it, but Lead21's election-night viewing party, which we had heard was due to be held at the house of Facebook board member Peter Thiel, is now taking place at Jones, a sports bar and steakhouse in San Francisco near Thiel's Marina-district mansion. (The rationale for the locale: Jones has more televisions for watching the results.) Thiel is a major player in Lead21, and has hosted previous election-night parties for San Francisco's Republican minority, we're told, but he may skip this one because of his travel plans. Still, if you want to get a gander of guests of honor Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, the tech CEOs turned McCain advisors, show up at Jones starting at 5 p.m. The bar remains open to the public during the event, so you're not technically crashing. (Photo by AP/Dharapak)

    10:20 AM on Tue Nov 4 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    386 views, 2 comments

    Latest by Robert Barr: How uncomfortable does that look? more »

  • politics

    Party with Peter Thiel, Log Cabin Republican!

    "Where have Silicon Valley's Republicans gone?" laments CNET News writer Declan McCullagh. George W. Bush backer Tim Draper has switched to the Obama team. There are a few stalwarts: Former Valley CEOs Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina have campaigned for McCain. And the two are going to be special guests at an election-night party thrown by Lead21. The group, which describes itself as "an influential political organization formed by entrepreneurial business leaders," is coy about the location of the party. More »

    8:00 AM on Fri Oct 31 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    1,583 views, 12 comments

    Most discussed sample032: How should I vote (assuming I vote) on 8? On one hand, I believe in a small government and more »

  • clips

    Pot-kettle metaphor escapes Facebook backer Peter Thiel

    Peter Thiel, the fabulously successful (and successfully fabulous) hedge-fund manager and Facebook board member, was on Charlie Rose last Friday, Paul Kedrosky notes. The economic analysis is already dated, but the bit where Thiel stumbles over a simple metaphor for someone offering an insult that might well apply to the person uttering it. It's like he wanted to say "the pot is calling the kettle black," but worried that it might sound racist. Has the Bay Area really turned this arch Libertarian politically correct?

    1:00 PM on Tue Oct 14 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    953 views, 6 comments

    Most discussed FlakJack: If Thiel was trying to avoid the semblance of racism, he could have gone without making this statement: "I don't mean more »

  • max levchin

    Please don't post photos of my wedding to Slide

    Slide founder Max Levchin made longtime lover Nellie Minkova an honest woman on Saturday. The ceremony was held at San Francisco's St. Regis Hotel, and featured HotOrNot cofounder James Hong as best man, with fellow PayPal mafioso Peter Thiel another groomsman. Gracious enough for the couple to refuse gifts besides books and wine, considering how many zeros Levchin can count toward his (and now their) wealth. However, rather ironic that the bride and groom asked guests not to upload any pictures from the ceremonies online for "privacy" reasons. More »

    11:00 PM on Sun Sep 28 2008
    By Jackson West
    4,070 views, 10 comments

    Most discussed Shadowlayer: Wealth? wasnt he broke before slide? Does VC meant for Slide, not the founder, counts as personal wealth now? ¬_¬ more »

  • Forbes 400

    Zuckerberg's paper wealth puts him ahead of backer Peter Thiel on Forbes list

    Forbes is out with its annual list of the 400 Richest Americans again and thanks to Microsoft, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is on it at number 321 with an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion. What's kind of ridiculous is that according to the list, Zuckerberg has more money than his original backer, founder of the Clarium Capital hedge fund and PayPal, Peter Thiel. More »

    8:40 AM on Thu Sep 18 2008
    By Nicholas Carlson
    1,300 views, 5 comments

    Latest by Shadowlayer: The guy has what, 30% of the company? that means it has to sell for almost $5B to get that more »