In a letter from Palantir's S-1, CEO Alex Karp says Silicon Valley's “engineering elite” don't know “how society should be organized or what justice requires”

KEY POINTS — In Palantir's filing to go public on Tuesday, CEO Alex Karp said Silicon Valley engineers …

CNBC 2020-08-26 Ari Levy

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@hkanji Hussein Kanji on x
Silicon Valley engineers may be able to build good software but they don't know “how society should be organized or what justice requires.” https://www.cnbc.com/...
@austin_rief @austin_rief on x
Palantir is going to run into serious messaging issues. The CEO says “If we are going to ask someone to put themselves in harm's way, we believe that we have a duty to give them what they need to do their job” But who is “we”? 60% of their revenue is from outside the U.S. https:/…
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
Few things are as indicative of how upside down morality is in tech like companies who enable ICE to separate families bragging they're unlike companies “built on advertising dollars.” My guy, showing people shoes they might like >>> helping ICE deport 👨‍👩‍👦 ‍👦 https://www.cnbc.c…
@quinnypig HydroxyCoreyQuinn on x
“Anyway we're hiring, you fukkin' idiots.” https://twitter.com/...
@stevekovach Steve Kovach on x
Alex Karp's CEO letter in Palantir's S-1 is wild. Rips into Silicon Valley. Read it here. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@cnbc @cnbc on x
At a time when some tech companies are bowing to employee pressure to pull back from work with the government, Palantir CEO Alex Karp is loudly defending his posture. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@sam_l_shead Sam Shead on x
This letter from Palantir CEO Alex Karp is divine. In a few punchy pars, he tries to take the moral high ground over Facebook et al, saying Palantir keeps people safe while the rest of Silicon Valley exploits them. Story from @levynews https://www.cnbc.com/...
@emmalbriant @emmalbriant on x
😬 want this person deciding how society should be organized or determining what's ‘required’ for justice? What scares me most is one of these people making a bid for the presidency one day. America - tackle the tech monopolies and wealth in politics. Things can always get worse. …
@m__verbruggen Maaike Verbruggen on x
Palantir clashes with the rest of Silicon Valley again. The CEO called them hypocritical, talking about justice and values, while selling consumers thoughts and behaviour as advertising data. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@contextify1 Alec Barrett-Wilsdon on x
Nobody: Absolutely nobody: Palantir's CEO: I, alone, know what justice requires https://twitter.com/...
@swolfand Sam Wolfand on x
Oh damn the guy who co-founded a company with Peter Thiel is a POS who would have ever imagined https://www.cnbc.com/...
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
Doesn't Palantir want to be more of an enterprise software seller? Confused about the letter's focus on cheerleading the company's government work. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@levynews Ari Levy on x
The irony is rich Karp says Palantir has “turned down opportunities to sell, collect, or mine data,” unlike consumer companies “built on advertising dollars” Palantir was co-founded by early Facebook investor and board member Peter Thiel https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.c…
@alvarombedoya Alvaro Bedoya on x
Is it just me or does Palantir's S-1 make literally no mention of the single contract that has elicited the most criticism of their company, their multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with ICE? cc @ConMijente Hundreds of pages — one mention of DHS. https://twitter.com/...
@alvarombedoya Alvaro Bedoya on x
Here's the S-1. There's just this mention of “activists” — no mention of ICE or immigration enforcement. https://www.sec.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
@tayhatmaker Taylor Hatmaker on x
New: In a veiled reference to its controversial ICE contracts, Palantir's S-1 says work with customers “perceived to be harmful” could be bad for business. For reference, Palantir's current ICE contracts alone are worth $92 million https://techcrunch.com/...
@villi @villi on x
...What is striking is the fact that COS, R&D, and S&M are not only decreasing relative to revenue, but are decreasing in nominal terms (on cash basis). What? Would love to see somebody with more time and curiosity explain it. Oh, did I mention it was profitable last Q.
@villi @villi on x
I cannot resist taking a look at Palantir's S-1. Fascinating. The narrative about a low margin gov't contractor does not hold up. Last Q GM is 80%. Even if you add all R&D (19%) you still end up above 60% GM. Growth is good...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
