For Palantir’s Democrat-supporting CEO, the truth that cofounder and chairman Peter Thiel enthusiastically backed Donald Trump made issues more durable for the corporate.
CEO Alex Karp cofounded Palantir Applied sciences, the information analytics agency recognized for its protection contracts and ties to the CIA, with Thiel and three others in 2003, and since then has helped it develop right into a $72 billion behemoth. However though Karp and Thiel are shut pals and share many related views, together with on the supposed superiority of the West, they differ on politics.
Karp, who grew up in a leftist household with activist mother and father, describes himself as “progressive but not woke,” he advised the New York Instances. He beforehand backed and donated to President Joe Biden and now helps Vice President Kamala Harris for president. In the meantime, Thiel is one among Trump’s greatest supporters in Silicon Valley.
Thiel’s public assist of Republicans like Ron Paul, Ted Cruz, and most just lately Trump, has made him a favourite Democratic goal for years, and that criticism has usually prolonged to Palantir as properly. Karp mentioned Thiel’s politics have at occasions difficult issues when it comes to authorities contracts, particularly after he threw his assist behind Trump in 2016.
“I didn’t enjoy it,” he mentioned of Thiel’s public assist of Trump. “There’s a lot of reasons I cut Biden a check. I do not enjoy being protested every day. It was completely ludicrous and ridiculous. It was actually the opposite. Because Peter had supported Mr. Trump, it was actually harder to get things done.”
Palantir didn’t instantly reply to Fortune’s request for remark.
With Trump in energy, Palantir’s authorities contracts roiled the corporate’s workers, who cut up sharply on points like the corporate’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Washington Put up reported on the time. In 2017, about 50 individuals gathered in entrance of Thiel’s residence in San Francisco to protest the ICE contract. This previous Could, pro-Palestine protesters trapped Thiel in a constructing whereas he was visiting the U.Ok.’s Cambridge Union Society.
Thiel, who can also be a cofounder of PayPal and an early Fb investor, gave Trump $1.25 million in 2016, the Instances reported on the time. After Trump received the election, Thiel joined Trump’s White Home transition group and later organized a gathering of a number of the world’s most influential tech CEOs at Trump Tower.
Though Palantir’s authorities contracts exploded below Trump, boosted by an $800 million Military contract it received in 2019, Karp wasn’t a fan of Thiel’s assist of Trump, and he advised him as a lot, he mentioned.
“Peter and I talk about everything,” Karp advised the Instances. “It’s like, yes, I definitely informed Peter, ‘This is not making our life easier.’”
Whereas Karp didn’t elaborate on how Thiel responded to the criticism, he mentioned that Palantir has been much less criticized currently.
“I think there’s a different perception of us now a little bit. A lot of that was tied to Trump, ICE work,” he mentioned. “It built up, and we were definitely outsiders. We’re still outsiders, but I feel less resistance for sure. And people have a better idea of what we do, maybe. Defense tech is a big part of Silicon Valley now.”
Late final yr Thiel rejected Trump’s plea to donate $10 million to his marketing campaign, and has since mentioned he received’t make donations to any presidential candidates (he mentioned he’ll nonetheless vote for Trump).
Though Silicon Valley figures normally lean towards supporting Democrats, an rising quantity have bucked the pattern and backed Trump over the previous few months.
Regardless of its common leftward tilt, Karp mentioned that Silicon Valley’s lavishness contributed partly to Trump’s rise.
“I don’t believe you would have a Trump phenomenon without the excesses of Silicon Valley,” Karp advised the Instances. “Very, very wealthy people who support policies where they don’t have to absorb the cost at all. Just also the general feeling that these people are not tethered to our society, and simultaneously are becoming billionaires.”
