Peter Thiel on monopolies
From Peter Thiel at the Under 20 Summit #throughglass · · 2 Billion Under 20
“I think there are basically two kinds of companies. There are companies that are monopolies and they make money and there are companies that are not monopolies and they do not make money. This distinction is very fundamental and it's not understood very well because the people who have monopolies will pretend that they don't for reasons that you may reflect on yourself.”
On , Peter Thiel, Co-Founder & Chairman at Palantir Technologies, spoke about monopolies during Peter Thiel at the Under 20 Summit #throughglass on 2 Billion Under 20.
About Peter Thiel
In a March 2026 discussion with French historian Emmanuel Todd, Peter Thiel offered his views on U.S. global standing, scientific progress, and geopolitical risks. Thiel disagreed with Todd's characterization of U.S. decline, stating that while the U.S. faces challenges, he is "not convinced that the US is in decline relative to the rest of the world" and argued that "China will disappear before the US disappears at the rate things are going." He also reiterated a long-held view that the world is in an "era of scientific and technological slowdown or even stagnation," attributing this partly to the "dual use potential" of technology, where "as you built more powerful machines, you also built more powerful weapons." Thiel also raised concerns about what he described as "the risk of a totalitarian one-world state, a tyrannical single government that controls the entire world." During the conversation, Todd characterized the U.S. attack on Iran as "an attack on a country" and "shooting heads of states," and described Trump as "the president of the defeat" following U.S. setbacks in Ukraine and against China. Thiel did not directly address those specific characterizations in the provided transcript excerpts.