Last Updated on September 13, 2024
Chamath Palihapitiya is a Canadian-American venture capitalist, engineer, Special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsor, and the founder and CEO of Social Capital. Palihapitiya, who is of Sri Lankan origin, is also famous for being an early senior executive at Facebook. He worked at the social networking company from 2007 to 2011.
During his tenure as a Facebook senior executive, Palihapitiya was part of the team that propelled the company to profitability. He helped put the company on the right path towards becoming the global tech giant we know of it today.
After leaving Facebook, Chamath Palihapitiya launched his own fund known as The Social+Capital Partnership (later changed to The Social Capital). Through his fund, Palihapitiya invested in a number of companies, such as Slack and Yammer.
Chamath Palihapitiya remains the current CEO of The Social Capital. He’s also a minority investor in the Golden State Warriors and a co-host of the podcast All In.
Quick Facts
| Full Name: | Chamath Palihapitiya |
| Popular Name: | Chamath Palihapitiya |
| Gender: | Male |
| Birth Date: | September 3, 1976 |
| Age: | 47 years |
| Parents: | Gamage Palihapitiya, mother unknown |
| Siblings: | 2 sisters |
| Birth Place: | Sri Lanka |
| Nationality: | Canadian-American |
| Ethnicity: | Sri Lankan |
| Education: | Lisgar Collegiate Institute and University of Waterloo |
| Marital Status: | Divorced but in a relationship with Italian pharmaceutical heiress and model Nathalie Dompe; previously married to Brigette Lau (from an indefinite date until their divorce in 2018) |
| Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
| Wife/Spouse: | N/A |
| Children: | 4, including 3 with ex-wife Brigette Lau and 1 with current fiancée Nathalie Dompe |
| Dating: | Nathalie Dompe |
| Net Worth: | USD 1 billion |
| Source of Wealth: | Entrepreneurship |
| Height: | 6′ 1″ (1.85 m) |
| Weight: | 71 kg; In pounds: 157 lbs. |
Early Life
Chamath Palihapitiya was born on September, 3 1976, in Sri Lanka, to Gamage Palihapitiya. Not much is known about his mother.
At the age of six, Palihapitiya moved with his family to Canada due to civil war in Sri Lanka. He attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute, graduating from the institution at the age of 17. He then proceeded to the University of Waterloo, where he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in 1999.
Career Information
In 2004, Chamath Palihapitiya joined AOL and became the company’s youngest ever vice president. He was in charge of the messaging division.
In 2005, Palihapitiya left AOL and joined Mayfield Fund. However, he left the fund a few months later and joined Facebook when the social networking company was slightly over a year old. Palihapitiya’s major assignment at Facebook was to help the company increase its userbase.
As a senior executive at Facebook, Chamath Palihapitiya is credited with undertaking several lucrative investments in various startups through a venture capital fund known as Embarcadero Ventures. In 2010, Palihapitiya helped acquire the National Basketball Association (NBA)’s Golden State Warriors for $450 million. He is a minority stakeholder in the team, in addition to being a board member.
In 2011, Chamath Palihapitiya left Facebook and teamed with his ex-wife Brigette Lau in founding The Social+Capital Partnership (whose name was changed to Social Capital in 2015). Palihapitiya invested in numerous companies through this fund, including Glooko, Inc., SecondMarket, Box, Yammer, and Slack.
In 2020, Chamath Palihapitiya was instrumental in helping take Virgin Galactic public through a Special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), previously known as IPOA. In March 2021, Palihapitiya sold his stake in Virgin Galactic for a jaw-dropping amount of $213 million.
In 2021, Palihapitiya announced plans of helping take a financial services platform known as SoFi and a Medicare insurance company called Clover Health public through SPACs. He reportedly earned over $290 million from the Clover Health deal, based on his $25,000 investment.
Chamath Palihapitiya’s Net Worth
As of 2023, Chamath Palihapitiya had a net worth of $1 billion. Palihapitiya has built his billion-dollar empire undertaking numerous lucrative investments over the years.
Palihapitiya’s first major paychecks came from Facebook. He used his earnings from the social media company to found Social Capital, one of his most commercially successful ventures so far. As of 2015, the fund had over $1.1 billion in total assets.
Besides Social Capital, Palihapitiya also earned hefty paychecks after selling his personal stake in Virgin Galactic, a year after taking the company public through a SPAC. Palihapitiya’s efforts in taking Clover Health public through a SPAC also paid off. He walked away with over $290 million from a paltry $25,000 investment.
Lessons from Chamath Palihapitiya
1. Make an impact wherever you go
Chamath Palihapitiya has worked in many companies during his professional career. Thanks to his exceptional business acumen, Palihapitiya has been able to inspire change in nearly all the firms he has worked for.
2. Know your potential
Not only is Palihapitiya a shrewd investor. He also understands his money-making abilities. He once said, “One of the things I have known my entire life is that I have an innate capability for making money.”
3. Give back
Chamath Palihapitiya is a generous philanthropist who has supported numerous charitable causes. Palihapitiya has also bankrolled several political parties, most notable the Democratic Party.
Famous Quotes by Chamath Palihapitiya
• Betting against entrepreneurs who are changing the world has never been a profitable endeavor.
• I want children who can make eye contact. I want children who know how to resolve conflicts with their peers. I want children who understand the dynamics of interpersonal relationships that are physical and tactile. I do not want children that only know how to interface with the world through a screen.
• Today we live in a world now where it is easy to confuse truth and popularity. And you can use money to amplify whatever you believe and get people to believe what is popular is now truthful. And what is not popular may not be truthful.
• You need to use data science and machine learning to get the ground truth of what’s happening inside of a company.
• Your job as a smart investor is to separate the facts and the news from the fiction and the noise.
Wrap Up
Chamath Palihapitiya is a Canadian-American investor and entrepreneur who built his billion-dollar empire undertaking numerous lucrative ventures over the years. The Social Capital CEO has a net worth of $1 billion as of 2023.
