"Thiel makes me sick!" read the note from Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton. His oddly personal declaration was prompted by a brief in the New York Post about former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel's success as a hedge-fund manager. Thiel will make an estimated $500 million this year running Clarium Capital, a hedge fund. (We reported this a few weeks ago, boss.) It hit me hard: Could Denton actually be jealous of Thiel?
Known best in the Valley for co-founding PayPal and serving on the board of highly-valued Facebook, on Wall Street Thiel is becoming better known as a hedge-fund wunderkind — Clarium Capital, the fund Thiel manages, is well past $3 billion may have already hit the $6 billion mark. The fund's take for taking care of all that business? $500 million by the end of the year, according to estimates by 1440 Wall Street. But then you need that kind of money for retirement if you plan to live forever on a man-made island. (Photo by David Orban)
Francisco worked for as a reporter for MarketWatch when it was part-owned by CBS, and also worked as a business anchor for San Francisco's KPIX, which is wholly owned by parent network CBS. But that was before an article by CNET News.com reporter Greg Sandoval exposed her ownership stake in the online video startup focused on "innovators" and her financial relationship with Clarium Capital's Peter Thiel, a Vator.tv investor. Sandoval called into question her journalistic independence. Francisco resigned from MarketWatch, now owned by Dow Jones.
In its latest list of billionaire bachelors, Forbes lists Facebook investor and hedge fund Midas Peter Thiel as "single." Technically true, I'll give the magazine's factchecker that much, if it means "confirmed bachelor." Thanks to California's marriage laws, he doesn't have much choice in the matter. In fact, I hear Thiel is getting less single every day. One tipster close to his hedge fund, Clarium Capital, shares this rumor: that Thiel may have hired his boyfriend, Matt Danzeisen, away from BlackRock Securities, thereby discarding plans to relocate the fund's headquarters to New York. Aside from being convenient for the pair, it would seem like a good career move for Danzeisen.
Want to work for Peter Thiel, the Facebook board member, hot-shot venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager? Thiel's personal assistant at Clarium Capital, Robertson George Morrow III — call him Trey — is sending around an email looking for the "right kind of conservative" to give away Thiel's money from his New York offices. Thiel's targeting four areas:
Why on earth is Silicon Valley's fastest-rising venture capitalist moving to New York? In the Valley, Peter Thiel is best known for his prescient investment in Facebook. His $500,000 grubstake is now worth $750 million on paper. And his Founders Fund may well revolutionize the venture-capital industry. But in real cash money, Thiel has made far more from Clarium Capital, the hedge fund he's operated since selling PayPal to eBay in 2002.
