Palantir CEO Taunts Short Sellers—Vows to ’Drain Their Bets’ in Brutal Market Showdown

Palantir's chief just declared war on Wall Street's doubters—and he's playing for blood.

The data-mining giant's CEO fired a cannonball across the bows of short sellers this week, promising to systematically dismantle their bearish positions. No specifics on the playbook—just a gleeful vow to make the squeeze hurt.

Finance pros smirked—'Another tech bro confusing luck with strategy,' muttered one hedge fund manager while adjusting his Tesla short. Meanwhile, retail traders piled into the volatility, turning the showdown into yet another meme-stock circus.

One thing's certain: in today's casino-market, even data-driven companies would rather stoke drama than deliver boring old fundamentals. Place your bets—the house always wins eventually.

Karp challenges short bets in public

Even though the stock dropped this week, Palantir is still up 135% in 2025 and has risen 25 times in value over the past three years. The market valuation now stands above $420 billion.

But the sharp price increase pushed the forward earnings multiple to about 220 times, which places it near the valuation levels of Tesla. By contrast, Nvidia trades near 33 times future earnings and Meta trades near 22.

Critics argue the company has outpaced its fundamental value, while the leadership argues revenue and profit growth justify investor interest.

In August, Andrew Left of Citron Research said Palantir was “detached from fundamentals and analysis” and stated that the stock should be valued at $40. On Friday, the stock ended the day at $177.93 after moving higher late in the session.

Earlier in the week, the company reported earnings and revenue that exceeded analyst forecasts, and its full-year outlook was also stronger than what Wall Street expected.

Yet the stock still fell roughly 8% Monday and nearly 7% Thursday. During the interview with Eisen, Alex said, “We’re delivering venture results for retail investors.”

The short interest ratio, which measures the percentage of outstanding shares sold short, was above 9% in September but is now a little over 2%. That is one of the lowest levels since the company went public in 2020.

Alex has previously said that anyone who dislikes the stock price should “exit.” After a previous earnings-related share decline in May, he said, “You don’t have to buy our shares.” He followed that by saying the company WOULD continue partnering with key institutions and “dominate.”

Leadership, politics, and criticism remain present

The company continues to face criticism for its work with U.S. agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Alex has said his pro-Israel position caused some employees to depart. He said the company will continue to support defense and government missions whether or not there is political backlash. He did not signal any change to those relationships.

During Monday’s earnings call, Alex questioned how people who did not invest in Palantir feel now and told them to “get some popcorn.” On CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday, he again went after Burry’s position against the company and Nvidia.

Alex said, “The two companies he’s shorting are the ones making all the money, which is super weird. The idea that chips and ontology is what you want to short is bats— crazy.”

Alex said the short sellers are “dumb,” but he also said they motivate him to push harder. He added that his plan is to make them, in his words, “poorer.”

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