The PayPal Mafia
Many may not be aware of the close ties between PayPal’s early employees, who came to be known as the “PayPal Mafia,” and big names in the tech industry today. As reported by Insider, “The payments company — launched as Confinity in 1998 by Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, and Luke Nosek — grew to become a Silicon Valley giant.
It was acquired by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion in a deal that altered Silicon Valley history and helped spawn the careers of some of tech’s most famous names.”9 This includes:10
- Palantir — This data analytics software company was founded by Thiel in 2003; the idea came from his experiences with credit card fraud at PayPal.
- Affirm — This company allows people shopping online to pay for products over time using an instant line of credit. It was founded in 2013 by Max Levchin, one of PayPal’s cofounders.
- YouTube — YouTube founders Steve Chen and Chad Hurley worked at PayPal during its early days.
- SpaceX — Elon Musk’s banking company X.com merged with Thiel’s company Confinity to become PayPal in 2001. Not only is Musk a former PayPal CEO, but he made $165 million when PayPal sold, which was used to start SpaceX.
- LinkedIn — LinkedIn’s founder, Reid Hoffman, was a former executive vice president at PayPal.
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