Should Facebook Fire Peter Thiel?

We are not proponents of Facebook co-founder Peter Thiel's plan to pay students $100,000 to drop out of college, an offer that made a big splash. Thiel is back in the news again when it was announced that he had sold 90 percent of his stake in Facebook. Since Thiel sits on Facebook's Board of Directors, some have called for his resignation, citing the sale as a lack of conviction in Facebook's future. Others have argued that Thiel was an early investor, has made his profit, and it is time for him to move on. Thiel invested $500,000 in 2004. His original investment had grown to over $1 billion, an annual return of more than 159 percent. In either case, it is likely that potential agency problems have increased since Thiel's wealth is now less aligned with that of other Facebook investors.