Palantir Technologies has no parent company. It is an independent, publicly traded American company, and its largest reported shareholder is Vanguard Capital Management with 7.28% of Class A stock as of March 31, 2026. Palantir had a market cap of about $427 billion on September 18, 2026.
Palantir ownership at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Ownership type | Public company (Nasdaq: PLTR) |
| Parent company | None, independent |
| Largest shareholders | Vanguard Capital Management, BlackRock, State Street, Peter Thiel |
| Latest market cap | About $427 billion (September 18, 2026) |
| Last funding round | $550 million from Sompo and Fujitsu, secured by July 2020 |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Aventura, Florida (since February 2026) |
| CEO | Alex Karp |
Who owns Palantir today?
Palantir had 2,397,157,109 shares outstanding on April 6, 2026, according to its proxy statement. That total included 2.30 billion Class A shares, 100.2 million Class B shares and 1,005,000 Class F shares.
Index funds and asset managers hold most of the Class A stock. Vanguard Capital Management reported 166.9 million shares as of March 31, 2026. Vanguard split its reporting across separate units in January 2026, so older filings show a single, larger Vanguard figure.
Peter Thiel is the largest individual owner. Through PLTR Holdings, STS Holdings II and two Rivendell entities, he held about 98.3 million shares across all three classes in April 2026. That works out to roughly 4.1% of shares outstanding.
Alex Karp sells stock on a regular schedule under a Rule 10b5-1 plan. His August 20, 2026 filing showed 6.8 million Class A shares held directly after the latest sales.
Together, the three founders and their affiliates held about 170.4 million shares in April 2026. That equals about 7.1% of the company. Palantir does not publish a single figure for employee ownership.
Who controls Palantir?
Control sits with the founders, not the largest shareholders. Palantir has three share classes. Class A carries one vote per share, and Class B carries ten.
Class F shares have a variable vote count. All of them sit in a founder voting trust run by Wilmington Trust for Karp, Stephen Cohen and Thiel. The votes adjust so the founders’ combined voting power equals 49.999999%, as long as they hold at least 100 million equity securities.
Palantir founders: economic stake vs voting power (April 2026)
In the June 3, 2026 director election, Class F shares carried 1.27 billion votes, or 27.7% of the total. Two of the three founders must agree on how the trust votes.
The board has seven directors, and four are independent. Thiel has been chairman since 2003, Karp has been CEO since 2005, and Cohen is president. A similar founder-first model is behind Mark Zuckerberg’s voting control at Meta, though Meta uses two share classes instead of three.
Who are Palantir’s largest shareholders?
The register splits into passive institutions, a founder block and a large retail base. Figures come from filings made on different dates, so they do not add up to a precise total.
| Shareholder | Stake | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Capital Management | 7.28% of Class A | March 31, 2026 |
| BlackRock | 7.4% | November 2024 filing |
| State Street | 4.43% | January 2026 |
| Peter Thiel | About 4.1% of all shares | April 6, 2026 |
| Geode Capital Management | 2.34% | January 2026 |
Most of these institutional stakes come from index products. Palantir joined the S&P 500 on September 23, 2024, which required index funds to buy the stock. The same pattern shows up in Alphabet’s shareholder register, where Vanguard and BlackRock hold large stakes with limited voting weight.
Who are the biggest investors in Palantir?
Before its listing, Palantir raised close to $3.3 billion from private investors, according to Forge Global. Its last private valuation was about $20 billion, set in 2015.
CNN reported that the company received early financial backing from the CIA through its venture arm, In-Q-Tel. Later rounds brought in large strategic and financial backers:
- Founders Fund, the venture firm where Thiel has been a partner since 2005
- In-Q-Tel, the CIA-backed investment firm
- Sompo Holdings, which put in $500 million in 2020
- Fujitsu, which invested $50 million in 2020
- Tiger Global, Fidelity and Morgan Stanley
Many of these early holders sold after the listing, since a direct listing has no lock-up period. Private data-software rivals still depend on venture rounds, as the ownership of Databricks shows.
Is Palantir publicly traded?
Yes. Palantir trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker PLTR. It first listed on the New York Stock Exchange through a direct listing on September 30, 2020.
The NYSE set a $7.25 reference price, and shares opened at $10. The company issued no new shares. Palantir moved its listing to Nasdaq on November 26, 2024. The stock closed at $177.64 on September 18, 2026.
FAQ
Who founded Palantir?
Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale and Nathan Gettings founded Palantir in 2003. Karp, Cohen and Thiel still sit on the board and control the Class F voting shares.
Does the CIA own Palantir?
No. In-Q-Tel, the CIA-backed venture firm, invested before Palantir went public. Palantir is an independent public company, and no government agency appears among its major shareholders.
Does Peter Thiel own Palantir?
Thiel owned about 4.1% of Palantir’s shares in April 2026 and chairs the board. With Karp and Cohen, he shares control of 49.999999% of voting power through the founder voting trust.
Who is Palantir’s largest shareholder?
Vanguard Capital Management reported 166.9 million Class A shares, or 7.28% of the class, as of March 31, 2026. Peter Thiel is the largest individual shareholder.
Where is Palantir headquartered?
Palantir is headquartered in Aventura, Florida, north of Miami. It moved there from Denver in February 2026, six years after leaving Palo Alto for Colorado.
