Palantir ($PRIVATE:PALANTIR), the Peter Thiel-founded data and analytics company, is preparing itself for an initial public offering after building its valuation to more than $20 billion on private markets, according to multiple reports

Despite the June 11 market plunge, the market bounce-back has been enough to lure multiple companies to plan out IPOs, and a Bloomberg report says Palantir aims to make its initial public offering in the next few months.

Palantir headcount has steadily risen over the years, plateauing at a little over 2,500 as of late. Year-over-year, headcount has grown just under 5%. 

Plenty of big technology companies are pulling out of facial recognition technology deals with police departments, as public opinion on how policing is done has completely changed in 2020 - but it's important to recognize that, per a recent statement, Palantir neither builds tech like this nor does it work with US law enforcement on related projects. However, Palantir has been criticized for other federal law enforcement projects, including one with ICE, that it supports. 

At the same time headcount is plateauing, job postings plunged - which is in line with so many other major technology companies that saw listings decline during the pandemic. For Palantir, job postings have fallen 75% from their 2019 peak. 

Palantir also does work with multiple branches of the United States military, the CIA, and the FBI, among others. 

Palantir is also getting a bit of a bump in terms of its Twitter following (which, happens to be growing at a faster pace, and already at a higher number, than its Facebook following). 

It's not clear how happy those followers are, or what they're calling for. Other competitors to Palantir's business got an earful from their own staffers, and external pressure, as corporate America re-evaluates its relationship with police departments coast-to-coast. And, next, whether Palantir picks up business from IBM, Microsoft or Amazon could be a top-line boost - but could come at an untold cost at a crucial period in America's 21st-century civil rights movement.  

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.

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