Palantir Technologies’ stock price has surged over 600% since the start of last year, making its CEO Alex Karp a wealthy man. In 2023 alone, Karp sold nearly $2 billion worth of shares, with most of that value coming from a single month around the presidential election.
Karp’s sales were part of a 10b5-1 trading plan, which allows executives to pre-plan transactions in company stock. The company plans to sell up to 9,975,000 shares this year, valued at over $1 billion at the current share price.
Palantir has received significant funding from the federal government, including $2.7 billion, with much of it coming from the Department of Defense. CEO Karp has defended the company’s work with government agencies, but has also criticized his co-founder Peter Thiel for his vocal support of former President Trump.
Karp’s personal views on politics are at odds with those of his co-founder and chairman of the board. While Thiel is a conservative, Karp describes himself as a “socialist” and has supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
The company’s history dates back to 2004, when it was founded by Karp and a group of Stanford graduates. Initially intended as a fraud-detection tool, Palantir was bankrolled by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and later received funding from the Central Intelligence Agency.
Source: https://fortune.com/2025/02/22/palantir-ceo-alex-karp-2-billion-stock-net-worth-sales-insider-trading