Ed Lin
Palantir Chairman Peter Thiel just sold big blocks of shares of the data-analytics firm, and he still has a substantial amount of stock to sell.
Thiel sold 16,178,415 Palantir shares from Tuesday through Thursday for a total of $597 million, an average price of $36.90 each. The trades were executed by Thiel's Rule 10b5-1 plan and sold through Rivendell 7 LLC, an investment vehicle he controls that now owns 46,672,773 Palantir shares. Thiel disclosed the trades in a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Executives and directors adopt such plans to remove the potential for them to benefit from nonpublic information when selling or buying stock. The plans automatically execute trades when preset conditions, such as price, volume, and timing, are met.
Thiel adopted his current plan in May. It now allows for sales of 12,412,322 more shares. That chunk of stock would be worth about $458 million, assuming an average price of $36.90.
Thiel didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apart from Rivendell 7, other Thiel vehicles own nearly 37 million Palantir shares. Thiel entities also own 32.5 million supervoting Class B Palantir shares. Palantir's publicly traded shares each carry one vote, and Class B shares each carry 10 votes.
In addition, Thiel has sole investment power over 335,000 Class F shares held in the Founder Voting Trust, which consists of 1,005,000 Class F shares, owned equally by the three co-founders of Palantir -- Thiel, CEO Alexander Karp, and Stephen Cohen, president and secretary. The trust generally represents a 49.99% voting interest.
Palantir stock has surged 114% so far in 2024, including a jump earlier this month when it was announced that the shares would join the S&P 500 index.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron's feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members -- so-called insiders -- as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 27, 2024 11:36 ET (15:36 GMT)
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