Schmidt vs Thiel

Alphabet (Google) and Palantir.

The differences

Forbes puts Peter Thiel about $1.9B ahead of Eric Schmidt.Forbes figures from 11 Oct 2026 and 9 Oct 2026.
Eric Schmidt: built it up. Peter Thiel: co-founded it.
Eric Schmidt is about 12 years older than Peter Thiel.
Eric Schmidt has held a public or government advisory role; Peter Thiel has none on record.

Put someone else on either side

Schmidt

Thiel

Net worth, Forbes: $38BForbes, 9 Oct 2026; $39.9BForbes, 11 Oct 2026
Net worth, Bloomberg: $58.9BBloomberg, 11 Oct 2026; Not stated
Forbes rank: No. 58Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026; No. 63Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026
Billionaire since: Not stated; Not stated

How it started: Built it upNot a founder: joined Google as board chairman in March 2001, then CEO from 2001 to 2011; his fortune is mostly the Alphabet stock he acquired there; Co-founded itCo-founded PayPal in 1998 and Palantir in 2003; invested $500,000 in Facebook in 2004
Main source: Alphabet stockBloomberg: 'The majority of Eric Schmidt's fortune is derived from a 1% economic interest in Alphabet'; Palantir stock, Founders Fund and other investmentsBloomberg: seeded by investments including Facebook and PayPal; Forbes lists 'Facebook, investments'
Companies: Alphabet (Google), Relativity SpaceAlphabet (Google): None; former CEO and chairman; Relativity Space: CEO and executive chairman; Palantir, Founders FundPalantir: Co-founder and chairman; Founders Fund: Partner
Biggest stake: Alphabet (Google)1% owned; Founders Fund42.5% owned

Born: 27 Apr 1955Washington, D.C., United States; 11 Oct 1967Frankfurt am Main, West Germany
Country: United StatesLives in Atherton, California, United States; United StatesLives in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Education: Graduate degreeBS electrical engineering, Princeton (1976); MS (1979) and PhD (1982) in computer science, University of California, Berkeley; Graduate degreeJD, Stanford Law School (1992); BA, Stanford University (1989)
Parents: Grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia, where his father Wilson Schmidt was a professor of economics at Virginia Tech; Father was a chemical engineer whose work moved the family from Ohio to South West Africa before they settled in Foster City, California

Giving Pledge: Not a signer; Not a signer
Foundation: Schmidt Family FoundationWith his wife Wendy he also founded Schmidt Ocean Institute, Schmidt Futures (2017) and Schmidt Sciences (2024); Thiel FoundationRuns the Thiel Fellowship
Lifetime giving: $2BForbes, date not stated. Forbes: Wendy Schmidt 'has helped direct more than $2 billion in philanthropy alongside her husband Eric'; a joint figure, undated; Not stated

Role now: Runs the companyCEO and executive chairman of Relativity Space; Chair of the boardChairman of Palantir; partner at Founders Fund; president of Thiel Capital
Successor: Larry Page took back the Google CEO job from him in 2011No Schmidt family member is named in a Google executive role; Not stated
Public office: Member, President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology; Chairman, Defense Innovation Board (US Department of Defense); Chairman, US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence; Member, NASA National Space Council User Advisory Group2009-2017; 2016-2020; three years, including 2020; two years, including 2020; None found
Legal record: None found; 2018: US Bankruptcy Court; 2022: Delaware Court of ChanceryThe bankruptcy court approved a settlement between him and Gawker Media's estate, ending litigation with the publisher whose bankruptcy followed a privacy suit he had funded. The court approved a settlement of a shareholder class action against him and Palantir's other co-founders over their founder voting shares, and dismissed the case with prejudice.