Palantir’s stock surge has made the firm’s 5th billionaire—its CTO just joined the ultra-wealthy club with over $1.3 billion net worth
Palantir’s stock has hit turbo mode. In the last month alone, shares surged by some 25%, helping the AI and analytics company reach a market cap north of $411 billion. And over the last year, the stock has skyrocketed by more than 550%.
For Palantir’s investors and cofounders, this surge has translated to wealth racking up by the billions. Cofounder Peter Thiel’s net worth has jumped to over $25 billion—up $9 billion since January—and Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s has surged to more than $15 billion (up $8 billion YTD), according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. Cofounders Stephen Cohen and Joe Lonsdale are also long-time members of the ultra-rich club.
Now, the financial wins are extending beyond the company’s founders. Chief technology officer Shyam Sankar became its latest exec to cross the billion-dollar mark on Monday, with his net worth climbing past $1.3 billion.
Later that day, the company reported a record-setting $1 billion in revenue for its most recent quarter, up 48% year-over-year. Profit also soared by 33% to $327 million, prompting the company to increase its full-year revenue outlook to at least $4.14 billion.
The company’s successes have been 20 years in the making, Sankar said on Monday’s earnings call.
Fortune reached out to Palantir for comment.
Other companies’ losses are Palantir’s gains
Palantir’s stock growth is likely welcomed news for investors who have been unsatisfied with the performance of other tech companies like Tesla, Apple, and Amazon, which are all in the red this year.
Competitors in the federal contracting space have also struggled, with firms like Accenture, Booz Allen and Deloitte losing key government contracts amid Department of Government Efficiency cuts. However, Palantir has largely gained, with earnings from the U.S. government growing by 53% year-over-year. Just last week, the company landed a $10 billion software and data contract with the Army.
And while Palantir’s partnerships with the federal government have raised eyebrows considering Thiel’s close relationship with the Trump administration, the company is only moving full speed ahead.
“There are almost no parasitic elements to this company,” Karp said in the earnings call on Monday. “We have a small sales force. We have very little BS internally. We have a flat hierarchy. We have the most qualified and interesting people, heterodox in their beliefs.”
A continued embrace of AI is also making it easier for companies like Palantir to do more with less workers.
“We’re planning to grow our revenue … while decreasing our number of people,” Karp told CNBC. “This is a crazy, efficient revolution. The goal is to get 10x revenue and have 3,600 people. We have now 4,100.”
Like Palantir, Nvidia is a billionaire-producing machine
Like Palantir this year, Nvidia’s stock skyrocketed in 2024—with gains topped 170%. And as each company continues to grow, they’re both on the billionaire-producing track.
On top of CEO Jensen Huang’s own $155 billion, his chief financial officer Colette Kress and EVP Jay Puri joined the billionaire’s club late last month.
“I’ve created more billionaires on my management team than any CEO in the world,” Huang said recently during a panel hosted by venture capitalists running the All-In podcast. “They’re doing just fine.”
Nvidia has about 42,000 and a market cap of about $4.3 trillion, about 10x that of Palantir.
“Don’t feel sad for anybody at my layer,” Huang said. “My layer is doing just fine.”
