Palantir Technologies Inc 10-Q for FY2024 Q3
Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR)
10-Q
2024-11-05
For: 2024-09-30
View Original
Added on
April 02, 2026
About this 10-Q
Palantir Technologies Inc filed this 10-Q on November 5, 2024, covering the quarter ended September 30, 2024 (FY2024 Q3).
Headline figures
Quarter ended September 30, 2024, as reported in this filing, compared with the same period a year earlier where the filing states it.
- Revenue
- $725.52M
- up 30.0% from $558.16M a year earlier
- Net income
- $143.53M
- up 100.7% from net income of $71.51M a year earlier
- Diluted EPS
- $0.06
- up 100.0% from $0.03 a year earlier
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20549
FORM 10-Q
(Mark One)
QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2024
OR
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the transition period from _________ to _________
Commission File Number: 001-39540
________________________________________________
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
________________________________________________
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |||||||
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) | |||||||
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (720) 358-3679
________________________________________________
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||||||||||||
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
☒ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | ||||||||||||
| Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ||||||||||||
| Emerging growth company | ||||||||||||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
As of October 28, 2024, there were 2,180,654,456 shares of the registrant’s Class A common stock outstanding, 96,361,544 shares of the registrant’s Class B common stock outstanding, and 1,005,000 shares of the registrant’s Class F common stock outstanding.
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| Page | ||||||||
2
PART I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION
ITEM 1. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (UNAUDITED)
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands, except per share amounts)
(unaudited)
| As of September 30, | As of December 31, | ||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||
| Assets | |||||||||||
| Current assets: | |||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Marketable securities | |||||||||||
| Accounts receivable, net | |||||||||||
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets | |||||||||||
| Total current assets | |||||||||||
| Property and equipment, net | |||||||||||
| Operating lease right-of-use assets | |||||||||||
| Other assets | |||||||||||
| Total assets | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Liabilities and Equity | |||||||||||
| Current liabilities: | |||||||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Accrued liabilities | |||||||||||
| Deferred revenue | |||||||||||
| Customer deposits | |||||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities | |||||||||||
| Total current liabilities | |||||||||||
| Deferred revenue, noncurrent | |||||||||||
| Customer deposits, noncurrent | |||||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities, noncurrent | |||||||||||
| Other noncurrent liabilities | |||||||||||
| Total liabilities | |||||||||||
| Commitments and Contingencies (Note 7) | |||||||||||
| Stockholders’ equity: | |||||||||||
Common stock, $ | |||||||||||
| Additional paid-in capital | |||||||||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive income, net | |||||||||||
| Accumulated deficit | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Total stockholders’ equity | |||||||||||
| Noncontrolling interests | |||||||||||
| Total equity | |||||||||||
| Total liabilities and equity | $ | $ | |||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
3
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except per share amounts)
(unaudited)
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross profit | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Income from operations | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Income before provision for income taxes | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to common stockholders | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net earnings per share attributable to common stockholders, basic | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net earnings per share attributable to common stockholders, diluted | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding used in computing net earnings per share attributable to common stockholders, basic | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding used in computing net earnings per share attributable to common stockholders, diluted | |||||||||||||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
4
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income
(in thousands)
(unaudited)
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive income (loss) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency translation adjustments | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Net unrealized gain (loss) on available-for-sale securities | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Comprehensive income | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Less: Comprehensive income attributable to noncontrolling interests | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Comprehensive income attributable to common stockholders | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
5
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Equity
(in thousands)
(unaudited)
| Common Stock | Additional Paid-in Capital | Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net | Accumulated Deficit | Total Stockholders’ Equity | Noncontrolling Interests | Total Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance as of June 30, 2024 | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock from the exercise of stock options | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock upon release of restricted stock units (“RSUs”) and performance-based RSUs (“P-RSUs”) | ( | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Repurchases of common stock | ( | ( | ( | — | — | ( | — | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive income (loss) | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance as of September 30, 2024 | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common Stock | Additional Paid-in Capital | Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net | Accumulated Deficit | Total Stockholders’ Equity | Noncontrolling Interests | Total Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance as of December 31, 2023 | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock from the exercise of stock options | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock upon release of RSUs and P-RSUs | ( | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Repurchases of common stock | ( | ( | ( | — | — | ( | — | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive income (loss) | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance as of September 30, 2024 | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity
(in thousands)
(unaudited)
| Common Stock | Additional Paid-in Capital | Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss, Net | Accumulated Deficit | Total Stockholders’ Equity | Noncontrolling Interests | Total Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance as of June 30, 2023 | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock from the exercise of stock options | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock upon vesting of RSUs | ( | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive loss | — | — | — | ( | — | ( | — | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other, net | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance as of September 30, 2023 | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common Stock | Additional Paid-in Capital | Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss, Net | Accumulated Deficit | Total Stockholders’ Equity | Noncontrolling Interests | Total Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance as of December 31, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock from the exercise of stock options | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock upon vesting of RSUs | ( | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive loss | — | — | — | ( | — | ( | — | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other, net | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance as of September 30, 2023 | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
7
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(in thousands)
(unaudited)
| Nine Months Ended September 30, | |||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||
| Operating activities | |||||||||||
| Net income | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: | |||||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | |||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | |||||||||||
| Noncash operating lease expense | |||||||||||
| Unrealized and realized (gain) loss from marketable securities, net | |||||||||||
| Noncash consideration | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Other operating activities | ( | ||||||||||
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | |||||||||||
| Accounts receivable, net | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Other assets | |||||||||||
| Accounts payable | ( | ||||||||||
| Accrued liabilities | |||||||||||
| Deferred revenue, current and noncurrent | ( | ||||||||||
| Customer deposits, current and noncurrent | |||||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities, current and noncurrent | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Other noncurrent liabilities | |||||||||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | |||||||||||
| Investing activities | |||||||||||
| Purchases of property and equipment | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Purchases of marketable securities | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Proceeds from sales and redemption of marketable securities | |||||||||||
| Proceeds from sales of alternative investments | |||||||||||
| Other investing activities | ( | ||||||||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Financing activities | |||||||||||
| Proceeds from the exercise of common stock options | |||||||||||
| Repurchases of common stock | ( | ||||||||||
| Other financing activities | |||||||||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | |||||||||||
| Effect of foreign exchange on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | ( | ||||||||||
| Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash - beginning of period | |||||||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash - end of period | $ | $ | |||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
8
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
1. Organization
Palantir Technologies Inc. (including its subsidiaries, “Palantir” or the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on May 6, 2003. The Company builds and deploys software platforms that serve as the central operating systems for its customers.
2. Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation and Consolidation
The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with United States (“U.S.”) generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) regarding interim financial reporting. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Palantir Technologies Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Investments in entities where the Company holds at least a 20% ownership interest and has the ability to exercise significant influence over, but does not control, the investee are accounted for using the equity method of accounting. Certain prior year balances have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation. Such reclassifications did not affect total revenues, income from operations, net income, or cash flows. The Company's fiscal year ends on December 31.
The unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2023 included herein was derived from the audited consolidated financial statements as of that date, but does not include all disclosures, including certain notes required by GAAP on an annual reporting basis. In management’s opinion, the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all normal recurring adjustments necessary to present fairly the balance sheets and statements of operations, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the interim periods, but are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations to be anticipated for the full fiscal year or any future period.
These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company's audited consolidated financial statements and notes included in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was filed with the SEC on February 20, 2024.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make certain estimates, judgments, and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting periods.
Significant estimates and assumptions made in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include, but are not limited to, the identification of performance obligations in customer contracts, the valuation of deferred tax assets and uncertain tax positions, and the collectability of contract consideration, including accounts receivable. Estimates and judgments are based on historical experience, forecasted events, and various other assumptions that management believes to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ from those estimates and such differences could affect the Company’s financial position and results of operations.
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
The Company’s significant accounting policies are discussed in Note 2. Significant Accounting Policies in the notes to consolidated financial statements in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was filed with the SEC on February 20, 2024. There have been no significant changes to these policies during the nine months ended September 30, 2024, except for the changes noted below.
Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Restricted Cash
The Company considers all highly liquid investments purchased with an original maturity of three months or less at the time of purchase to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents primarily consist of amounts invested in money market funds and available-for-sale debt securities.
9
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
The following table provides a reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash reported within the condensed consolidated balance sheets that sum to the total of the amounts shown in the condensed consolidated statements of cash flows (in thousands):
| As of September 30, | |||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Restricted cash included in prepaid expenses and other current assets | |||||||||||
| Restricted cash included in other assets | |||||||||||
| Total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | $ | $ | |||||||||
Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Credit Losses
Accounts receivable are recorded at the invoiced amount, net of an allowance for credit losses. The Company generally grants non-collateralized credit terms to its customers. Allowance for credit losses is based on the Company’s best estimate of probable losses inherent in its accounts receivable portfolio and is determined based on expectations of the customer’s ability to pay by considering factors such as customer type (commercial or government), historical experience, financial position of the customer, age of the accounts receivable, current economic conditions, and reasonable and supportable forward-looking factors about its portfolio and future economic conditions. Accounts receivable are written-off and charged against an allowance for credit losses when the Company has exhausted collection efforts without success. Based upon the Company’s assessment as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company recorded an allowance for credit losses of $1.5 million and $10.5 million, respectively.
Concentrations of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to significant concentrations of credit risk consist primarily of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, accounts receivable, marketable securities, and privately-held equity securities. Cash equivalents primarily consist of money market funds and U.S. Treasury securities with original maturities of three months or less, which are invested primarily with U.S. financial institutions. Cash deposits with financial institutions, including restricted cash, generally exceed federally insured limits. Management believes minimal credit risk exists with respect to these financial institutions and the Company has not experienced any losses on such amounts.
The Company is exposed to concentrations of credit risk with respect to accounts receivable presented on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. The Company’s accounts receivable balances as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023 were $668.1 million and $364.8 million, respectively. Customer I represented 21 % and 15 % of total accounts receivable as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively, and Customer J represented 17 % of total accounts receivable as of September 30, 2024. No other customer represented more than 10% of total accounts receivable as of September 30, 2024 or December 31, 2023.
Share Repurchase Program
Share repurchases are recorded at trade date and the repurchase price is inclusive of any related fees and commissions. Upon retirement, the par value of the Class A common stock repurchased is deducted from common stock with the excess of repurchase price recorded to additional paid-in capital on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets.
Stock-Based Compensation
The Company accounts for stock-based compensation expense in accordance with the fair value recognition and measurement provisions of GAAP, which require compensation cost for the grant-date fair value of stock-based awards to be recognized over the requisite service period. The Company determines the fair value of stock-based awards granted or modified on the grant date or modification date using appropriate valuation techniques. The assumptions used to determine the grant-date fair value of the awards represent management’s best estimates. These estimates involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management’s judgment. The Company recognizes forfeitures as they occur.
Service-Based Awards
The Company grants awards, including RSUs, stock option awards, and stock appreciation rights (“SARs”), which vest based upon the satisfaction of a service condition. For such awards, the Company records stock-based compensation expense on a
10
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
straight-line basis over the requisite service period. The Company determines the grant-date fair value of the RSUs based on the fair value of the Company’s common stock on the grant date. For stock option awards and SARs that vest over an explicit service period and are exercisable at expiration, during a limited window (“Time-Vesting SARs”), the Company uses the Black-Scholes-Merton (“Black-Scholes”) option pricing model to determine the grant-date fair value of the awards. The Black-Scholes option pricing model requires the input of highly subjective assumptions, including the expected term of the award, the expected volatility rate, risk-free interest rate, and the expected dividend yield of the common stock.
Performance-Based Awards
The Company also grants awards, including RSUs, that vest upon the satisfaction of both a service condition and a performance condition. The Company determines the grant-date fair value of RSUs with both a service-based vesting condition and a performance-based vesting condition based on the fair value of the Company’s common stock on the grant date and records stock-based compensation expense using the accelerated attribution method over the service period. The performance-based vesting condition for the RSUs granted prior to September 30, 2020, the date the Company completed a direct listing of its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange (the “Direct Listing”) was satisfied upon the occurrence of the Company’s Direct Listing. For P-RSUs granted after the Direct Listing, the Company recognizes expense for the number of P-RSUs expected to vest, determined based on the level of achievement against certain performance conditions, over the requisite service period when it is probable that the performance condition will be achieved.
Market-Based Awards
The Company grants awards, including SARs, that vest upon the satisfaction of market-based vesting conditions. For SARs that vest upon the satisfaction of a market-based vesting condition without an explicit service-based condition (“Market-Vesting SARs”), the Company estimates the grant-date fair value of the awards and the corresponding derived service period using a Monte Carlo simulation model, which requires the use of various assumptions including the contractual term, expected volatility rate, risk-free interest rate, suboptimal exercise factor, annual post-vest termination rate, and cost of equity as of the grant date. Stock-based compensation expense for these awards is recognized over the derived service period. If the market condition is achieved earlier than its derived service period, the remaining stock-based compensation expense will be accelerated, and a cumulative catch-up expense will be recorded during the period in which the market condition is met. Once the derived service period is complete, previously recognized stock-based compensation expense related to Market-Vesting SARs will not be reversed even if the specified market condition is not achieved.
3. Contract Liabilities and Remaining Performance Obligations
Contract Liabilities
The Company’s contract liabilities consist of deferred revenue and customer deposits. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company's contract liability balances were $615.1 million and $486.3 million, respectively. Revenue of $440.9 million and $314.9 million was recognized during the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, that was included in the contract liability balances as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Remaining Performance Obligations
The Company’s arrangements with its customers often have terms that span over multiple years. However, the Company allows many of its customers to terminate contracts for convenience prior to the end of the stated term with less than twelve months’ notice. Revenue allocated to remaining performance obligations represents noncancelable contracted revenue that has not yet been recognized, which includes deferred revenue and, in certain instances, amounts that will be invoiced. The Company has elected the practical expedient allowing the Company to not disclose remaining performance obligations for contracts with original terms of twelve months or less. Cancelable contracted revenue, which includes customer deposits, is not considered a remaining performance obligation.
The Company’s remaining performance obligations were $1.6 billion as of September 30, 2024, of which the Company expects to recognize approximately 46 % as revenue over the next 12 months, 39 % as revenue over the subsequent 13 to 36 months, and the remainder thereafter.
Disaggregation of Revenue
See Note 12. Segment and Geographic Information for disaggregated revenue by customer segment and geographic region.
11
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
4. Investments and Fair Value Measurements
The following tables present the Company’s assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis and indicate the fair value hierarchy of the valuation (in thousands):
| As of September 30, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Assets: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Money market funds | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets and other assets: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Certificates of deposit | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Marketable securities: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. Treasury securities | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publicly-traded equity securities | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| As of December 31, 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Assets: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Money market funds | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| U.S Treasury securities | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Certificates of deposit | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets and other assets: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Certificates of deposit | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Marketable securities: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. Treasury securities | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publicly-traded equity securities | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
Certificates of Deposit
The Company’s certificates of deposit are Level 2 instruments. The fair value of such instruments is estimated based on valuations obtained from third-party pricing services that utilize industry standard valuation models, including both income-based and market-based approaches, for which all significant inputs are observable either directly or indirectly. These inputs include interest rate curves, foreign exchange rates, and credit ratings.
