Palantir (NYSE:PLTR) CEO Alex Karp is going on the offensive against short sellers who bet against PLTR stock. In a recent interview with CNBC, Karp repeatedly likened short sellers to cocaine users as he expressed his joy in making them lose money — a la raising the value of PLTR stock.
“I love burning the short sellers,” Karp said. “Almost nothing makes a human happier than taking the lines of cocaine away from these short sellers, who like, are going short on a truly great American company. Not just ours, but just love pulling down great American companies so they can pay for their coke.”
Reasonably so, shares of Palantir recently enjoyed a nearly 10% spike after the company revealed it’s Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) was chosen by the U.S. Army to provide artificial intelligence (AI) powered targeting data for “enhanced mission command and long range precision fires.”
So far this year, PLTR stock is up almost 50% as one of many big winners of the burgeoning AI wave. As you might imagine, Karp is rather thrilled about this, especially in reference to his short-selling enemies.
“The best thing that could happen to them is we will lead their coke dealers to their homes after they can’t pay their bills,” Karp told CNBC. “You know, do your thing, we’ll do our thing.”
PLTR Stock Dips Following Pro-Israel Commentary
Despite Palantir’s jab to short sellers with its gains this year, PLTR stock is actually down by more than 2% on Thursday. Indeed, it appears shares are suffering from another recent interview Karp participated in on Wednesday.
According to Karp, the company has recently lost employees — and will likely lose more — as a result of his public support for Israel.
“We’ve lost employees. I’m sure we’ll lose employees,” Karp said on CNBC’s “Money Movers” podcast. “If you have a position that does not cost you ever to lose an employee, it’s not a position.”
This past January, Palantir actually held its first Board of Directors meeting of the year in Tel Aviv, Israel. The company soon entered a “strategic partnership” with the country’s Ministry of Defense. The firm stated in a November earnings call that “Palantir only supplies its products to Western allies.”
On the date of publication, Shrey Dua did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
