Y Combinator cuts ties with Peter Thiel

Thiel is no longer a part-time partner at Y Combinator.
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Y Combinator cuts ties with Peter Thiel
Bye, Peter. Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/Epa/REX/Shutterstock

Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator has cut ties with Peter Thiel, BuzzFeed reported.

The billionaire PayPal founder joined the accelerator as a part-time partner in 2015. Since then, he's become better-known outside the tech world for funding the lawsuit that took down Gawker and for his support of Donald Trump.

Back in 2015, Y Combinator president Sam Altman said he was "delighted" to welcome Thiel and that he was "confident that Peter joining will be great for YC." The blog post announcing Thiel's start at Y Combinator now bears an editor's note that says, "Peter Thiel is no longer affiliated with Y Combinator."

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According to BuzzFeed, Y Combinator ended its part-time partner program entirely. But while other partners in that program remain affiliated with Y Combinator as "experts," Thiel's disassociation was complete.

Y Combinator didn't announce it cut ties with Thiel. The accelerator didn't respond to request for comment from Mashable.

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Emma Hinchliffe

Emma Hinchliffe is a business reporter at Mashable. Before joining Mashable, she covered business and metro news at the Houston Chronicle.


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