People walk by a banner featuring the logo of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the day of their initial public offering (IPO) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 30, 2020.
Andrew Kelly | Reutersa
When Palantir hit the stock market in September 2020, there was a lot that could go wrong. The Covid pandemic was sweeping across the globe, society was in lockdown and markets were volatile.
Meanwhile, Palantir was operating at a loss while dealing with ongoing criticism over its government work, in particular with U.S. Customs and Immigration. And the company was going public through a direct listing rather than a traditional IPO.
At its opening price of $10 per share, Palantir was valued at $16.5 billion, down from its private market peak of $20.4 billion in 2015.
“It was the beginning of the pandemic, no one knew what was happening,” CFO David Glazer said in an interview. “The stock market wasn’t…
