Palantir Reports Losses, Adds Lockup Period Ahead of Listing
Palantir Investors Are Said to Face Lockup With Direct Listing
(Bloomberg) -- As Palantir Technologies Inc. gets closer to the public markets, more details about its direct listing are beginning to take shape.
Shareholders will be subject to a lockup period with its direct listing, according to people familiar with the matter. This modification would make it more like a traditional initial public offering.
According to people with knowledge of Palantir’s confidentially filed IPO documents, the company lost $579 million on revenue of $742 million in 2019. Palantir reported $488 million in revenue during the first six months of 2020, an amount expected to be higher in the second half of the year because the company has historically booked roughly 60% of revenue during the fourth quarter when government contracts are finalized, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
Palantir has expanded from government agencies to commercial clients in recent years and now gets roughly half its business from each. The company has said it expects to break even in 2020. TechCrunch earlier reported some financial details of the confidential filing.
Palantir’s lockup period for the direct listing could help prevent sellers from dragging down Palantir’s stock in its early days of trading before full year results are reported. Slack Technologies Inc., which went public early last year, saw its share price decline in the following months. Spotify Technology SA, in 2018, was the first large technology business to go public through a direct listing and that process went smoothly.
A representative for Palantir declined to comment.
Palantir is expected to make its public debut in late September, people familiar with the matter have previously said.
Co-founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, the data analytics software company was valued by private investors at $20 billion in 2015 although shares have traded on the secondary market below that mark since then.
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