Read Palantir CEO Alex Karp's most recent shareholder letter

Watch a rare early interview with Palantir CEO Alex Karp

Prior to Palantir's public listing in 2020, CEO Alex Karp did not give many interviews. In a rare interview from 2009, Karp discussed the dominance of American technology, his academic background, and the founding idea of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs as key players in aiding the fight against terrorism.

Learn about Palantir CEO Alex Karp's background—including his history of social activism

Palantir has been criticized for its close proximity to conservative politics, including the company's partnership with ICE, cofounder Peter Thiel's long track record of large donations to Donald Trump's campaigns, and the company's support for Israel. But its leader, Alex Karp, is a self-proclaimed progressive with a PhD in social theory. For many, Karp's background and leadership are a paradox for Palantir.

Listen to Palantir CEO Alex Karp explain how ICE uses the company's services

Alex Karp is well-known for being outspoken both about his own beliefs and about the role of Palantir in protecting Western civilization. Karp has said that while supporting government institutions doesn't always mean supporting every policy or decision those institutions make, not allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to access Palantir's services would go against the company's central mission of supporting Western democracy.

Listen to Palantir CEO Alex Karp discuss the threat of a surveillance state

Palantir has been criticized for providing the US government with software tools that give government agencies access to data about citizens and could be used for surveillance. Karp often counters those claims by asserting that empowering the work of the American government is absolutely essential for maintaining Western democratic leadership and that private surveillance is a larger threat than government surveillance.

Listen to Palantir CEO Alex Karp's outlook for how AI will change the economy

Palantir was an early leader in developing and implementing AI into its technology. When asked about the potential risks of AI (like the threat many say it poses to so-called "knowledge workers"), Karp has said that specialized knowledge or skills will inevitably become more valuable.

Read about how one of Palantir's cofounders explains the company's founding

Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale described the company's driving principle as fighting terrorism in a blog post marking its IPO. Lonsdale also said Palantir's software was developed with a keen focus on privacy, despite many allegations that it enables government surveillance.

In 2025, more than 10 former Palantir employees published a letter condemning the company's partnerships

Thirteen so-called "ex-Palantirians," condemned a $30M deal that gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement near real-time insights on migrants. The letter, named "The Scouring of the Shire" in a nod to "The Lord of the Rings," alleges that the company is violating its code of conduct by supporting this application of its service.

Listen to a former Palantir employee's take on the company

Among other former Palantir employees who have spoken out against the company's role in aiding surveillance and in the American government, former content strategist Juan Sebastían Pinto is concerned that Palantir is creating a monopoly over artificial intelligence.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp is an avid skier

Karp takes health and fitness very seriously and reportedly skis more than five hours each week. He has frequently recommended Norwegian-style cardio training, which emphasizes the length of a workout rather than effort level. In 2023, Karp reported having just 7% body fat—similar to that of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps during the 2008 Olympics.

Palantir's executives have become increasingly involved in American politics in recent years

Palantir's government contracts have steadily increased since Donald Trump was re-elected in 2024, moving from intelligence and defense to public health and assisting in Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency efforts.

A Palantir executive was named a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves, including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar. The Army says their role in Detachment 201, also known as the Executive Innovation Corps, is to inspire other tech executives to consider how their work can support the US Army—without leaving their careers.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

After the October 7 attacks, Palantir took out a full-page New York Times ad supporting Israel

Palantir provides its software to the Israeli Defense Forces. Alex Karp has frequently said that while his company's support for Israel may be controversial, it's critical to support Western allies.

Read Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters from 1977 on

Each year, Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholder letters are eagerly anticipated by employees and Buffett fans alike. A resource lists every single letter from 1977 and is great for anyone seeking a peek behind the curtain into Buffett’s brain through years of stock market booms and busts.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos emphasizes worrying about customers rather than competition

In a 1999 shareholder letter, Bezos wrote, "I constantly remind our employees to be afraid, to wake up every morning terrified. Our customers have made our business what it is, and we consider them to be loyal to us – right up until the second that someone else offers them a better service." Motivated by fear, the entrepreneur advocates consistent innovation, experimentation, and improvement to create a better customer experience.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public

A prospectus typically contains information about the company's operations, including details about its management team and their compensation, financial statements, how it intends to use any capital raised by the IPO, and more. While these documents can be dense and lengthy, experts say that some of the most important sections of a prospectus for investors to look at include the risk factors section and the use of proceeds section.

The CEOs of the two top prediction markets have a fierce rivalry

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour and Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan are both billionaire CEOs of the top two prediction markets—but they don't exactly get along. For instance, Mansour reportedly does not say the word "Polymarket" out loud, referring to it as the "non-American, unregulated platform."

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham keeps a public archive of his insightful essays

In addition to cofounding Y Combinator and other companies before it, Paul Graham is a prolific writer and artist. He chronicled many of his thoughts while building Y Combinator in a series of dozens of candid essays, all of which you can read in an online archive.

A letter to Ethereum’s community from an early builder

Fuel Network CEO Nick Dodson writes about his experience as an early app builder on the Ethereum blockchain. He talks about why he perceives Ethereum as being different from rival blockchains like Solana, espousing the ethos and “spirit” of the Ethereum network and community. At the same time, he lays out some hopes he has for the future of Ethereum in a telling peek into an Ethereum insider’s brain. Read the letter here.

Private equity firms can be 'powerful partners' or 'formidable competitors'

Under the best circumstances, PE firms can increase a company's value using strategies that might not be suitable for public companies facing pressure for immediate shareholder returns. But PE firms are often portrayed negatively due to the aggressive strategies they sometimes use to cut inefficiencies. As PE has grown, many firms have changed their strategies, shifting away from aggressive scaling to more integrated acquisitions.

WeWork’s S-1 was full of alarming financial and business information that concerned investors and the public

When WeWork’s S-1 came out, investors were particularly concerned about WeWork’s expenses far outpacing its growing revenue and its complex company structure, as well as a few potential conflicts of interest within the company.

View a timeline of Sam Altman's firing and reinstatement as Open AI CEO

Besides saying that Altman hadn't been "consistently candid" in his discussions with them, OpenAI's board did not detail any wrongdoing that led to the firing on November 17, 2023. Four days later, Altman was reinstated, and a new board was assembled.

Listen to Keith Gill's testimony from the GameStop hearing

"I am not a cat, I am not an institutional investor, nor am I a hedge fund." That's how Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, kicked off his testimony before Congress on the wild trading action in GameStop stock. Lawmakers took notice of the meme stock craze, and the collapse of hedge fund Melvin Capital, opening up an investigation into what exactly moved so much money.

A star investment banker was fired, launching a decade-long court fight

Star bankers are the core of an investment banking firm's business, so when Perella Weinberg let their restructuring guru Mike Kramer go in 2015, he sued, launching a ten-year legal fight.

Cathie Wood is one of the most famous modern figures in ETF investing

Cathie Wood is the fund manager and stock picker behind Ark Invest and its flagship Ark Innovation ETF. Her strategy centers around disruptive technology, and she’s made bold bets on cryptocurrency and companies like Tesla, Robinhood, and Nvidia. Wood has a loyal following of retail investors who watch her daily trades religiously.

Mark Zuckerberg has nearly exclusive decision-making authority in Meta

Meta has a dual-class stock structure, meaning there are two types of stock that have different voting rights. Zuckerberg owns 90% of the company's Class B stock, which is allotted 10 votes per share, whereas Class A shareholders get one vote per share. He's also the CEO and the chairman of the board, meaning Zuckerberg has majority control over the company. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is not a pristine document, and even features a smudged anonymous handprint in the bottom left corner.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.