/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57659497/Screen_20Shot_202016-10-31_20at_2011.06.29_20AM.0.png)
Startup accelerator Y Combinator has parted ways with Peter Thiel, where he served as a part-time adviser since 2015. The company did not specify why the two have cut ties; a short statement at the top of a Y Combinator blog post introducing and welcoming Thiel two years ago reads “Peter Thiel is no longer affiliated with Y Combinator."
The news comes a little over a year after Y Combinator was criticized for keeping Thiel on as an adviser following the VC’s public support of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. At the time, Y Combinator president Sam Altman defended keeping Thiel onboard, tweeting that he was “not going to fire someone for supporting a major party nominee,” and that although they disagree politically, “Diversity of opinion is painful but critical to the health of a democratic society.”
Neither Thiel nor Y Combinator has responded to the press’s request for comment, though Buzzfeed reports that the part-time adviser program that Thiel had been a part of was shut down last year. At the time Thiel joined Y Combinator, other part-time advisers included Groupon’s Andrew Mason, Stripe’s Patrick Collison, and Homejoy’s Adora Cheung.
Loading comments...