Controversial Data Firm Palantir Fetches Market Value of Nearly $22 Billion In Its Debut On the NYSE
US tech firm Palantir, known for supplying controversial data-sifting software to government agencies, has fetched a market value of nearly $22 billion in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The BBC reports: The firm, which launched in 2003 with backing from right-wing libertarian tech investor Peter Thiel and America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), builds programs that integrate massive data sets and spit out connections and patterns in user-friendly formats. The firm - sometimes described as the "scariest" of America's tech giants - got its start working with US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, but now supplies software to police departments, other public agencies and corporate clients. It is active in more than 150 countries, including the UK, where it was one of the tech firms the government enlisted this spring to help respond to coronavirus. In the first half of 2020, Palantir revenue rose 49% year-on-year, topping $480 million. And at its direct listing on Wednesday, in which investors sold some of their existing shares to the public, shares opened at $10 each - above the $7.25 reference price -- giving it a value of roughly $22 billion. Mark Cash, equity research analyst at Morningstar, who has estimated the firm's value at $28 billion -- even higher than the valuation reached on Wednesday -- said the firm is well-positioned in a growing industry. "Data integration at this scale for the government is very complex and I think if you tried to stop spending on that and it just goes away, you're going to have some big problems," he said. "We think it's very hard to switch away from once you're in as a customer." Due to the use of its technology by immigration authorities in the U.S., Amnesty International issued a report (PDF) saying the firm was failing its responsibility as a company to protect human rights with inadequate due diligence into who it is working for. "Palantir told Amnesty that it had deliberately declined some work with border authorities in the US due to the concerns," notes the BBC. "But the company has also vigorously defended its government work, maintaining that its clients own and control the data. It says it has a team focused on civil liberties issues, but it is government's job to craft policy, not Silicon Valley's."
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