Billionaire Peter Thiel plans to cash out $280 million worth of Palantir shares

On March 3rd, Palantir co-founder and billionaire Peter Thiel filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 2 million shares of Palantir, cashing out approximately $280 million. Thiel co-founded Palantir in 2003 with Alex Karp, Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, and Nathan Gettings, investing $30 million in seed funding. The idea was inspired by PayPal’s fraud detection system.

Palantir received early support from the CIA investment firm In-Q-Tel and launched the Gotham platform in 2008, serving intelligence and defense clients. The company went public in 2020 and delivered impressive results in Q4 2025, with revenue of $1.4 billion, up 70% year-over-year, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.25, beating market expectations. Revenue from commercial sectors grew 137%, and government sales increased 66%, driving strong performance.

Palantir expects Q1 2026 revenue to reach $1.5 billion and full-year revenue to be around $7.2 billion, both surpassing Wall Street analyst forecasts. Thiel’s stock sale is seen as part of his personal asset management strategy and has sparked market attention on Palantir’s stock price and future growth potential.