Palantir CEO Alex Karp disappointed short sellers — investors who are betting on the company’s share price falling — in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday.
“I like to burn the short sellers,” Karp told CNBC’s Sarah Eisen on “Money Movers.” “Almost nothing makes a person happier than taking away the supply of cocaine from these short traders who like, pass short positions for a really great American company.” Not just ours, but they just like to tear down great American companies so they can pay for their Coke.”
Palantir shares jumped 9.8% on March 6 after Palantir announced that the access node for targeting tactical intelligence was selected by the US Army. TITAN uses artificial intelligence to provide missile guidance information.
When a stock goes up, short sellers are on the hook to buy back shares, potentially at a huge loss.
“The best thing that can happen to them is we’re going to bring their coke dealers to their homes after they can’t pay their bills,” Karp said. “You know, do your thing, we’ll do ours.
Palantir shares are up about 47% this year. Approximately 5% of the company’s outstanding shares, which are publicly available for trading, were sold short as of the end of February.
Karp also told CNBC that the company has lost employees and expects to lose more because of its public support for Israel.
Palantir, known for its work on defense and intelligence government contracts, provided its technology to support the Ukrainian and Israeli militaries in their respective wars.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/13/palantir-ceo-short-sellers-pull-down-us-companies-to-pay-for-coke.html
