Alex Karp, the CEO of software company Palantir, has torched “short-sellers” of his company for cashing out their stock in order to pay for their “cocaine” habit.
Karp, who co-founded Palantir with Peter Thiel, made the comments on CNBC weeks after his company’s stock price surged on news that his company won a $178 million contract from the US Army to equip its Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) ground station.
“I love burning the short-sellers. Almost nothing makes a human happier than taking the lines of cocaine away from these short sellers who are going short on a truly great American company,” he said. “They just love pulling down great American companies so that they can pay for their coke.”
He continued, “The best thing that could happen to them is, we will lead their coke dealers to their homes after they can’t pay their bills.”
Karp’s outlandish remarks were delivered from under his distinctive thatch of hair, which has been described as the “‘I didn’t do my hair today because I’m busy closing deals’ look.”
Commenters on an Instagram post about Karp’s remarks made similar humorous statements. One commenter said, “Only coke heads mention coke facts.” Another quipped, “You can tell by this clip that Karp enjoys a good coke rant.”
“I didn’t know Taika Waititi was the CEO of Palantir,” another commenter said jokingly, likely in reference to the men’s similar appearance and “out there” hair.
Palantir’s stock rose 20 percent following news that it was the best-performing S&P 500 stock in 2024.
The company’s stock is now valued at $230 billion, and a Nasdaq.com article predicts it may rise to $1 trillion in value in a few years.
