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Comment by natly | Hacker News Reader

I doubt Thiel is some kind of central master mind behind all this. Musk seems quite independently driven and probably found this a necessary move with only minor chats with thiel (if any). I'm not sure Thiel has any more or less influence than Sam Altman or Paul Graham.

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If someone makes you rich and successful with their business advice and you work with them for multiple years, would you ignore their phone call in the future and ignore their other suggestions? It’s not about being a master mind, there is soft power in play, humans are social animals.

If somebody truly creates value out of thin air, then they deserve to be heard.

I agree. This is why labor unions need to be heard!

Heard yes, protected from firing? Not necessarily.

Thiel (+ the rest of the board) fired Musk from his CEO position at PayPal.

I'm pretty sure Musk would ignore any phone calls from Thiel.

Furthermore, Thiel didn't make Musk rich. When PayPal was sold to eBay Musk was the single largest shareholder of PayPal, which should tell you who was the most responsible for PayPal's success.

That decision to oust him made Musk (one of the largest shareholders as you mention) rich when ebay purchased paypal under the new CEO… Peter Thiel. He effectively secured an exit for the company.

"Elon Musk Reacts To WSJ Report That 'Shadow Crew' Of Billionaires Including Peter Thiel Pushed Him To Buy Twitter"

https://www.benzinga.com/news/22/05/26922872/elon-musk-wants...

"A source who spoke to both men said that Musk thinks Thiel is "a sociopath," and Thiel considers Musk "a fraud.""

https://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-elon-musk-relati...

Wouldn't that be what is beneficial for them to say about each other, in public? I honestly don't know what to think any more about anyone who has obtained massive amounts of money.

Well there can't be much love between both...

""Life is too short for long-term grudges" Elon Musk on Peter Thiel's coup to be PayPal CEO": https://nitter.net/nitashatiku/status/735273960703545344

"Reacts to" and rejects the idea. I trust Musk more than rumors spread by WSJ.

Not true at all. They’re on very good terms.

This is a very rare occasion when I can say that both Musk and Thiel are probably right (not that it matters either way).

> A source who spoke to both men said that Musk thinks Thiel is "a sociopath," and Thiel considers Musk "a fraud.

Yeah, they're perfect for one another.

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