A Huge Week For Facebook Alums Peter Thiel, Dustin Moskovitz And Justin Rosenstein

Two of the biggest names connected to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) are now connected through sharing Sept. 30, 2020, as the day of companies they founded going public via direct listings.

Peter Thiel: The first big outside investor in Facebook was Peter Thiel. He has since sold most of his shares, but remains active in the company as a member of the Board of Directors.

Thiel co-founded Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE: PLTR) and thanks to being the large financial backer in the early days, he owns the largest stake.

Palantir shares hit the public market at $10. Shares closed at $9.89, after trading between $9.11 and $11.42 Wednesday. A $10 price implies a $22 billion valuation.

Thiel has an ownership connection of 17.7% of the company prior to the offering through direct ownership and three investment firms he founded. Thiel has an estimated 8% direct ownership of Palantir.

Through his Founders Fund, Thiel also owns a stake in Asana Inc (NYSE: ASAN), the other big direct listing from Wednesday. Founders Fund had a 6.5% ownership stake in Asana prior to the offering.

Forbes estimates Thiel at No. 391 on its richest people list with a net worth of $2.1 billion. That figure could now see many changes with Palantir and Asana actively trading.

Dustin Moskovitz: Asana was co-founded by two former Facebook employees Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein. Moskovitz helped co-found Facebook with his Harvard University roommate Mark Zuckerberg.

Unlike Thiel, Moskovitz still owns a good chunk of Facebook stock, with an estimated 2% ownership in the company.

Asana went public via a direct listing. Shares closed Wednesday at $28.80 after trading in a range of $26.75 to $29.96. Moskovitz owns around 35% of Asana, a company now valued at $4 billion.

Moskovitz is listed as the 37th richest person in the world by Forbes, with an estimated wealth of $16 billion. Moskovitz previously held the title of the youngest self-made billionaire.

Justin Rosenstein: Asana was co-founded by Justin Rosenstein, a former Facebook engineer. Rosenstein attended Stanford University and worked at Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) before coming to Facebook.

At Facebook, Rosenstein worked closely with Zuckerberg and Moskovitz. He would leave to help create Asana with Moskovitz.

Rosenstein has an estimated 16.2% ownership in Asana, valued at around $680 million based on a $4 billion valuation.

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