Want to know who is hoping to make some new friends on Facebook? Talk to Chuck. Or maybe, given the discount brokerage’s new embrace of social media, that should be Chat with Chuck – or Tweet with Chuck.

So PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel is supporting Meg Whitman, the eBay CEO who bought PayPal for $1.5 billion in 2002, in her race as the Republican nominee for governor of California (as I reported Friday). But Thiel’s co-founder and investing partner Max Levchin is not so enthusiastic.

When eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in 2002, it received a lot more than a great system for online payments. The acquisition, like so many in Silicon Valley, also brought in a horde of top-notch talent. But there was one smart guy at PayPal that eBay CEO Meg Whitman didn’t get: Peter Thiel, the CEO. She’s got […]

Baseball billionaires? No, I’m not talking about the players – they may be millionaires, but I have yet to hear of a billion dollar ballplayer. (That may happen: Alex Rodriguez‘ last contract, the richest ever, paid him more than a quarter billion dollars over 10 years.) But the owners, now there’s another story. Looking at my […]

Steve Jobs, Apple’s iconic CEO and number 43 on Forbes’ list of the wealthiest Americans, has long both thrilled and infuriated geeks — thrilled them with his company’s gorgeous, easy-to-use products, and infuriated them by maintaining tight control over them, even in an age of increasing online openness.