Why has tech founder Peter Thiel sold $1B of his firm's stock?

Why has tech founder Peter Thiel sold $1B of his firm's stock?
Palantir stock has more than doubled this year.
SEP 27, 2024
By 

Peter Thiel sold almost $600 million of Palantir Technologies Inc. stock this week, bringing his total disposals this year to more than $1 billion.

He sold more than 16 million shares over three days this week, according to a regulatory filing, adding to the 20 million shares he sold in March and May. 

Palantir in December disclosed that entities owned by Thiel had adopted the kind of trading plan that public-company executives commonly use to schedule sales. The billionaire planned to sell as many as 20 million shares. In May, the entity adopted a second trading plan encompassing as many as 28.6 million shares, a filing shows.

Filings didn’t disclose why Thiel sold the stock or what he plans to do with the money. He didn’t respond to a request for comment. The 56-year-old co-founded Palantir and has a $12.4 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Thiel only sold common equity, not units from the share classes with special voting rights that give him and co-founders Alex Karp and Stephen Cohen control of the board.

Palantir this week was added to the S&P 500. Its shares have more than doubled so far this year.

 

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