Debt Securities
As of September 30, 2024, available-for-sale debt securities, all of which are included in marketable securities on the condensed consolidated balance sheet, consisted of the following (in thousands):
| As of September 30, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amortized Cost | Unrealized Gains | Unrealized Losses | Fair Value | ||||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. Treasury securities | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Total debt securities | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ||||||||||||||||||
12
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
As of December 31, 2023, available-for-sale debt securities consisted of the following (in thousands):
| As of December 31, 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amortized Cost | Unrealized Gains | Unrealized Losses | Fair Value | ||||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. Treasury securities | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Total debt securities | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Included in cash and cash equivalents | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Included in marketable securities | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ||||||||||||||||||
The Company did not 694.6 million of available-for-sale debt securities during the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and immediately reinvested such proceeds into additional debt securities. The realized gains and losses from those sales were immaterial. No 76.9 million and $236.0 million, respectively, were in an unrealized loss position primarily due to unfavorable changes in interest rates subsequent to initial purchase. None
Equity Securities
The Company holds equity securities in publicly-traded companies, which are recorded at fair market value each reporting period in marketable securities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. Realized and unrealized gains and losses are recorded in other income (expense), net on the condensed consolidated statements of operations. For the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, net unrealized losses from publicly-traded equity securities held at the end of each period were $5.4 million and $0.7 million, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, net unrealized losses from publicly-traded equity securities held at the end of each period were $12.2 million and $5.6 million, respectively.
The Company also holds equity securities in privately-held companies without readily determinable fair values that are recorded using the measurement alternative. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the total amount of privately-held equity securities included in other assets on the consolidated balance sheets was $52.6 million and $32.6 million, respectively. The Company classifies these fair value measurements as Level 3 within the fair value hierarchy. The Company did not record any material adjustments or impairments for the privately-held equity securities held during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023.
Additionally, we have accepted, and may continue to accept, securities as noncash consideration. Total equity securities received as noncash consideration was $41.5 million and $17.3 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Strategic Commercial Contracts
From 2021 through 2022, the Company approved and entered into certain agreements (“Investment Agreements”) to purchase shares of various entities, including special purpose acquisition companies and/or other privately-held or publicly-traded entities (each, an “Investee,” and such purchases, the “Investments”). No
In connection with signing the Investment Agreements, each Investee or an associated entity and the Company entered into a commercial contract for access to the Company’s products and services (collectively, the “Strategic Commercial Contracts”). The Company assessed the concurrent agreements under the noncash consideration and consideration payable to a customer guidance within Accounting Standards Codification 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, as well as the commercial substance of each arrangement considering the customer’s ability and intention to pay as well as the Company’s obligation to perform under each contract. The Company performs ongoing assessments of customers’ financial condition, including the consideration of customers’ ability and intention to pay, and whether all or some portion of the value of such contracts continue to meet the criteria for revenue recognition, among other factors. During the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, revenue recognized from Strategic Commercial Contracts was $9.6 million and $14.7 million, respectively. During the nine
13
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, revenue recognized from Strategic Commercial Contracts was $42.7 million and $67.4 million, respectively.
5. Balance Sheet Components
Property and Equipment, Net
Property and equipment, net consisted of the following (in thousands):
| As of September 30, 2024 | As of December 31, 2023 | ||||||||||
| Leasehold improvements | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Computer equipment, software, and other | |||||||||||
| Furniture and fixtures | |||||||||||
| Construction in progress | |||||||||||
| Total property and equipment, gross | |||||||||||
| Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Total property and equipment, net | $ | $ | |||||||||
Depreciation and amortization expense related to property and equipment, net was $6.1 million and $6.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and $18.2 million and $18.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Accrued Liabilities
Accrued liabilities consisted of the following (in thousands):
| As of September 30, 2024 | As of December 31, 2023 | ||||||||||
| Accrued payroll and related expenses | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Accrued taxes | |||||||||||
| Accrued other liabilities | |||||||||||
| Total accrued liabilities | $ | $ | |||||||||
6. Debt
2014 Credit Facility
In October 2014, the Company entered into an unsecured revolving credit facility, which has been subsequently secured by substantially all of the Company’s assets and amended from time to time (as amended, the “2014 Credit Facility”). As of September 30, 2024, the Company had no outstanding debt balances and had undrawn revolving commitments of $500.0 million available to fund working capital and general corporate expenditures under the 2014 Credit Facility, which has a maturity date of March 31, 2027.
The 2014 Credit Facility contains customary representations and warranties, and certain financial and nonfinancial covenants, including but not limited to maintaining minimum liquidity of $50.0 million, and certain limitations on liens and indebtedness. The Company was in compliance with all covenants associated with the 2014 Credit Facility as of September 30, 2024.
7. Commitments and Contingencies
Purchase Commitments
The Company has commitments with various third parties to purchase cloud hosting services. In September 2023, the Company amended one of its third-party cloud hosting services agreements. Under this amendment, the Company has committed to spend at least $1.95 billion over contract years through September 30, 2033, as well as certain additional minimum usage commitments, among other things. The Company satisfied its $154.0 million commitment for the contract year ending September 30, 2024. The commitment amount for the contract year beginning October 1, 2024 and ending September 30, 2025 is $160.2 million. Additionally, as of September 30, 2024, there were no material changes outside the ordinary course of
14
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
business of the Company’s commitments, as disclosed in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Litigation and Legal Proceedings
From time to time, third parties may assert patent infringement claims against the Company. In addition, from time to time, the Company may be subject to other legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business, including claims of alleged infringement of trademarks, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights; employment claims; securities claims; investor claims; corporate claims; class action claims; and general contract, tort, or other claims. The Company may from time to time also be subject to various legal or government claims, disputes, or investigations. Such matters may include, but not be limited to, claims, disputes, allegations, or investigations related to warranty; refund; breach of contract; breach, leak, or misuse of personal data or confidential information; employment; government procurement; intellectual property; government regulation or compliance (including but not limited to anti-corruption requirements, export or other trade controls, data privacy or data protection, cybersecurity requirements, or antitrust/competition law requirements); securities; investor; corporate; or other matters. The Company establishes an accrual for loss contingencies when the loss is both probable and reasonably estimable.
On September 15, 2022, October 25, 2022, and November 4, 2022, putative securities class action complaints were filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, captioned Cupat v. Palantir Technologies Inc., et al., Case No. 1:22-cv-02384, Allegheny County Employees’ Retirement System v. Palantir Technologies, Inc., et al., Case No. 1:22-cv-02805, and Shijun Liu, Individually and as Trustee of the Liu Family Trust 2019 v. Palantir Technologies Inc., et al., Case No. 1:22-cv-02893, respectively, naming the Company and certain current and former officers and directors as defendants. The suits allege false and misleading statements about our business and prospects, and purport to allege claims under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and seek unspecified damages and remedies under Sections 10(b), 20(a), and 20(A) of the Exchange Act and Sections 11 and 15 of the Securities Act. These three actions subsequently were consolidated as Cupat v. Palantir Technologies Inc., et al., Lead Civil Action No. 1:22-cv-02834-CNS-SKC, consolidated with civil actions 1:22-cv-02805-CNS-SKC and 1:22-cv-02893-CNS-SKC. On March 31, 2024, the Court dismissed the Cupat matter without prejudice. On May 24, 2024, plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint. On November 21, 2022 a stockholder derivative action was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, captioned Li v. Karp, et al., Case No. 22-cv-3028 and on January 27, 2023, a stockholder derivative action was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, captioned Miao v. Karp, et al., Case No. 1:23-cv-00103-MN, each against certain current and former officers and directors asserting breach of fiduciary duty and related claims relating to the allegations of the securities class action complaints and seek unspecified damages and injunctive remedies under Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act and Delaware law. On August 22, 2023, a stockholder derivative action was filed in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware captioned Central Laborers’ Pension Fund v. Karp, et al., Case No. 2023-0864 against certain current and former officers and directors asserting breach of fiduciary duty and related claims relating to the allegations of the securities class action complaints and seeks unspecified damages and injunctive relief under Delaware law. Because the litigation is in early stages, the Company is unable to estimate the reasonably possible loss or range of loss, if any, that may result from these matters.
As of September 30, 2024, the Company was not aware of any currently pending legal matters or claims, individually or in the aggregate, that were expected to have a material adverse impact on its condensed consolidated financial statements.