Palantir spends 60% of revenue on sales and marketing.
@carlquintanilla Carl Quintanilla on x
“The name Palantir is a nod to spherical objects used in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ books to see other parts of fictional Middle-earth.” (via @nytimes) $PLTR https://www.nytimes.com/...
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
Really good story from my colleagues on Palantir. Is it a highly sophisticated software company that helps spies spot bad guys, or is it an overhyped PwC consultancy for government contracts? https://www.nytimes.com/...
@stevekovach Steve Kovach on x
Peter Thiel owns almost 30% of Palantir's Class B stock https://www.cnbc.com/...
@arram Arram Sabeti on x
Palantir is moving to Colorado. One of the biggest cracks I've seen in San Francisco's status as the center of our industry. CEO Alex Karp said he was against the “increasing intolerance and monoculture of Silicon Valley”. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@zararah Zara Rahman on x
Whew - more info available than ever before about Palantir's approach + operations in their SEC filing, and it is quite the trip! Highlights: * p16: risk factors * p125: tech overview + ‘principles’ 🤯 * p134: descriptions of their software offerings https://www.sec.gov/...
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
Can someone please explain how a 17-year-old company that sells software has dramatically negative cash flow? https://twitter.com/...
@mattrosoff Matt Rosoff on x
Also in Palantir's S-1: “Our leadership believes that working with the Chinese communist party is inconsistent with our culture and mission” https://www.cnbc.com/...
@mattrosoff Matt Rosoff on x
Basically, it's asking investors to trust the founding team completely. Not new in Silicon Valley, just an unusual way to go about it. They get 49.999999% voting rights on certain matters. So if every other shareholder is on the opposite side, they still lose.
@mattrosoff Matt Rosoff on x
This Palantir Class F shares thing is the most interesting founder-control mechanism I've seen since that time $SNAP issued non-voting shares. https://www.sec.gov/...
@ipotweet @ipotweet on x
#Palantir files for a direct listing under ticker $PLTR https://www.sec.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
@julialaroche Julia La Roche on x
Alex Karp's opening letter in Palantir's S-1 is worth reading $PLTR https://www.sec.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
@mylesudland Myles Udland on x
The energy this Palantir filing exudes is incredible. https://www.sec.gov/...
@lesliepicker Leslie Picker on x
Palantir has Class A, Class B and Class F stock. And, I don't recall ever seeing this before... Class F stock will have a “variable number of votes”
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
the palantir IPO mission statement is an amazing artifact michel foucault meets the seven habits of highly effective people https://www.sec.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
@lmatsakis Louise Matsakis on x
Extremely bizarre pontificating here from the CEO of Palantir in the company's filing to go public https://www.sec.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
@teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x
I wrote a series of stories last year about chaos at Mithril Capital, Peter Thiel's late-stage investment shop. The chaser to those is today's S-1 filing from Palantir, which should be a major win for Mithril — despite the lawsuits and allegations. https://www.sec.gov/... https:/…
@william_fitz William Fitzgerald on x
New info in this NYT Palantir story about Project Maven. When Google had the contract it was vehicles & buildings, it's since been expanded to people. Palantir loves this contract, because killing people w/drones based on shity intel is keeping us safe... https://www.nytimes.com/…
@rizzn Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins on x
Palantir is consulting. A small installation requires three fulltime engineers to run. It's consulting. https://twitter.com/...
@jaycuthrell Jay Cuthrell on x
Even if Palantir's story is that of an unproven product portfolio for (dystopian) insights, it is still an applied data science consulting organization with an enigmatically hybridized lobbyist sales team. The .com days of KPMG begat BearingPoint in 2001. History repeats 2021? ht…

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In a letter from Palantir's S-1, CEO Alex Karp says Silicon Valley's “engineering elite” don't know “how society should be organized or what justice requires”

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