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Outlet profile

Palantir

U.S. right-leaning tech company

Owned byPublicly traded on NYSE (PLTR); co-founded by Peter Thiel (chairman, major shareholder) and Alex Karp (CEO, major shareholder); multi-class share structure concentrates voting power among insiders
FundingRevenue from government and commercial software contracts; approximately 55% of 2025 revenue (~$2.6 billion) came from U.S. and allied government contracts, with rapidly growing commercial AI revenue; no advertising or subscription model in the media sense
On the administrationbroadly supportive

Background

Palantir was founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Nathan Gettings, Joe Lonsdale, and Stephen Cohen, motivated in part by the belief that better data-sharing could have prevented the September 11 attacks. Early funding came from Thiel's own capital and a $1.25 million investment from In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture capital arm, which also became one of its first customers. The company spent most of the 2000s and 2010s building data-integration software — chiefly Gotham and Foundry — for U.S. intelligence agencies, the military, and law enforcement. It went public via a direct listing on the NYSE in September 2020. Peter Thiel, a prominent Republican megadonor and early Trump supporter, has remained chairman and an influential shareholder. Under Trump's second term beginning in January 2025, Palantir's government footprint expanded sharply: it won a $30 million ICE contract for immigration enforcement, pursued a major U.S. Army AI contract worth up to $10 billion, and became embedded in the Department of Government Efficiency's data initiatives. CEO Alex Karp donated $1 million to Trump's MAGA Inc. PAC after the 2024 election, and Trump himself traded Palantir stock in early 2026. Former employees publicly condemned the company's work on deportation programs in May 2025. By Q4 2025, Palantir reported $1.41 billion in quarterly revenue — 70% year-over-year growth — driven heavily by U.S. government AI contracts.

Sources

  1. Palantir Technologies – Wikipedia
  2. How Palantir, the secretive tech company, is rising in the Trump era – NPR
  3. Former Palantir workers condemn company's work with Trump administration – NPR
  4. Palantir courts major federal contracts — and controversy — in Trump era – The Hill
  5. All the Ways Palantir is Assisting Trump's Abusive Removal Campaign – ACLU
  6. Palantir, a Big Tech company at the heart of the Trump administration – Multinationals Observatory
  7. How Silicon Valley rejection and CIA cash fueled Palantir's rise – Fast Company
  8. Palantir Business Update Q4 2025 – Palantir Investor Relations
  9. Peter Thiel, Political Noise, and Palantir – The Motley Fool
  10. Trump praises Palantir as stock has worst week in over a year – CNBC
  11. Palantir Technologies Profile – OpenSecrets

Profile compiled 2026-08-03; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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