Warranties and Indemnification
The Company generally provides a warranty for its software products and services and a service level agreement (“SLA”) for the Company’s performance of software operations. The Company’s products are generally warranted to perform substantially as described in the associated product documentation during the subscription term or for a period of up to 90 days where the software is hosted by the customer, and the Company includes operations and maintenance (“O&M”) services as part of its subscription and license agreements to support this warranty and maintain the operability of the software. The Company’s services are generally warranted to be performed in a professional manner and by an adequate staff with knowledge about the products. In the event there is a failure of such warranties, the Company generally is obligated to correct the product or service to conform to the warranty provision or, if the Company is unable to do so, the customer is entitled to seek a refund of the purchase price of the product and service (generally prorated over the contract term). Due to the absence of historical warranty claims, the Company’s expectations of future claims related to products under warranty continue to be insignificant. The Company has not recorded warranty expense or related accruals as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023.
The Company generally agrees to indemnify its customers against legal claims that the Company’s software products infringe certain third-party intellectual property rights and accounts for its indemnification obligations. In the event of such a claim, the Company is generally obligated to defend its customer against the claim and to either settle the claim at the Company’s expense or pay damages that the customer is legally required to pay to the third-party claimant. In addition, in the event of an infringement, the Company generally agrees to secure the right for the customer to continue using the infringing product; to
15
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
modify or replace the infringing product; or, if those options are not commercially practicable, to refund the cost of the software, as prorated over the period. To date, the Company has not been required to make any payment resulting from infringement claims asserted against its customers and does not believe that the Company will be liable for such claims in the foreseeable future. As such, the Company has not recorded a liability for infringement costs as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023.
The Company has obligations under certain circumstances to indemnify each of the defendant directors and certain officers against judgments, fines, settlements, and expenses related to claims against such directors and certain officers and otherwise to the fullest extent permitted under the law and the Company’s Amended and Restated Bylaws and Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation.
8. Stockholders’ Equity
The Company’s Class A, Class B, and Class F common stock (collectively, the “common stock”) all have the same rights, except with respect to voting and conversion rights. Class A and Class B common stock have voting rights of 1 and 10 votes per share, respectively. The Class F common stock has the voting rights generally described herein, and each share of Class F common stock is convertible at any time, at the option of the holder thereof, into one share of Class B common stock. All shares of Class F common stock are held in a voting trust established by Stephen Cohen, Alexander Karp, and Peter Thiel (the “Founders”). The Class F common stock generally gives the Founders the ability to control up to 49.999999 % of the total voting power of the Company’s capital stock, so long as the Founders and certain of their affiliates collectively meet a minimum ownership threshold, which was 100.0 million of the Company's equity securities as of September 30, 2024.
Holders of the common stock are entitled to dividends when, as, and if declared by the Company’s Board of Directors, subject to the rights of the holders of all classes of stock outstanding having priority rights to dividends. No dividends have been declared as of September 30, 2024.
The following represented the total authorized, issued, and outstanding shares for each class of common stock (in thousands):
| As of September 30, 2024 | As of December 31, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Authorized | Issued and Outstanding | Authorized | Issued and Outstanding | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Class A Common Stock | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Class B Common Stock | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Class F Common Stock | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Share Repurchase Program
In August 2023, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $1.0 billion of the Company’s outstanding shares of Class A common stock (the “Share Repurchase Program”). The Company may repurchase shares of its Class A common stock from time to time through open market purchases, in privately negotiated transactions, or by other means, including through the use of trading plans intended to qualify under Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act in accordance with applicable securities laws and other restrictions. The timing and the amount of stock repurchases under the Share Repurchase Program will be determined by the Company’s management, based on its evaluation of factors including business and market conditions, corporate and regulatory requirements, and other considerations. The Share Repurchase Program does not obligate the Company to repurchase any specific number of shares and may be discontinued at any time.
During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, the Company repurchased and subsequently retired 0.6 million and 1.8 million shares, respectively, of its Class A common stock for an aggregate amount, including commissions, of $18.9 million and $45.6 million, respectively under the Share Repurchase Program. As of September 30, 2024, approximately $954.4 million of the originally authorized amount under the Share Repurchase Program remained available for future repurchases.
16
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
9. Stock-Based Compensation
Stock Options and SARs
The following table summarizes stock option and SAR activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 (in thousands, except per share amounts and years):
| Options Outstanding | SARs Outstanding | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of Awards | Weighted-Average Exercise Price Per Share | Weighted-Average Remaining Contractual Life (years) | Aggregate Intrinsic Value | Number of Awards | Weighted-Average Exercise Price Per Share | Weighted-Average Remaining Contractual Life (years) | Aggregate Intrinsic Value | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance as of December 31, 2023 | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Granted | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exercised | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canceled and forfeited | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance as of September 30, 2024 | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vested and exercisable as of September 30, 2024 | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As of September 30, 2024, the total unrecognized stock-based compensation expense related to options and SARs outstanding was $524.3 million and $176.5 million, respectively, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average service period of and five years , respectively. Of the total SARs outstanding, $119.7 million of unrecognized expense would be accelerated if the market condition related to Market-Vesting SARs is achieved earlier than its derived service period. The weighted-average grant-date fair value of SARs granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2024 was $4.06 per share.
Market-Vesting SARs
During the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the Company granted Market-Vesting SARs that vest upon the satisfaction of a market-based vesting condition and are subject to continued service. The market-based vesting condition is satisfied when the price per share of the Company’s Class A common stock exceeds $50 within an open trading window (measured based on the closing price on the immediately prior trading day) (an “Above Price Day”). Following the satisfaction of such condition, Market-Vesting SARs may only be exercised on an Above Price Day. The maximum appreciation is up to $20 per Market-Vesting SAR.
The Company determined the grant-date fair value of Market-Vesting SARs using a Monte Carlo simulation model which incorporates various assumptions including the contractual term, expected stock price volatility, risk-free interest rate, suboptimal exercise factor, annual post-vest termination rate, and cost of capital as of the grant date.
For the Market-Vesting SARs granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the assumptions used in the Monte Carlo simulation model included the following:
| Nine Months Ended September 30, 2024 | |||||
| Expected volatility rate | |||||
| Risk-free interest rate | |||||
| Grant-date fair value per share | $ | ||||
The expected volatility rate is based on a combination of the Company’s implied volatility and the historical volatility of comparable publicly-traded companies. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury zero coupon issues in effect at the time of grant for periods corresponding with the expected term of the SAR. The Market-Vesting SARs granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2024 had derived service periods of up to five years .
Time-Vesting SARs
During the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the Company granted Time-Vesting SARs which vest over explicit service periods of up to nine years . Additionally, such Time-Vesting SARs become exercisable at expiration, during a limited window
17
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
(“Exercise Window”), if the Company’s stock price reaches a certain threshold. Time-Vesting SARs have exercise prices of between $39 –$70 and maximum appreciation values of between $60 –$180 .
The Company determined the grant-date fair value of Time-Vesting SARs using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model, calculated as the difference in fair value between a SAR with a strike price at the exercise price and a SAR with the strike price at its maximum appreciation, using the following assumptions:
| Nine Months Ended September 30, 2024 | |||||
| Expected volatility rate | |||||
| Expected term (in years) | |||||
| Risk-free interest rate | |||||
| Expected dividend yield | |||||
The expected volatility rate is based on a combination of the Company’s implied and historical volatility, and the historical volatility of comparable publicly-traded companies. The expected term represents the period of time the SARs are expected to be outstanding. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury zero coupon issues in effect at the time of grant for periods corresponding with the expected term of the SAR. The Company has never paid and has no plans to pay dividends on its common stock, therefore the expected dividend yield is zero.
RSUs and P-RSUs
The following table summarizes the RSU and P-RSU activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 (in thousands, except per share amounts):
| RSUs Outstanding | Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value per Share | P-RSUs Outstanding | Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value per Share | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Unvested and outstanding as of December 31, 2023 | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Granted | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vested | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Canceled and forfeited | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||
Adjustment for performance achievement(1) | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unvested and outstanding as of September 30, 2024 | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||
(1) This amount represents the difference between the maximum number of shares that could have been issued under the grant and the actual number of shares earned based on final performance.
As of September 30, 2024, the total unrecognized stock-based compensation expense related to the RSUs outstanding was $789.2 million, which the Company expects to recognize over a weighted-average service period of three years . As of September 30, 2024, there was no unrecognized stock-based compensation expense related to the P-RSUs outstanding.
