Boardroom Talk: Meet Peter Thiel, ten-bagger Palantir's chairman, investing maven, tech genius

The FT’s Tech Tonic profiles Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder, Palantir chair, and mentor to US VP JD Vance, a visionary with Southern African roots.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here..Watch here.By Alec Hogg.In this week’s Premium-only exclusive podcast (watch above), the FT’s Tech Tonic team takes an in-depth look at a figure deeply admired by the BizNews community: Peter Andreas Thiel, a visionary who continues to redefine business, politics, and innovation. Peter Thiel’s legacy is extraordinary. He was one of Elon Musk’s partners at PayPal, one of the earliest investors in SpaceX and Facebook; and a bold backer of Donald Trump when he was a 100/1 longshot. He’s also the co-founder of Palantir, which he chairs, a stock that’s delivered a fifteen-fold return for the BizNews model portfolios. Thiel’s connection to our region runs deep. Born in Germany, he spent part of his childhood in Namibia, where father Klaus, a chemical engineer, worked as a project manager in constructing of Rio Tinto’s Rossing Uranium Mine near Swakopmund. At 57, this committed Christian and brilliant thinker is at the peak of his influence, with even more to come. - he also happens to be the mentor to Trump’s heir apparent, JD Vance, the youthful US Vice President. A riveting podcast. Specially sourced for for Premium members. .You can watch all of the BizNewsTV Members Only content by clicking here.

Boardroom Talk: Meet Peter Thiel, ten-bagger Palantir's chairman, investing maven, tech genius

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