Thiel is an early investor and board member of Facebook Inc FB, and an early investor Airbnb, SpaceX, Lyft and several others. He also happens to be Republican nominee Donald Trump's "most unlikely supporter."
Thiel is scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention on Thursday. According to Bloomberg's sources, Thiel will talk about Trump's economic qualifications and is expected to be the first speaker to publicly knowledge his homosexuality at a Republican convention.
Thiel is among a small handful of Silicon Valley executives who lend their support to the billionaire real estate mogul and entrepreneur. His Silicon Valley tech peers have been loud and vocal in opposing a Trump presidency and even wrote an open letter voicing their opposition.
Bloomberg spoke with four of Thiel's friends and colleagues who described his support of Trump as being consistent with his entrepreneurial instincts. The publication added, "He loves disruption, in the Silicon Valley sense of 'creative destruction,' as opposed to the usual connotation of 'making things worse.'"
On the other hand, Garrett Johnson, a fellow tech executive, told Bloomberg that Thiel's support of Trump isn't "completely out of character" and many companies in Thiel's portfolio would benefit from a Trump presidency that would make it easier for businesses to grow.
For example, SpaceX, the space exploration company that Thiel has been backing since 2008, is being blocked by the aerospace cartels. Other businesses in Thiel's portfolio are similarly operating in an environment dominated by its much larger peers and operating in a highly regulated environment.
"Donald Trump is saying the system is rigged," Johnson told Bloomberg — a statement which may best explain why Trump's supporters stand in the tens of millions.
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