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Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Stock-based Compensation Expense
Total stock-based compensation expense was as follows (in thousands):
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
10. Income Taxes
The Company recorded a provision for income taxes of $7.8 million and $6.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and of $17.7 million and $10.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The Company is subject to income tax in the U.S. as well as other tax jurisdictions in which it conducts business. The Company’s effective tax rate as of September 30, 2024 differs from the U.S. statutory rate primarily due to foreign income taxed at different rates, non-deductible stock-based compensation, other non-deductible expenses, and valuation allowances recorded on its deferred tax assets from the U.S., United Kingdom (“U.K.”), and other jurisdictions. The provision for income taxes increased by $1.3 million and $7.3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2023 primarily related to increased foreign tax expense as a result of higher foreign taxable income and withholding taxes.
The realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of sufficient taxable income of the appropriate character in future periods. The Company assesses its ability to realize the deferred tax assets on a quarterly basis, and it establishes a valuation allowance if it is more likely than not that some portion of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The Company weighs all available positive and negative evidence, including its earnings history and results of recent operations, scheduled reversals of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income, and tax planning strategies. For example, due to the weight of objectively verifiable negative evidence, including its history of U.S. and U.K. net operating tax losses, the Company has maintained a full valuation allowance on its U.S. and U.K. deferred tax assets as of September 30, 2024. However, given the Company’s recent earnings and anticipated future earnings, there is a reasonable possibility that it will have sufficient positive evidence in the future to release all or a portion of the valuation allowance it recorded against its deferred tax assets.
19
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
11. Net Earnings Per Share Attributable to Common Stockholders
The following table presents the calculation of basic and diluted net earnings per share attributable to common stockholders (in thousands, except per share amounts):
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Numerator | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to common stockholders for diluted net earnings per share | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Denominator | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Weighted-average shares used in computing net earnings per share: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Effect of dilutive shares | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diluted | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net earnings per share | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net earnings per share attributable to common stockholders: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Diluted | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
The following outstanding potentially dilutive common stock equivalents have been excluded from the computation of diluted net earnings per share attributable to common stockholders for the periods presented due to their anti-dilutive effect (in thousands):
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Options issued and outstanding | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| RSUs and P-RSUs outstanding | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Warrants to purchase common stock | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | |||||||||||||||||||||||
12. Segment and Geographic Information
The following reporting segment tables reflect the results of the Company’s reportable operating segments consistent with the manner in which the chief operating decision maker (“CODM”) evaluates the performance of each segment and allocates the Company’s resources. The CODM does not evaluate the performance of the Company’s assets on a segment basis for internal management reporting and, therefore, such information is not presented.
Contribution is used, in part, to evaluate the performance of, and allocate resources to, each of the segments. A segment’s contribution is calculated as segment revenue less the related costs of revenue and sales and marketing expenses. It excludes certain operating expenses that are not allocated to segments because they are separately managed at the consolidated corporate level or are noncash costs. These unallocated and noncash costs include stock-based compensation expense, research and development expenses, and general and administrative expenses.
20
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Financial information for each reportable segment was as follows (in thousands):
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Contribution: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total contribution | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
The reconciliation of contribution to income from operations is as follows (in thousands):
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Income from operations | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
Research and development expenses (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
General and administrative expenses (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total contribution | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
—————
(1) Excludes stock-based compensation expense.
Geographic Information
Revenue by geography is based on the customer’s headquarters or agency location at the time of sale. Revenue is as follows (in thousands, except percentages):
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amount | % | Amount | % | Amount | % | Amount | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States | $ | % | $ | % | $ | % | $ | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | % | % | % | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rest of world (1) | % | % | % | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | % | $ | % | $ | % | $ | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
—————
(1) No other country represents 10
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Palantir Technologies Inc.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
13. Intangible Assets
Intangible assets subject to amortization that are not fully amortized are as follows (in thousands except years):
| Weighted average useful life | As of September 30, 2024 | As of December 31, 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross Carrying Amount | Accumulated Amortization | Net Carrying Amount | Gross Carrying Amount | Accumulated Amortization | Net Carrying Amount | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Customer relationships | $ | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reacquired rights | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Backlog | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total intangible assets | $ | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Amortization expense of intangible assets was not material for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 or 2023.
As of September 30, 2024, expected amortization expense for the unamortized finite-lived intangible assets is as follows (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Amount | ||||
| Remainder of 2024 | $ | ||||
| 2025 | |||||
| 2026 | |||||
| 2027 | |||||
| 2028 | |||||
| Thereafter | |||||
| Total | $ | ||||
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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “can,” “would,” “intend,” “target,” “goal,” “outlook,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “future,” or “continue” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions. Forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q include, but are not limited to, statements about:
•our expectations regarding financial performance and liquidity, including but not limited to our expectations regarding revenue, cost of revenue, operating expenses, stock-based compensation, our ability to achieve and maintain future profitability, and cash flows;
•our ability to successfully execute our business and growth strategy;
•the sufficiency of our available funds to meet our liquidity needs;
•the demand for our platforms in general;
•our ability to increase our number of customers and revenue generated from customers;
•our expectations regarding the future contribution margin of our existing and future customers;
•our expectations regarding our ability to quickly and effectively integrate our platforms for our existing and future customers;
•our ability to develop new platforms, and enhancements to existing platforms, and bring them to market in a timely manner;
•our market share, category positions, and market trends, including our ability to grow our business in large government and commercial organizations, including our expectations regarding the impact of Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (“FASA”);
•our ability to compete with existing and new competitors in existing and new markets and products;
•our expectations regarding anticipated technology needs and developments and our ability to address those needs and developments with our platforms;
•our expectations regarding litigation and legal and regulatory matters;
•our expectations regarding our ability to meet existing performance obligations and maintain the operability of our products;
•our expectations regarding the effects of existing and developing laws and regulations, including with respect to taxation, privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (“AI”);
•our expectations regarding new and evolving markets, such as AI;
•our ability to develop and protect our brand;
•our ability to maintain the security and availability of our platforms;
•our expectations and management of future growth;
•our expectations concerning relationships with third parties, including our customers, equity method investment partners, and vendors;
•our expectations regarding our investments in, and enterprise agreements with, various entities, including special purpose acquisition companies and/or other privately-held or publicly-traded entities;
•our ability to maintain, protect, and enhance our intellectual property;
•our expectations regarding the amount, timing, and manner of any stock repurchases;
•our expectations regarding our multi-class stock and governance structure and the benefits thereof;
•our expectations regarding macroeconomic conditions, including global political and economic uncertainty, heightened interest rates, or monetary policy changes;
•the impacts of catastrophic events, including natural disasters, global pandemics, geopolitical tensions, terrorism, or other events beyond our control, on our and our customers’, vendors’, and partners’ respective businesses and the markets in which we and our customers, vendors, and partners operate;
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•the impacts of the volatility and fluctuations in currency exchange rates, including an increase in the strength of the United States (“U.S.”) dollar, on the costs of our products outside of the United States and on customer demand; and
•the increased expenses associated with being a public company.
We caution you that the foregoing list may not contain all of the forward-looking statements made in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including those described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on any forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. We cannot assure you that the results, events, and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur, and actual results, events, or circumstances could differ materially from those described in such forward-looking statements.
Neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Moreover, the forward-looking statements made in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, restructurings, joint ventures, partnerships, channel sales relationships, or investments we may make.
In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.
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ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes thereto included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. This discussion contains forward-looking statements based upon current plans, expectations, and beliefs, involving risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. You should review the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” for a discussion of forward-looking statements and the section titled “Risk Factors” for a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any period in the future.
Overview
We build software that empowers organizations to effectively integrate their data, decisions, and operations at scale.
We were founded in 2003 and started building software for the intelligence community in the United States to assist in counterterrorism investigations and operations. We later began working with commercial enterprises, who often faced fundamentally similar challenges in working with data.
