Business
A macro hedge fund that shrank, a venture firm that hit, and an early check to Musk
RECORD / AT A GLANCE
Trade press and filings
Both the hedge-fund losses and the venture wins are documented. He is not a guaranteed genius or a fraud; his record has both.
THE EVENTS / THE INVESTIGATION / THE STORY
2002
He launches a global macro hedge fund.
2005
The venture firm starts.
2007
Clarium reaches about $7 billion.
Aug 2008
Founders Fund invests $20 million; partner Luke Nosek joins SpaceX’s board.
2010
Clarium ends a third losing year.
READ THE FILE
The hedge fund record.
An early backer of Musk’s rocket company.
Open an article for its evidence, labeled AI assessment and numbered sources. Read the complete static edition ↗
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE
2 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.
Clarium went from about $7 billion in 2007 to about $500 million by 2011.
Who says it: Reporting.
Founders Fund put in $20 million in 2008 when SpaceX needed money; a NASA contract that December mattered more.
Who says it: Fans of both.
OPEN THE RECORD
Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.
Trade press: Clarium peaked at about $7 billion in 2007 and had shrunk to about $500 million, mostly his own money, after three losing years.
Contemporaneous trade report of the investment.
NASA’s own history of the program that funded SpaceX’s cargo work.
His own firm’s biography. Self-description; check dates elsewhere.
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The hedge fund record.
Institutional Investor reported in February 2011 that Clarium, launched in 2002, had about $7 billion at its 2007 peak but had shrunk to a reported $500 million, mostly Thiel’s own money, after three years of losses ending with a 23 percent drop in 2010. [1]
What we can’t tell you. Hedge-fund returns are private; figures are as reported.
Trade press: Clarium peaked at about $7 billion in 2007 and had shrunk to about $500 million, mostly his own money, after three losing years.
An early backer of Musk’s rocket company.
In August 2008, after SpaceX’s early Falcon 1 failures, Founders Fund invested $20 million and partner Luke Nosek, a PayPal co-founder, joined the board. Months later NASA awarded SpaceX a cargo contract that secured its future. [1][2]
What we can’t tell you. The size of Founders Fund’s later stake is not public.
Contemporaneous trade report of the investment.
NASA’s own history of the program that funded SpaceX’s cargo work.
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