The reasoning of the article laid out explicitly: Peter Thiel is guilty of hypocrisy because (democrats) Larry Page and Steve Jobs failed to live up to Peter Thiel's libertarian principles.
[edit: CEO of Adobe, also involved in this mess, is a Democrat and selected by Obama to be on his PMAB.]
"If humans are such a great species, how come I don't like rabbits?"
"Mother Theresa talks a good game. If that's true, why was Hitler such a bad person?"
This is a terrible essay.
These people are about as libertarian as my cat and we certainly didn't need this article or this court case to know that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
What the article sort of draws attention to indirectly is the fact that these CEOs are unfairly put up on a pedestal (especially Jobs) by so many people who adore them despite their less than stellar actions and criminal activity. Perhaps if they spent half their fortunes on charity, a la Gates, I'd be willing to be rethink my opinion of these scumbags.
Even for those of whom it is true, I would bet that they appear 'Democrat' only to help them sell stuff, as part of their brand.
Most people who use software are in the cities. And, city-dwellers are generally liberal-leaning. So, it makes sense for these leaders would try to seem liberal as part of their marketing campaigns.
[1] I'm only weakly libertarian, so I don't want to speak for them. My values are almost entirely left wing liberal, but I haven't drank the koolaid on economic theories designed to justify the status quo and protect party cronies.