Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel honoured with Axel Springer Award
Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel honoured with Axel Springer Award
Chris PriceFri, July 17, 2026 at 4:56 PM UTC
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Peter Thiel co-founded Palantir, which is one of the world’s most valuable companies, valued at $322bn - VCG/Jose Image
Peter Thiel is to receive the 2026 Axel Springer Award for shaping digital transformation.
The entrepreneur and co-founder of Palantir, the defence technology giant, will be given the prize, which recognises the world’s entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders.
Mr Thiel was a co-founder of PayPal in 1998 and its chief executive until its sale to eBay in 2002 for $1.5bn (£1.11bn).
The award celebrates how he helped lay the foundations for global digital payments.
Mr Thiel, 58, was the first outside investor in Facebook. As a co-founder of Palantir, he has built one of the world’s most valuable companies, worth $322bn.
The German-American entrepreneur and Stanford University graduate has served as the tech giant’s chairman since 2003.
The software company was awarded a £330m contract to run the NHS Federated Data Platform in 2023.
Mr Thiel has backed numerous companies across industries ranging from artificial intelligence and biotechnology to space exploration through his venture capital firm, Founders Fund, which he launched in 2005.
‘He has inspired generations’
Mathias Döpfner, chief executive of Axel Springer, said: “Peter Thiel is one of the rare entrepreneurs who does not merely found or finance companies but helps determine the direction of technological development.
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“His ability to think long-term, argue against consensus, and consistently bet on innovation has inspired generations of founders. He reminds us that progress requires courage and nonconformism.”
Mr Thiel joins a long list of previous winners of the Axel Springer Award. The list includes Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, and Sam Altman of OpenAI have also been honoured with the award.
Mr Thiel has faced criticism for his contributions to public debate on innovation, freedom, and the future of Western societies.
Last year, he drew scrutiny after hosting a series of lectures in San Francisco philosophising about the Antichrist.
A discussion featuring him as part of the Vienna Festival last month was cancelled following protests.
Mr Thiel, who was awarded the Frank Schirrmacher Prize in 2021, will receive the Axel Springer Award at an event in Berlin on Sept 24, which will be livestreamed.
The programme will include a tribute by Bari Weiss, editor-in-chief of CBS News, as well as a conversation with Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal, about the early days of Silicon Valley.
The Axel Springer Award is an honorary award and does not include prize money.
Source: “AOL Money”
