Palantir is profiting from the “revolving door” of executives and officials passing between the $264 billion data intelligence company and high-level positions in Washington and Westminster, creating an impact network that will lead to its extraordinary growth I'm doing it.
The US group, where billionaire chair Peter Thiel is a key supporter of Donald Trump, is astounding as a backdrop of a massive rise in sales from government contracts and deals with the world's biggest companies. Enjoying stock price meetings.
The detailed findings from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) analyze transparency disclosures and dozens of employment moves, showing US and UK official records obtained by the Financial Times, with Palantir being important for sales It shows that it has been widely employed by government agencies.
This analysis revealed a vast impact network for US groups. Six times more lobbying spending in the US over the past decade. It will establish a non-profit foundation to fund academic research and shape policy debate.
Federal records show that Palantir has won more than $2.7 billion on US contracts since 2009. According to data provider Tussell, Palantir has been awarded more than £376 million in contracts in the UK. Palantir declined to comment.
Bill Hartun, a senior research fellow at the Quincy National Institute of Responsibility, said the company's executives “have fingerprints throughout Trump's transition and management.”
“Silicon Valley said, 'We have a great product, so there's no need to lobby,' but now it's all based on politics. ”
Palantir claims that its data analytics products are in demand from clients, including BP and Hertz, due to its market-leading ability to analyze complex information sets. The technology is believed to have helped kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, distribute Covid-19 vaccines and convict financial figure Bernard Madoff.
Parantil chief Alex Carp, an outspoken Democratic donor who supported Trump's opponent, Kamala Harris, is expected to see a new president focused on increasing budget efficiency and spending on national security. He said that the focus will become even more violent.
Its stock rose 340% during 2024. This was the top performer of the S&P 500. Palantir's top executives Thiel and Karp have won more than $1 billion in stock sales since Trump's November election victory.
“This is a revolution. Karp announced Stellar Quarterly's revenue on Monday and sent it to a new high, Karp said. “We really see what's unexpected and win.” I'm looking forward to it.”
Rotating door
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Elon Musk emerged as Trump's biggest Silicon Valley booster, while Thiel was the president's tech sector champion in his first campaign in 2016.
Investors also played a key role in the dominance of JD Vance, launching a new vice president's venture capital career before becoming the biggest donor of the US Senate campaign in 2022.
Thiel held a celebrity party for Trump's inauguration at his DC home last month, attended by Silicon Valley leaders such as Vance and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Open's Sam Altman.
After the US election in November, Trump began bashing Palantier executives for their major government roles.
Jacob Helberg, a senior adviser to KARP, was appointed under the Secretary of State for economic growth, energy and the environment, and became the State Department's top economic policy and trade officer.
Meanwhile, Gregory Barbaccia, who worked for Palantir for 10 years until 2020, was appointed federal chief information officer for the President's Office of Enforcement, overseeing the $70 billion IT budget.
Palantia also brought together former lawmakers and government officials from both Republican and Democrat backgrounds.
In August, it recruited former Republican MP Mike Gallagher, who headed China's House Selection Committee to help identify contract opportunities. He resigned from the House in April 2024 and under federal policies, he has been barred from lobbying to Congress for a year.
In 2023, Palantir was a former foreign and national security adviser to Geof Kahn, a former CIA veteran who worked on Trump's 2016 transition team, and Marco Rubio, Florida Sen., Secretary of State for Trump. I hired a Jamie Fly.
Since 2019, he has hired former senior defense and legal officers, including Trump administration appointees Matthew Turpin and Alexander Alden, Obama-era staffer Wendy Anderson and former Biden assistant Fanmi Olornipa Badejo. .
At least six individuals have moved between Palantir, the offices that oversee the Department of Defense data, analytics and AI adoption, and Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), according to the TTP.
Meanwhile, Joe Lonsdale, a venture capitalist and co-founder of Palantir, has played a central role in setting up and staffing government efficiency for Musk, a new advisory group seeking to cut the federal budget strip. Ta.
Lonsdale, a close ally of Tesla's chief, also helped establish and fund the Trump American PAC.
These types of movements allow companies like Palantir to gain “Capitol Hill reliability,” and Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, said “directly and indirectly to contracts and spending.” We will help you to have an impact.
Hauser added: “Palantir does that because revolving doors have been proven over decades that it helps businesses win more contracts.”
Strengthen lobbying activities
In October, Palantir hired the company of Miller Strategies, one of Washington's most well-known corporate lobbyists, to lobby on defense policies and appropriations.
Company head Jeff Miller had established himself as a go-to lobbyist for his influence on the Trump administration during his first term as president. His other tech clients include SpaceX, Amazon and Apple.
Overall, Palantir increased its lobbying spending last year to $5.8 million, up from around $1 million in 2015, according to federal disclosures. However, it rivals $12.3 million by Google and $12.4 million and $8.8 million by traditional defense companies Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, respectively.
Palantir is also advised by former Trump administration officials to support the creation of the new American Industrial Union, a lobby trade group that aims to overhaul work with Department of Defense contractors. It is also supported by Lonsdale's 8VC venture company.
In 2023, it launched the Palantir Foundation for Defence Policy and International Affairs, which achieved non-profit tax-free status.
The group said it was “a nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting national security,” and was established to influence policy discussions by holding academic research and meetings. It publishes a journal called the Republic, featuring an essay in its first issue entitled “Copyrights Don't Kill American AI.”
Palantir uses a similar playbook in the UK. The UK business is overseen by former Conservative activist Louis Mosley, but UK Head of Corporate Affairs Ben Mascar, formerly an adviser to the Ministry of Defense and strategic Downing Street. He was the communications manager.
Prior to winning contracts worth up to £330 million in November 2023 with the NHS to help manage patient data, Palantir is recruiting two senior NHS staff specializing in AI and data. did.
Palantier also hired civil servants from departments including the UK Department of Defense and the Home Office, forged other links with British government officials. He brokered former high-level civil servants, such as former MI6 chief John Sorwards, to referrals to the UK government.
The company is a client of Global Counsel, a lobbying company founded by workers Pier Mandelson and is the UK ambassador to the United States. Lobbying data is not published in the UK.
Palantir attended at least 13 minister-level meetings between 2022 and 2023, but also received senior officials such as Caroline Bellamy, the Department of Defense Chief Data Officer, with Palantir signing a $75 million contract. We also extended our hospitality such as drinks and dinner.
In January 2024, Thiel met then-investment minister Dominic Johnson Lord Dominic Johnson personally to “build a relationship,” according to a document released to the FT under transparent law.
Johnson is planning to address concerns about the lack of access to the European market by Palantir's defense sector and propose the UK as “world-leading destinations and incubators for venture charity,” according to the document is shown.
According to a heavily compiled conference note provided to FT, Thiel cites high taxes, low growth and the fact that “growth is driven by real estate, not innovation like technology.” He expressed his pessimism about this.
