February 16, 2005

Peter Thiel on Internet Companies

Peter Thiel is negative on internet company fundamentals for at last a year. Mr. Thiel was the CEO and co-founder of PayPal and was bearish at the start this year, which turned out to be correct. Check out this video interview, interesting stuff. From his fund's website:

Mr. Thiel is Clarium's President and the Chairman of the firm's Investment Committee, which oversees the firm's research, investment, and trading strategies. Before starting Clarium, Mr. Thiel served as Chairman and CEO of PayPal, Inc., an Internet company he co-founded in December 1998 and that was acquired by eBay Inc. for $1.5 billion in October 2002. Prior to founding PayPal, Mr. Thiel ran Thiel Capital Management LLC, the Menlo Park-based predecessor to Clarium, which started with $1 million under management in the fall of 1996. Mr. Thiel began his financial career as a derivatives trader at CS Financial Products, after he practiced securities law at Sullivan & Cromwell. In addition to managing Clarium, Mr. Thiel is active in a variety of philanthropic and educational pursuits; he sits on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Research Institute and on the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School. Mr. Thiel received a BA in Philosophy from Stanford University and a JD from Stanford Law School.