German-American tech billionaire Peter Thiel will step down from the board of investors of Facebook Meta, the company announced in a statement. It would be the end of a seventeen year old long association for the man known to shape the ethos of Mark Zuckerberg during the early days of Facebook.

Under Peter’s tutelage, the company has since touched $1 trillion in market cap and generated more than $117 billion in revenue in 2021. Yet his tenure was full of controversies ranging from his belief in far-right politics and to his continuous support to Donald Trump’s regime.

Thiel’s departure will also mark the end of one of the most productive and equally lambasted partnerships between a Chief Executive Officer and an investor in all of business.

“Peter is truly an original thinker who can bring your hardest problems and get unique suggestions. He has served on our board for almost two decades, and we’ve always known that at some point he would devote his time to other interests.” Zuckerberg said in a statement to Bloomberg.

Thiel raised his wealth through the online payments company PayPal, co-founded in 1998 with Elon Musk and has invested in Airbnb, Affirm, Stripe and SpaceX, among others. He also co-founded Palantir Technologies and Founders Fund, the former known to develop softwares used by U.S Military.

Commenting on his announcement, Peter Thiel said in a statement from various sources,"Mark Zuckerberg's intelligence, energy, and conscientiousness are tremendous. His talents will serve Meta well as he leads the company into a new era,".

Though Mark Zuckerberg has been reported to say that they've always known that at some point he would be devoting his time to other interests, there hasn’t been any information regarding Peter Thiel’s future other than his continued support to Republican campaigns. 

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