We have built four principal software platforms, Gotham, Foundry, Apollo, and our Artificial Intelligence Platform (“AIP”). Gotham and Foundry enable institutions to transform massive amounts of information into an integrated data asset that reflects their operations, and AIP leverages the power of our existing machine learning technologies alongside generative AI models, including large language models (“LLMs”), directly within Gotham and/or Foundry to help operationalize AI on enterprise data.
For over a decade, Gotham has surfaced insights for global defense agencies, the intelligence community, disaster relief organizations and beyond. Foundry is becoming a central operating system not only for individual institutions but also for entire industries. Apollo, which we began offering as a commercial solution in 2021, is a cloud-agnostic, single control layer that coordinates ongoing delivery of new features, security updates, and platform configurations, helping to ensure the continuous operation of critical systems. Apollo allows our customers to run their software in virtually any environment.
In 2023, we began deploying our newest offering, AIP, which is designed for customers across the commercial and government sectors, enabling them to derive value from recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence via the combination of our existing software platforms with generative AI models, including LLMs. We believe AIP uniquely allows users to connect LLMs and other AI with their data and operations to facilitate decision-making within the legal, ethical, and security constraints that they require.
While our focus in the short term remains on making our software platforms available to increasingly broad swaths of the market, we are also working to identify additional component parts and products embedded within those platforms that have potential as commercial offerings on their own.
We believe that every institution faces challenges that our platforms and products were designed to address. Our approach with all our clients is to establish a partnership that transforms the way they use data in pursuit of their goals.
We regularly evaluate partnerships and investment opportunities in complementary businesses, employee teams, technologies, and intellectual property rights in an effort to expand our product and service offerings.
Our Business
Our customers pay us to use the software platforms we have built. While we generally offer contract terms of one to five years in length, our customers sometimes enter into shorter-term contracts. Revenue is generally recognized ratably over the contract term. Many of our customer contracts contain termination for convenience provisions.
For the three months ended September 30, 2024, we generated $725.5 million in revenue, reflecting a 30% growth rate from the three months ended September 30, 2023, when we generated $558.2 million in revenue. For the nine months ended September 30, 2024, we generated $2.0 billion in revenue, reflecting a 26% growth rate from the nine months ended September 30, 2023, when we generated $1.6 billion in revenue.
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In the three months ended September 30, 2024, we generated income from operations of $113.1 million, or adjusted income from operations of $275.5 million when excluding stock-based compensation and related employer payroll taxes. In the three months ended September 30, 2023, we generated income from operations of $40.0 million, or adjusted income from operations of $163.3 million when excluding stock-based compensation and related employer payroll taxes. In the nine months ended September 30, 2024, we generated income from operations of $299.4 million, or adjusted income from operations of $755.5 million when excluding stock-based compensation and related employer payroll taxes. In the nine months ended September 30, 2023, we generated income from operations of $54.2 million, or adjusted income from operations of $423.4 million when excluding stock-based compensation and related employer payroll taxes.
In the three months ended September 30, 2024, our gross profit was $578.9 million, reflecting a gross margin of 80%, or 82% when excluding stock-based compensation. In the three months ended September 30, 2023, our gross profit was $450.2 million, reflecting a gross margin of 81%, or 82% when excluding stock-based compensation. In the nine months ended September 30, 2024, our gross profit was $1.6 billion, reflecting a gross margin of 81%, or 83% when excluding stock-based compensation. In the nine months ended September 30, 2023, our gross profit was $1.3 billion, reflecting a gross margin of 80%, or 82% when excluding stock-based compensation.
For more information about our adjusted income from operations, which excludes stock-based compensation and related employer payroll taxes; and gross profit and gross margin, when excluding stock-based compensation; as well as reconciliations from income from operations and gross profit, see the section titled “Non-GAAP Reconciliations” below.
Our Customers
We define a customer as an organization from which we have recognized revenue during the trailing twelve-month period. During the period ended September 30, 2024, we had 629 customers, including companies in various commercial sectors and government agencies around the world. During the period ended September 30, 2023, we had 453 customers.
For large government agencies, where a single institution has multiple divisions, units, or subsidiary agencies, each such division, unit, or subsidiary agency that enters into a separate contract with us and is invoiced as a separate entity is treated as a separate customer. For example, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes of Health are subsidiary agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, we treat each of those agencies as a separate customer given that the governing structures and/or procurement processes of each agency are independent.
We have built lasting and significant customer relationships and partnerships with some of the world’s leading government institutions and companies. Our average revenue for the top twenty customers during the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2024 was $60.1 million, which grew 12% from an average of $53.7 million in revenue from the top twenty customers during the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2023, demonstrating our expanding relationships with existing customers.
Organizations in the commercial and government sectors face similar challenges when it comes to managing data, and we intend to expand our reach in both markets moving forward. Our decisions about which customer relationships require further investment may change over time, based on our assessment of the potential long-term value that our software can generate for them. We conduct pilots and bootcamps with customers, generally at our own expense and without a guarantee of future returns, in order to access a unique set of opportunities that others may pass over for lack of resources and shorter investment horizons. We manage customers at the account level, not by industry or sector, so that we can optimize on the specific growth opportunities for each customer. In the nine months ended September 30, 2024, 55% of our revenue came from government customers and 45% came from commercial customers.
Our U.S. customers have been a meaningful source of revenue growth for our business. In the nine months ended September 30, 2024, we generated 66% of our revenue from customers in the United States and the remaining 34% from non-U.S. customers. Revenue from our U.S. customers during the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2024 was $1.7 billion, which grew 30% from the prior twelve-month period. We expect that U.S. customers will continue to be a source of significant revenue growth for us.
We continue to believe that our government customers remain a meaningful and resilient source of revenue for our business, particularly during periods of economic uncertainty. However, large government customers in particular are generally subject to a number of uncertainties regarding budgets and spending levels, changes in timing and spending priorities, and regulatory and policy changes, which can make it difficult to predict when, or if, we will make sales to such customers or the size and scope of any contract awards. See also the discussion of “Risks Related to Relationships and Business with the Public Sector” within “Item 1A. Risk Factors” included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
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Expansion of Access to Platforms
The speed with which our platforms can be deployed has significantly expanded the range of potential customers with which we plan on partnering over the long term. We anticipate that our reach among an increasingly broad set of customers, in both the commercial and government sectors, will accelerate moving forward. We believe that, as these new partners grow, we will grow with them.
Our proximity to these businesses and the industries in which they are operating has enhanced, and is expected to continue enhancing, our own product and business development efforts, as we continue expanding access to our platforms to the broadest possible set of customers.
Macroeconomic Trends
As a corporation with an international presence, we are subject to risks and uncertainties caused by significant events with macroeconomic impacts, including, but not limited to, geopolitical tensions, heightened interest rates, monetary policy changes,and foreign currency fluctuations. Additionally, these macroeconomic impacts have disrupted, and may continue to disrupt, the operations of our customers and prospective customers. We continuously monitor the direct and indirect impacts of these circumstances on our business and financial results, as well as the overall global economy and geopolitical landscape.
See the section titled “Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for further discussion of the impact of macroeconomic trends on our business.
Geopolitical Tensions
Our business operations are subject to interruption by events that are beyond our control, including geopolitical tensions. We continue to closely monitor the impact of various geopolitical tensions and their global impacts on our business. While the ongoing Russia-Ukraine and Israel conflicts are still evolving and the outcomes remain highly uncertain, we do not expect that the resulting challenging macroeconomic conditions will have a material impact on our business or results of operations.
We do not currently have office locations in Russia or Palestinian territories and none of our revenues came from sales to entities headquartered in those countries or territories. In 2023, we announced partnerships with Ukraine to support its defense and reconstruction efforts and investigations of potential war crimes, among other activities. In 2024, we agreed to a strategic partnership with the Israeli Defense Ministry to supply technology to Israel to assist in the ongoing war. However, our current operations related to Ukraine and Israel are not material to our financial position or results of operations. If the respective conflicts continue or worsen, leading to greater disruptions and uncertainty within the technology industry or global economy, our business and results of operations could be negatively impacted.
