Peter Thiel says Germany has a ‘fear of success’ problem—and it explains why entrepreneurs don’t scale like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg

In the most recent edition of the Fortune 500 Europe, Germany has fallen behind the United Kingdom, ranking second with 73 companies on the list, while the U.K. leads with 76. However, billionaire investor Peter Thiel argues that Germany is struggling to create and scale new global companies. Thiel believes there is a "fear of success" among German entrepreneurs, causing them to exit their companies prematurely instead of allowing them to become truly global businesses like those of Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg.

According to Thiel, Germany has fewer unicorns and lags behind European neighbors in innovation. In the EU's 2026 Innovation Scoreboard, Germany ranks 10th, behind countries such as Austria, Luxembourg, and Ireland. Thiel attributes this issue to the way wealth is accumulated in Germany compared to the United States. In the U.S., roughly a dozen of the 50 wealthiest individuals are between Gen X or younger, while in Germany, Thiel counted only around 20 such individuals.

Most of these wealthy individuals in the U.S. built their fortunes independently, creating thousands of millionaires and jobs in the process, whereas in Germany, all of the wealthy individuals inherited their wealth. Volkswagen, Germany's largest company by revenue, has faced challenges due to its emissions scandal and the shift towards electric vehicles.

The company's stock has fallen over 35% year to date, and the automaker is implementing a major restructuring plan, including a halving of its model offerings and a reduction of its workforce by 50,000 positions.