Palantir spent $25 million on CEO Alex Karp's private jet over two years

Palantir spent $25 million on CEO's private jet in two years

Palantir Technologies spent nearly $25 million on private air travel for its CEO, Alex Karp, over the past two years. The data analytics company disclosed the costs in a recent regulatory filing.

According to the filing, Palantir incurred $17.2 million in 2025 and $7.7 million in 2024 for the use of Karp's "Executive Aircraft." The filing notes the aircraft is used for both business and personal travel.

Karp's travel dwarfs spending by larger tech CEOs

This expenditure vastly outpaces the travel budgets of CEOs at far larger companies. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's annual air travel costs are approximately $1.8 million for a company with over $200 billion in revenue.

Similarly, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora spends about $2.4 million annually. His company generates roughly $11 billion in revenue, more than double Palantir's $4.5 billion in annual sales.

An analysis by Jefferies, cited by the Financial Times, put Karp's flight time into perspective. Assuming a mid-sized jet costing ~$7,000 per hour, the spending implies roughly 2,457 flight hours over two years.

"This implies... about 28 percent of the year spent in the air," the analyst note stated.

The cost of keeping Karp in the spotlight

Karp has cultivated a high-profile, provocative public persona, often making headlines with edgy commentary on geopolitics and technology. Maintaining this visibility appears to require significant travel.

The investment in his mobility may be viewed as a marketing expense. Karp has claimed Palantir's products "sell themselves," but the company's financials tell a different story.

• Palantir spent $1 billion on sales and marketing in fiscal year 2025.
• The $25 million for executive air travel is a fraction of that total budget.
• The board may see a significant return on investment from keeping Karp "at the center of the action."

This travel budget fuels a CEO who operates as the company's most prominent and outspoken salesman, even if his board might sometimes prefer a quieter approach.

A singular style with a hefty price tag

Alex Karp's mission to distinguish himself among tech CEOs relies on a combination of bold statements and relentless travel. His style is a defining, and expensive, feature of Palantir's corporate strategy.

While the $25 million jet bill is extraordinary, it is framed within the context of a billion-dollar annual sales effort. For Palantir, the cost of keeping its charismatic CEO airborne might just be part of the cost of doing business.