| Hi, it’s Lizette in San Francisco. Peter Thiel’s investments in people appear to be paying off just like his venture capital support for startups. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Billionaire Frank McCourt has a plan to buy TikTok
• Startups in Southeast Asia are missing out on the region’s AI boom
• The Teamsters have called a strike to disrupt operations at Amazon warehouses Peter Thiel is known for making long-term, unorthodox bets that sometimes pay off big. The 57-year-old co-founded defense company Palantir Technologies Inc., now worth more than Lockheed Martin Corp., at a time when Silicon Valley had essentially abandoned the defense industry and artificial intelligence was still called machine learning. He endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2016 when tech insiders were still uniformly blue and VCs concerned about regulations and capital gains taxes had yet to swap their fleece vests for MAGA hats. But during the recent presidential election, Thiel sat on the sidelines. He said he wanted to avoid making his family a target again and felt it would be wasted effort because the contest wasn’t going to be close. “I am still very strongly pro-Trump, pro-JD,” he said during a September interview at a Los Angeles conference, referring to JD Vance, then Trump’s vice presidential running mate. “I’ve decided not to donate any money politically, but I am supporting them in every other way possible.” Years of investing not just money, but time into relationships with Trump, Vance and others with newfound power in Washington might keep Thiel relevant during this administration despite not spending a dime. Trump this month tapped Jacob Helberg, previously senior adviser to Palantir Chief Executive Officer Alex Karp, to be the State Department’s top economic policy and trade official. Helberg, who built a reputation sounding the alarm about China’s tech capabilities, will represent American business interests abroad, including startups developing critical technologies like AI and space. As the husband of Keith Rabois, an early executive at PayPal in the early 2000s with Thiel, Helberg had a ringside seat for the first wave of Silicon Valley disruptors who have watched their startup bets pay off. They have also struck up friendships with the new generation of young founders including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, who officiated at Helberg’s wedding, and Delian Asparouhov, a co-founder of Varda Space Industries Inc. and partner at Thiel’s Founders Fund. Asparouhov “drove like a madman” to Helberg’s Miami home to congratulate him personally on the appointment, according to a post on X featuring a picture of him hugging Helberg and Rabois. Thiel also has a deep relationship with Jim O’Neill, Trump’s pick for deputy secretary of Health and Human Services. O’Neill, who is set to work as second-in-command overseeing all operations, served at the agency for five years during the Bush administration before leaving to work for Thiel in 2008. O’Neill has worked for Thiel ever since, first at his hedge fund Clarium Capital Management, then as CEO of Thiel’s personal foundation and as co-founder of the Thiel Fellowship. O’Neill also served as a managing director at Thiel’s venture firm Mithril Capital where he crossed paths with Vance, a young Marine and Yale Law School graduate Thiel was working to develop into a venture investor. While at Mithril, Vance researched startups for the firm to invest in, but didn't lead any major deals. He left the firm to promote his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, then joined venture firm Revolution. There, Vance made early investments in weapons maker Anduril Industries Inc. and other startups. Vance, who like Thiel shares a love for J.R.R. Tolkien and references to The Lord of the Rings, then co-founded a venture firm named Narya with a former Mithril colleague before deciding to run in 2022 for the US Senate in Ohio. Thiel was Vance’s biggest supporter, donating $15 million to the campaign and making the race the most expensive in state history. And just like initially investing in promising startups, Thiel’s early connections with so many promising people could pay off. Some, like Palantir co-founder and venture investor Joe Lonsdale who helped elect Trump, believe Vance could win the Republican presidential nomination in 2028. “He’d be a transformational guy,” Lonsdale told Bloomberg this fall of the 40-year-old vice president-elect. “I’d love to work closely with someone of my generation (who is) more intelligent, more data-driven.”—Lizette Chapman In the past four years, drug overdoses driven by fentanyl have become one of the leading causes of death among teens in the US. Now 64 families are suing Snap, alleging that the company’s Snapchat app helped fuel the epidemic. The lawsuit could change the internet as we know it. Intel has a short list of suitors for its Altera programmable chip unit. North Korean-linked hackers stole a record $1.3 billion in cryptocurrency this year. Apple is close to winning approval from Indonesia to end its ban on the iPhone 16. | 
