No, he opposes the robber baron approach. He prefers indirect monopolies, built on technical advantage rather than force. His canonical example is Google. They have a monopoly - on search. Do they charge for search? No. They make money indirectly off their monopoly. And they maintain that monopoly by technical superiority. Anyone could write a search engine, and some have tried (Microsoft!). But the monopoly is natural, not a product of force.
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I thought Thiel was some kind of hardcore libertarian? But really he's just into some old skool robber Barron stuff?
No, he opposes the robber baron approach. He prefers indirect monopolies, built on technical advantage rather than force. His canonical example is Google. They have a monopoly - on search. Do they charge for search? No. They make money indirectly off their monopoly. And they maintain that monopoly by technical superiority. Anyone could write a search engine, and some have tried (Microsoft!). But the monopoly is natural, not a product of force.