Foreign Currency Exchange Rates
Exchange rates are subject to significant and rapid fluctuations due to a number of factors, including interest rate changes, monetary policy changes, and political and economic uncertainty which may adversely affect our results of operations or financial position.
Our contracts with customers and vendors are primarily denominated in U.S. dollars. However, the general strengthening of the U.S. dollar relative to other major foreign currencies (primarily the Euro and British pound sterling (“GBP”)) has had, and could in the future have, an unfavorable impact on our revenues and expenses from certain non-U.S. customers or vendors whose contracts are denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars. Additionally, certain of our U.S. and non-U.S. subsidiaries may hold monetary assets and liabilities in currencies other than their functional currency (primarily the Japanese Yen (“JPY”), Euro, and GBP), which could subject our results of operations and cash flows to adverse fluctuations due to changes in such foreign currency exchange rates as compared to the U.S. dollar. For the nine months ended September 30, 2024 such impacts were not material to our financial position or results of operations.
Customer Impacts
Current macroeconomic conditions have impacted, and may continue to adversely impact, our customers’ businesses, particularly our early- and growth-stage customers. Relationships with early- or growth-stage customers carry inherent risks because, among other things, such customers may be unable to generate sufficient revenues or profitability or to access any necessary financing or funding in a timely manner or on favorable terms to them in the current macroeconomic environment, which has impacted, and may continue to impact, our expected revenue and collections. As a result, current macroeconomic conditions have impacted, and may continue to impact, our ability to realize the full value of our commercial contracts with such early- or growth-stage customers. For additional information, see Note 4. Investments and Fair Value Measurements in the condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
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Key Business Measure
In addition to the measures presented in our condensed consolidated financial statements, we use the following key non-GAAP business measure to help us evaluate our business, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and financial projections, and make strategic decisions.
Contribution Margin
We believe that the revenue we generate relative to the costs we incur in order to generate such revenue is an important measure of the efficiency of our business. We define contribution margin as revenue less our cost of revenue and sales and marketing expenses, excluding stock-based compensation, divided by revenue.
Revenue is allocated to each customer account directly. The cost of revenue and sales and marketing costs include both the costs associated with the deployment and operation of our software as well as expenses associated with identifying new customers and expanding partnerships with existing ones. Our software engineers working with existing customers often manage the deployment and operation of our platforms as well as identify new ways that those platforms can be used. To calculate the contribution by segment, we allocate cost of revenue and sales and marketing expenses, excluding stock-based compensation, to an account pro rata based on headcount and time spent on the account during the period. To the extent certain costs or personnel are not directly assigned to a specific account, they are allocated pro rata based on total headcount staffed during such period. Direct costs, such as third-party cloud hosting services, are directly allocated to the account to which they relate. Allocated revenues and expenses are then aggregated into a segment based upon the customer account to which they relate.
Contribution margin, both across our business and segments, is intended to capture how much we have earned from customers after accounting for the costs associated with deploying and operating our software, as well as any sales and marketing expenses involved in acquiring and expanding our partnerships with customers or potential customers, including allocated overhead. We exclude stock-based compensation as it is a noncash expense.
We believe that our contribution margin provides an important measure of the efficiency of our operations over time. We have included contribution margin because it is a key measure used by our management to evaluate our performance, and we believe that it also provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management team. Our calculation of contribution margin may differ from similarly titled measures, if any, reported by other companies. Contribution margin should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”).
For more information about contribution margin, including the limitations of this measure, and a reconciliation to income from operations, see the section titled “Non-GAAP Reconciliations” below.
Non-GAAP Reconciliations
We use the non-GAAP measures contribution margin; gross profit and gross margin, excluding stock-based compensation; and adjusted income from operations, which excludes stock-based compensation and related employer payroll taxes, to help us evaluate our business, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and financial projections, and make strategic decisions. We exclude stock-based compensation, which is a noncash expense, from these non-GAAP financial measures because we believe that excluding this item provides meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance and provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management team. Additionally, we exclude employer payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation as it is difficult to predict and outside of our control.
Our definitions may differ from the definitions used by other companies and therefore comparability may be limited. In addition, other companies may not publish these or similar metrics. Further, these metrics have certain limitations, as they do not include the impact of certain expenses that are reflected in our condensed consolidated statements of operations. Thus, our non-GAAP contribution margin; gross profit and gross margin, excluding stock-based compensation; and adjusted income from operations should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, or in isolation from, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.
We compensate for these limitations by providing reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures. We encourage investors and others to review our business, results of operations, and financial information in their entirety, not to rely on any single financial measure, and to view these non-GAAP measures in conjunction with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.
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Contribution Margin
The following table provides a reconciliation of contribution margin for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands, except percentages):
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Income from operations | $ | 113,140 | $ | 39,983 | $ | 299,360 | $ | 54,172 | |||||||||||||||
| Add: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Research and development expenses (1) | 86,840 | 83,756 | 248,844 | 230,273 | |||||||||||||||||||
General and administrative expenses (1) | 90,819 | 82,849 | 266,136 | 260,778 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | 142,425 | 114,380 | 409,840 | 343,295 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total contribution | $ | 433,224 | $ | 320,968 | $ | 1,224,180 | $ | 888,518 | |||||||||||||||
| Contribution margin | 60 | % | 58 | % | 60 | % | 55 | % | |||||||||||||||
————
(1) Excludes stock-based compensation.
Gross Profit and Gross Margin, Excluding Stock-Based Compensation
The following table provides a reconciliation of gross profit and gross margin, excluding stock-based compensation for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands, except percentages):
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross profit | $ | 578,877 | $ | 450,237 | $ | 1,646,531 | $ | 1,294,196 | |||||||||||||||
| Add: stock-based compensation | 13,123 | 7,814 | 35,941 | 24,995 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gross profit, excluding stock-based compensation | $ | 592,000 | $ | 458,051 | $ | 1,682,472 | $ | 1,319,191 | |||||||||||||||
| Gross margin, excluding stock-based compensation | 82 | % | 82 | % | 83 | % | 82 | % | |||||||||||||||
Adjusted Income from Operations
The following table provides a reconciliation of adjusted income from operations, which excludes stock-based compensation and related employer payroll taxes for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Income from operations | $ | 113,140 | $ | 39,983 | $ | 299,360 | $ | 54,172 | |||||||||||||||
| Add: stock-based compensation | 142,425 | 114,380 | 409,840 | 343,295 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Add: employer payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation | 19,950 | 8,909 | 46,340 | 25,954 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted income from operations | $ | 275,515 | $ | 163,272 | $ | 755,540 | $ | 423,421 | |||||||||||||||
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We generate revenue from the sale of subscriptions to access our software platforms in our hosted environment along with ongoing operating and maintenance (“O&M”) services (“Palantir Cloud”), software subscriptions in our customers’ environments with ongoing O&M services (“On-Premises Software”), and professional services.
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Palantir Cloud
Our Palantir Cloud subscriptions grant customers the right to access the software functionality in a hosted environment controlled by Palantir and are sold together with stand-ready O&M services, as further described below. We agree to provide continuous access to our hosted software throughout the contract term. Revenue associated with Palantir Cloud subscriptions is generally recognized over the contract term on a ratable basis, which is consistent with the transfer of control of the Palantir services to the customer.
On-Premises Software
Sales of our software subscriptions grant customers the right to use functional intellectual property, either on their internal hardware infrastructure or on their own cloud instance, over the contractual term and are also sold together with stand-ready O&M services. O&M services include critical updates and support and maintenance services required to operate the software and, as such, are necessary for the software to maintain its intended utility over the contractual term. Because of this requirement, we have concluded that the software subscriptions and O&M services, which together we refer to as our On-Premises Software, are highly interdependent and interrelated and represent a single distinct performance obligation within the context of the contract. Revenue is generally recognized over the contract term on a ratable basis.
