Peter Thiel Makes $400 Million From Original Facebook Investment

PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel has reportedly sold 20.6 million Class A Facebook shares, earning him approximately $400 million on his original $500,000 investment.

Thiel, who is gay, owned 9 million Class B shares from his original investment in Facebook several years ago, according to Tech Crunch.Facebook was founded in 2004, and Thiel appears to have invested within the company's first year.

He recently had the shares converted to Class A, signaling that he may sell off his investment. The sale occurred days after the offical "lockup," prohibiting sales of the stock for a short period of time after the company went public in May at $38 per share. The price has since dropped by half.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told employees that the company's sinking stock price has been "painful." It was introduced Thiel, who still sits on the board of directors for Facebook, appears to have made the investment on behalf of the Founders Fund.