Billionaire PayPal founder, Facebook director and frequent adviser to President Donald Trump Peter Thiel is building a panic room in New Zealand.
Mr Thiel was granted New Zealand citizenship in controversial circumstances after only being in the country for 12 days.
A four-bedroom property Mr Thiel purchased in Queenstown on New Zealand’s South Island for $4.8million in 2011 has a walk-in closet described in plans as a ‘panic room’, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Billionaire PayPal founder, Facebook director and adviser to President Donald Trump Peter Thiel is building a panic room in New Zealand
A four-bedroom property Mr Thiel purchased in Queenstown on New Zealand’s South Island for $4.8million in 2011 has a walk-in closet described in plans as a ‘panic room’
The property is known as the ‘Plasma Screen’ because of its large windows.
He also purchased a 193 hectare block of land in Wanaka for $13,5million in 2015.
Mr Thiel became a New Zealand citizen in 2011, but it was not widely known until it was first reported by the New Zealand Herald in 2017.
New Zealand is seen by Silicon Valley tycoons as a destination to avoid government influence.
One of Mr Thiel’s PayPal co-founders Reid Hoffman, who later went on to create LinkedIn, told the New Yorker said New Zealand was seen as insurance for the collapse of the United States.
‘Saying you’re “buying a house in New Zealand” is kind of a “wink, wink, say no more”,’ Mr Hoffman said.
Mr Thiel has invested in New Zealand accounting software company Xero, and its chief executive Rod Drury said American billionaires ‘treat New Zealand as a bit of a bolthole’.
‘There’s plenty of people that have done that. So I can understand the attraction from him.
Peter Thiel meets with US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence
‘I wouldn’t have met a senior US venture capitalist who doesn’t own property down here. Peter’s very high-profile, but there’s a whole lot of people that fly under the radar.’
Mr Thiel told Business Insider in 2011 he had found ‘utopia’ in New Zealand, and met with senior ministers including Prime Minister John Key and Finance Minister Bill English.
Authorities defended their decision to grant Mr Thiel citizenship saying he had been a great ambassador and salesperson for the country.
Mr Thiel also purchased a 193 hectare block of land in Wanaka for $13,5million in 2015