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Re:Palantir worked with Cambridge Analytica on the Facebook ... by gowld on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @06:27PM (#16693367)
Thiel went with Trump for standard VC reasons: because it was a low-cost, low-odds, high-reward play on an unpopular undervalued asset. Also because Trump fits his "maverick" style of operating independently outside of the big establishment machines.

If Trump lost Thiel would move along to doing the best he could with the winners, who wouldn't have a reason to shun him for irrelevant past actions.

Trump had ~50% odds of winning but general betting odds were <30%

Re:Palantir worked with Cambridge Analytica on the Facebook ... by jonny_eh on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @06:39PM (#16693461)
But what did Thiel get by betting on the winner though?
Re:Palantir worked with Cambridge Analytica on the Facebook ... by azemetre on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @11:52PM (#16695122)
Lucrative military/government contracts.
Re:Palantir worked with Cambridge Analytica on the Facebook ... by paulcole on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @07:22PM (#16693730)
> high-reward

What was the reward?

Re:Palantir worked with Cambridge Analytica on the Facebook ... by Haydos585x2 on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @07:40PM (#16693815)
Parent comment probably means access to the administration and administration supporters for Thiel and related companies. Much easier to be a voice in a room of 10 people than a voice in a room of 1000. Trump and his picks were more likely to support large defence projects and big business operations that Palantir could profit from.
Re:Palantir worked with Cambridge Analytica on the Facebook ... by sanderjd on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @08:22PM (#16694059)
I just want to point out that what you're talking about here is corruption. To restate: For someone in Thiel's position, the upside to supporting a particular political candidate is the expectation that he will benefit from corruption while that candidate is in office. Everyone knows this but I believe it is worth being explicit about it from time to time. (I don't mean this as a dig against the party or even the person currently occupying the Presidency; this cuts both ways.)
Re:Palantir worked with Cambridge Analytica on the Facebook ... by walrus01 on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @08:09PM (#16693986)
Republican president = higher DoD and intelligence budgets. Reliably predictable since the days of Nixon.