Elon Musk’s DOGE Is ‘Very Good’ for Palantir, Says CEO Alex Karp
As the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) moves at lighting speed to rein in federal spending, companies depending on valuable government contracts are likely to be caught in the crosshairs. But Palantir, a software and data analytics company that works closely with the U.S. government, isn’t worried. DOGE is “a revolution,” one that will be “very good” for Palantir in the long run, CEO Alex Karp told analysts yesterday (Feb. 3) during Palantir’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
“Disruption at the end of the day exposes things that aren’t working, there will be ups and downs,” said Karp. “Some people are going to get their heads cut off. We’re expecting to see really unexpected things and to win.”
Helmed by Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, DOGE’s cost-cutting measures have come at a rapid pace since it was officially created two weeks ago by an executive order from President Donald Trump. The organization, which isn’t an official federal agency, has already gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system, terminated numerous federal leases and effectively shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“We love disruption, and whatever is good for America will be good for Americans—and very good for Palantir,” said Karp when asked about DOGE’s impact.
Palantir reported $827 million in revenue for the October-December quarter, up 36 percent from the previous year. Revenue generated from U.S. government contracts surged 45 percent year-over-year to $343 million during the quarter. Palantir’s full-year revenue came at $2.8 billion, up 29 percent from 2023. About $1.9 billion came from U.S. businesses, of which government work accounted for $1.2 billion.
Palantir has made a name for itself by inking major federal contracts with U.S. military branches. In December, for example, it extended a long-standing deal to provide software to the U.S. Army in an agreement valued at more than $400 million over the next four years. The company has also taken advantage of the tech industry’s growing interest in defense, tapping companies like Amazon Web Services and Anthropic to incorporate their products in defense and intelligence efforts.
According to Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer, the company’s values closely align with the mission of Musk’s government project. “DOGE is going to bring meritocracy and transparency to government, and that’s exactly what our commercial business is,” Sankar told analysts yesterday.
Palantir’s success will be further bolstered by DOGE, according to Sankar, who called “a lack of accountability in government” the company’s real competition. He said slashing pricy, long-running software projects will open up space for Palantir’s work, which Sankar described as “deeply operational, it’s deeply valuable—and we’re pretty excited about exceptional engineers getting in there under the hood and being able to see that for a change.”