At the time of his death, he had a net worth of $20.2 billion, making him the fourth richest person in Germany; he was also the largest shareholder in the German carrier Lufthansa AG.
[3] He graduated from high school in 1961 and earned a master's degree in law from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
That year, when the grandson of founder Georg Knorr wanted to sell his shares and the company was facing bankruptcy, Thiele was commissioned to find a buyer.
[4] He had famously told an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, that at the time of buying-out the company, he had not even repaid the mortgage on his house.
[9][10] Later in his career, Thiele had turned an activist investor with Lufthansa, and noted his dissatisfaction with the government's rescue plan for the airline.
[12][5] Specifically, he opposed the government's intent to take a 20% stake in the airline in exchange for the 9 billion euro bailout to ensure its solvency during the pandemic.
[1][16] His daughter Julia, is a member of the supervisory board at Knorr-Bremse, while his son Henrik is a founder of an electric charging technology startup.