- Peter Thiel, tech billionaire and conservative kingmaker, has amassed influence all over Washington.
- He's close to powerful elected and un-elected political players, like JD Vance and Vivek Ramaswamy.
- Palantir, a company Thiel co-founded, counts the US government as its biggest client.
In August 2021, a mystery buyer purchased a 10,000-square-foot home in Washington, DC. They made the $13 million purchase through Salona Village Holdings LLC, shielding their identity.
That mystery buyer was billionaire Peter Thiel, whose sprawling influence in Washington has grown in recent years. Between mentoring Vice President-elect JD Vance since his time at Yale Law School to running companies with millions in government contracts, Thiel has entrenched himself in the DC world in ways both seen and subtle.
Worth $14.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, the 57-year-old PayPal confounder was one of the first Silicon Valley leaders to espouse conservative views.
Here's a guide to his influence in Washington, which stretches far beyond the walls of his mansion.
A representative for Thiel did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
JD Vance
Thiel has mentored Vance since 2011.
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Thiel played a critical role in orchestrating Vance's rise to the top of Republican politics. The two first met in 2011, when Vance attended a talk Thiel gave at Yale Law School. In a magazine article written nearly a decade later, Vance called Thiel "a good friend" and said his speech was "the most significant moment of my time at Yale Law School."
After graduating from Yale, Vance became a principal at Thiel's VC firm, Mithril Capital. Their mentor-mentee relationship only grew stronger, with Thiel eventually investing heavily in Vance's own venture fund, Narya Capital, and writing a blurb for "Hillbilly Elegy." When Vance decided to pursue politics, Thiel remained by his side, pouring at least $15 million into his 2022 Senate campaign, according to OpenSecrets.
In 2021, Thiel introduced Trump and Vance at Mar-a-Lago, and remained invested in their relationship through the 2024 election. With repeated calls to President-Elect Donald Trump and persistent lobbying, Thiel played an important role in getting Vance on the ticket.
Elon Musk
Thiel and Musk merged their companies in 2000.
AP
Musk and Thiel merged their online banking companies in 2000, forming PayPal. Their relationship soured, though, when Thiel ousted Musk as CEO and eventually took over the role. Come 2008, relations had evidently thawed enough for Thiel to make a $20 million investment in SpaceX, one of Musk's companies. The investment was crucial to helping SpaceX recover from a failed rocket launch that same year.
After Trump won the 2024 election, Thiel credited Musk for making other Silicon Valley leaders feel comfortable supporting the president-elect. Musk is one of Trump's top advisors and soon-to-be co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Donald Trump
Thiel didn't donate to Trump in 2020 or 2024.
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In 2016, Thiel donated more than $1 million to Trump's presidential campaign. He had a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican National Convention and served as a go-between with Silicon Valley. Thiel said he was disappointed by Trump's first term and didn't donate in 2020 or 2024. Still, he predicted that Trump would win this year.
With Vance anointed as MAGA heir apparent, Thiel and Trump have a chance to rekindle their ties.
Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg relied on Thiel during the early days of Facebook.
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Mark Zuckerberg may not be a politician, but his influence in Washington runs deep. Between Facebook's role in free speech culture wars, the Federal Trade Commission's ongoing antitrust case against Meta, and Zuckerberg's rocky relationship with Trump, the tech leader is entrenched in the political conversation.
Thiel has a stake in Zuckerberg's involvement. He counts the Facebook founder among his mentees and was the site's first outside investor. Thiel sat on the board of Facebook and wielded great influence as its longest-serving member, but sparred with some of the company's more liberal employees, per the Washington Post. He ended up stepping down in 2022.
In 2019, Thiel, Zuckerberg, and Trump all had dinner at the White House, illustrating the strengthening ties between the tech world and Washington.
Sam Altman
Thiel was an early investor in OpenAI, Altman's company.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
Sam Altman, billionaire co-founder of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is another one of Thiel's mentees. Thiel offered advice and support throughout Altman's early career, eventually becoming an early investor in OpenAI.
Like other prominent tech companies, OpenAI is under federal scrutiny. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating if the company's investors were misguided after board members suddenly ousted Altman as CEO in 2023, the Journal reported.
Beyond the investigation, Altman is becoming more involved in Washington. In the summer of 2023, he began a lobbying campaign in Congress about the future of AI regulation. OpenAI has spent money trying to sway Washington and hired staff with political know-how, per CNBC. As AI policy is poised to become an even bigger political question, Altman's influence — and Thiel's, by proxy — may continue to grow.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Thiel invested in Ramaswamy's "anti-woke" investment fund.
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Biotech billionaire and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is set to co-lead DOGE.
Like Vance, Ramaswamy first met Thiel as a student at Yale Law School — he told PBS that it may have been at the very same speech that so impacted the vice president-elect. At the time, Ramaswamy attended an "intimate lunch seminar" Thiel hosted for a small group of students, per the New Yorker.
Eventually, Thiel threw his wealth behind Ramaswamy. In early 2022, Ramaswamy co-founded Strive Asset Management, an "anti-woke" investment fund, and Thiel was an early investor.
Palantir
The federal government is Palantir's biggest client.
Illustration by Piotr Swat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Thiel's Washington connections extend to his businesses, especially the data mining company Palantir that he co-founded in 2003. Palantir makes software to manage, analyze, and secure data, and its biggest client is the US federal government.
Federal government contracts helped build Palantir, which started out by partnering with defense and intelligence agencies. The company focuses on counterterrorism efforts and immigration enforcement. Some investors anticipate defense and immigration enforcement will see increased spending under a second Trump administration, meaning Palantir may get a boost.
Blake Masters
Blake Masters lost his Senate race, even after getting Thiel's help and Trump's endorsement.
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An ideological ally of Thiel and Vance, Blake Masters lost his bid for a Senate seat in Arizona to Sen. Mark Kelly, but nonetheless benefited from Thiel's money and support. A decade before running for the Senate in 2022, Masters took Thiel's lecture when he was a student at Stanford Law School. Enthralled by Thiel and the course, Masters posted his notes from the influential class on a website.
The two co-authored a book, and Masters served as chief investment officer at Thiel's investment firm and president of the Thiel Foundation. When Masters pivoted to politics, Thiel donated $13.5 million to Masters' 2022 campaign.
Other elected officials
Thiel has donated to other politicians, including a few Democrats.
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Though Thiel's most notable political contributions have gone to Vance, Masters, and Trump, he's donated to an array of other politicians and Republican causes. Among his beneficiaries are Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, according to OpenSecrets. He's also given to the Republican National Committee and other GOP-aligned groups.
Thiel isn't entirely partisan with his contributions, though. In 2014 and 2015, he gave at least $70,000 to Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California. Between 2011 and 2016, he also donated at least $7,800 toRep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat who represents parts of Silicon Valley, per OpenSecrets.