31 May 2026 (Source: ChatGPT)
Peter Thiel was Facebook’s first outside investor.
The investment became one of the most successful in Silicon Valley history. By the time Facebook went public in 2012, Thiel had turned his initial $500,000 investment into over $1 billion through share sales. (CNN Money)
A fun detail: Thiel reportedly approved the investment very quickly after meeting Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. (youtube.com)
Did thiel sold shares?
Yes. Peter Thiel sold most of his Facebook shares over time.
Key points:
Even after selling, his original ~$500,000 investment generated returns exceeding $1 billion, making it one of the most successful venture investments ever.
FB valuation y/y since founded (ChatGPT Private)
Facebook’s valuation grew extremely fast even before it went public.
| Year | Estimated Valuation |
|---|---|
| 2004 (founded) | Essentially $0–$5M |
| 2005 | ~$100M (Wikipedia) |
| 2006 | ~$500M–$1B (Wikipedia) |
| 2007 | ~$15B (Microsoft investment) (Wikipedia) |
| 2009 | ~$10B–$15B (secondary market) (Wikipedia) |
| 2010 | ~$23B–$41B (Wikipedia) |
| 2011 | ~$50B–$100B private-market estimates (arXiv) |
| 2012 IPO | $104B (HISTORY) |
| 2014 | $200B+ market cap ([RT International][4]) |
| 2017 | $500B+ market cap ([Axios][5]) |
| 2021 peak | ~$1T+ market cap (Meta) |
| 2026 | Roughly $1.8–2.0T+ market cap (Meta) |
A rough visualization:
2004 $0
2007 $15B
2012 $104B
2014 $200B
2017 $500B
2021 $1T
2026 ~$2T
One of the most famous jumps was Microsoft’s 2007 investment of $240 million for a 1.6% stake, which implied a valuation of about $15 billion for a company that was only 3 years old. (Wikipedia)
Today that 1.6% stake would theoretically be worth tens of billions of dollars.