COMPLETE STATIC READING EDITION

Clarium, Founders Fund and the SpaceX bet

A macro hedge fund that shrank, a venture firm that hit, and an early check to Musk

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Clarium’s rise and fall

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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.

The sources

  1. Institutional Investor: “Peter Thiel Reboots”, 28 February 2011 ↗

    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.

The SpaceX investment

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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.

The sources

  1. Via Satellite: SpaceX receives $20 million Founders Fund investment, 5 August 2008 ↗

    Contemporaneous trade report of the investment.

  2. NASA: Commercial Orbital Transportation Services history, 2014 (PDF) ↗

    NASA’s own history of the program that funded SpaceX’s cargo work.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE

The claims, rated.

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