Data analytics firm Palantir soars on its stock market debut

The Palantir logo on the front of the New York Stock Exchange, this Wednesday.ANDREW KELLY / Reuters

The mysterious data analysis company Palantir, known for being a supplier to the Pentagon and the CIA, was released this Wednesday on the US Stock Market with a very strong rise of 38%.

After debuting at $ 7.5 per share and closing the session at $ 10, the company is now worth nearly $ 22 billion (€ 18.8 billion).

Palantir's IPO puts an end to years of speculation about when the company, very opaque in everything that surrounds its activities, would make its debut on the market.

Co-founded by the controversial billionaire Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley man and founder of Paypal, the premiere of the Denver, Colorado-based company comes at an auspicious time: just when all the technology is flying high thanks to the dynamics caused by the pandemic.

Palantir, directed by Alex Karp, has registered a significant increase in its income in recent years, which has rebounded by 50% in the first half of this turbulent 2020, to exceed 480 million dollars.

However, its income statements still do not show benefits, as has happened in each and every one of its 17 years of history: in the first six months of the year the losses were 165 million dollars, compared to 280 in the same period of 2019.

The US company has chosen to go public directly and not through a public offering for sale (IPO).

In this way, the company has not raised money to finance its expansion, but it has allowed its shareholders to obtain more money from the sale of securities in the market.