Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel. Photo / AP
American billionaire - and surprise New Zealand citizen - Peter Thiel has sold his rarely-used suburban Queenstown house as his plans to build a luxury lodge and home on the shores of Lake Wanaka gather pace.
Thiel famously was revealed by the Herald in 2017 to have quietly secured New Zealand citizenship on the back of promises to invest in local tech firms and act as an ambassador for the country as a "citizen at large", despite only having spent a couple of dozen days in the country in the years beforehand or afterwards.
The high-profile contrarian made more than a billion dollars from an early investment in Facebook, but this week announced he was standing down from the board of the social media giant in order to work more closely with Trump-leaning Republican candidates in the US midterm elections later this year.
Property records show his Queenstown home - acquired in 2011 for $4.8 million - changed hands in December for $6.85m to a trustee company connected to former Shortland Street actor Paul Reid. A Herald investigation in 2019 found Reid was the country's most prolific real-estate flipper, having traded more than 130 properties between 2012 and 2018.
The sale appears to have been delayed somewhat by frustrated attempted purchaser Brian McGee, who filed a caveat over the property in August claiming he had a verbal agreement with a real estate agent to buy it for "about $6m". Property records show the caveat he placed to block the sale was withdrawn after just a week.
While Thiel has exited almost all of his New Zealand tech investments in the past few years - chiefly Vend and Xero - he still has a substantial landholding in New Zealand in the form of a 193-hectare property at Damper Bay acquired in 2015 for $13.5m. Thiel's unexpected citizenship meant he did not have to apply for Overseas Investment Office approval on the purchase.
Last year he announced plans to develop the site, building a 885sq m guest lodge and a 385sq m private four-bedroom home with a pool.
Filings with the Queenstown Lakes District Council show the resource consent application - opposed by several environmental groups - is still progressing, with agents acting for Thiel anticipating an 18-month period of landscaping and building if the plan is approved.
Businessman and investor Guy Haddleton has donated $2500 toward the purchase of a competitor's product.
The story of 8-year-old Elyse Johnson's battle with brain cancer published in the Herald this week moved Haddleton to contact the writer in a bid to get in touch with the family.
The money he has donated will go toward cannabidiol drug nabiximols, made by cannabis firm Tilray.
The drug is costing the Johnson family $700 per month in addition to all the other treatment the young patient is undergoing.
Haddleton has a strong connection to the medicinal cannabis space, as a director and founding investor of Helius Therapeutics.
Haddleton told Business Insider it did not matter that the money was going toward a competitor's product.
"This is about the importance of cannabis as a cog in the wheel aiding cancer patients to thrive," Haddleton told the Herald.
"There is a misconception that medical cannabis is a dangerous drug rather than a natural remedy aiding seriously ill patients.
"I've seen it give stage 4 cancer patients their appetite back - most importantly, give them a place at the dinner table. I've seen it give cancer patients a good night's sleep.
"My family and I like to help alleviate unnecessary suffering through the use of natural solutions."
Haddleton has long been adamant that Helius Therapeutics would focus strictly on medicinal cannabis and would not move into recreational cannabis even if it were legalised at the referendum.