Professional Services
Our professional services support the customers’ use of the software and include, as needed, on-demand user support, user-interface configuration, training, and ongoing ontology and data modeling support. Professional services contracts typically include the provision of on-demand professional services for the duration of the contractual term. These services are typically coterminous with a Palantir Cloud or On-Premises Software subscriptions. Professional services are on-demand, whereby we perform services throughout the contract period; therefore, the revenue is recognized over the contractual term.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue primarily includes salaries, stock-based compensation expense, and benefits for personnel involved in performing O&M and professional services, as well as subcontractor expenses, field-service representatives, third-party cloud hosting services, hardware costs, travel costs, allocated overhead, and other direct costs.
We expect that cost of revenue will increase in absolute dollars as our revenue grows and will vary from period to period as a percentage of revenue.
Sales and Marketing
Our sales and marketing efforts span all stages of our sales cycle, including personnel involved with sales functions, and executing pilots at new or existing customers. Sales and marketing costs primarily include salaries, stock-based compensation expense, variable compensation, including commissions, and benefits for our sales force and personnel involved in sales functions, executing on pilots, including bootcamps, and customer growth activities; as well as third-party cloud hosting services for our pilots, marketing and sales event-related costs, travel costs, and allocated overhead. Sales and marketing costs are generally expensed as incurred.
We expect that sales and marketing expenses will increase in absolute dollars as we continue to invest in our potential and current customers, in growing our business, in our sales force, and in enhancing our brand awareness.
Research and Development
Our research and development efforts are aimed at continuing to develop and refine our offerings, including adding new platforms, features, and modules, increasing their functionality, and enhancing the usability of our platforms. Research and development costs primarily include salaries, stock-based compensation expense, and benefits for personnel involved in performing the activities to develop and refine our platforms and products, as well as third-party cloud hosting services and other IT-related costs, travel costs, and allocated overhead. Research and development costs are expensed as incurred.
We plan to continue to invest in personnel to support our research and development efforts. As a result, we expect that research and development expenses will increase in absolute dollars for the foreseeable future as we continue to invest to support these activities.
General and Administrative
General and administrative costs include salaries, stock-based compensation expense, and benefits for personnel involved in our executive, finance, legal, human resources, and administrative functions, as well as third-party professional services and fees, travel costs, and allocated overhead.
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We expect that general and administrative expenses will increase in absolute dollars as we hire additional personnel and enhance our systems, processes, and controls to support the growth in our business as well as our continuing compliance and reporting requirements as a public company.
Interest Income
Interest income consists primarily of interest income earned on our cash, cash equivalents, U.S. Treasury securities, and restricted cash balances.
Other Income (Expense), Net
Other income (expense), net consists primarily of realized and unrealized losses from equity securities and foreign currency exchange gains and losses.
Provision for Income Taxes
Provision for income taxes consists of income taxes related to foreign and state jurisdictions in which we conduct business and withholding taxes.
Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests represents the share of income that is not attributable to the Company.
Segments
We have two operating segments, commercial and government, which were determined based on the manner in which the chief operating decision maker, who is our Chief Executive Officer, manages our operations for purposes of allocating resources and evaluating performance. Various factors, including our organizational and management reporting structure and customer type, were considered in determining these operating segments.
Our operating segments are described below:
•Commercial: This segment primarily serves customers working in non-government industries.
•Government: This segment primarily serves customers that are U.S. government and non-U.S. government agencies.
Segment profitability is evaluated based on contribution and contribution margin. Contribution is segment revenue less the related costs of revenue and sales and marketing expenses, excluding stock-based compensation expense. Contribution margin is contribution divided by revenue. To the extent costs of revenue or sales and marketing expenses are not directly attributable to a particular segment, they are allocated based upon headcount at each operating segment during the period. We use it, in part, to evaluate the performance of, and allocate resources to, each of our operating segments, which excludes certain operating expenses that are not allocated to operating segments because they are separately managed at the consolidated corporate level or are noncash costs. These noncash or unallocated costs include stock-based compensation expense, research and development costs, and general and administrative costs.
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Results of Operations
The following table summarizes our condensed consolidated statements of operations data (in thousands):
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 725,516 | $ | 558,159 | $ | 2,037,988 | $ | 1,616,662 | |||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | 146,639 | 107,922 | 391,457 | 322,466 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gross profit | 578,877 | 450,237 | 1,646,531 | 1,294,196 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 209,474 | 176,373 | 599,460 | 547,629 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | 117,555 | 105,708 | 336,376 | 295,341 | |||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 138,708 | 128,173 | 411,335 | 397,054 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 465,737 | 410,254 | 1,347,171 | 1,240,024 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Income from operations | 113,140 | 39,983 | 299,360 | 54,172 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | 52,120 | 36,864 | 142,065 | 88,027 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | (8,110) | 3,122 | (32,790) | (11,355) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Income before provision for income taxes | 157,150 | 79,969 | 408,635 | 130,844 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 7,809 | 6,530 | 17,653 | 10,382 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | 149,341 | 73,439 | 390,982 | 120,462 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests | 5,816 | 1,934 | 7,801 | 4,028 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to common stockholders | $ | 143,525 | $ | 71,505 | $ | 383,181 | $ | 116,434 | |||||||||||||||
The following table sets forth the components of our condensed consolidated statements of operations data as a percentage of revenue:
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | 100 | % | 100 | % | 100 | % | 100 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | 20 | 19 | 19 | 20 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gross margin | 80 | 81 | 81 | 80 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 29 | 32 | 29 | 34 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | 16 | 19 | 17 | 18 | |||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 19 | 23 | 20 | 25 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 64 | 74 | 66 | 77 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Income from operations | 16 | 7 | 15 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | (1) | 1 | (2) | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| Income before provision for income taxes | 22 | 14 | 20 | 8 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | 21 | 13 | 19 | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests | 1 | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to common stockholders | 20 | % | 13 | % | 19 | % | 7 | % | |||||||||||||||
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Comparison of the Three and Nine Months Ended Months Ended September 30, 2024 and 2023
Revenue
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Change | Nine Months Ended September 30, | Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % | 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | $ | 408,341 | $ | 307,603 | $ | 100,738 | 33 | % | $ | 1,114,481 | $ | 898,178 | $ | 216,303 | 24 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial | 317,175 | 250,556 | 66,619 | 27 | % | 923,507 | 718,484 | 205,023 | 29 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 725,516 | $ | 558,159 | $ | 167,357 | 30 | % | $ | 2,037,988 | $ | 1,616,662 | $ | 421,326 | 26 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Revenue increased by $167.4 million, or 30%, for the three months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Revenue from government customers increased by $100.7 million, or 33%, for the three months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Of the increase, $74.9 million was from government customers existing as of December 31, 2023. Revenue from U.S. government customers was $319.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024 compared to $229.2 million for the same period in 2023. Revenue from commercial customers increased by $66.6 million or 27%, for the three months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Of the increase, $47.9 million was from commercial customers existing as of December 31, 2023, including a decrease of $5.0 million of revenue from Strategic Commercial Contracts. Revenue from U.S. commercial customers was $179.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024 compared to $116.3 million for the same period in 2023, a 54% increase.
Revenue increased by $421.3 million, or 26%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Revenue from government customers increased by $216.3 million, or 24%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Of the increase, $177.1 million was from government customers existing as of December 31, 2023. Revenue from U.S. government customers was $854.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 compared to $684.0 million for the same period in 2023. Revenue from commercial customers increased by $205.0 million, or 29%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Of the increase, $154.4 million was from commercial customers existing as of December 31, 2023, including a decrease of $24.7 million of revenue from Strategic Commercial Contracts. Revenue from U.S. commercial customers was $488.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 compared to $326.3 million for the same period in 2023, a 50% increase.
Generally, increases in revenue from our existing customers are related to increased adoption of our products and services within their organizations. For additional information on Strategic Commercial Contracts, see Note 4. Investments and Fair Value Measurements in our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Cost of Revenue and Gross Profit
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Change | Nine Months Ended September 30, | Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % | 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | $ | 146,639 | $ | 107,922 | $ | 38,717 | 36 | % | $ | 391,457 | $ | 322,466 | $ | 68,991 | 21 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross profit | 578,877 | 450,237 | 128,640 | 29 | % | 1,646,531 | 1,294,196 | 352,335 | 27 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross margin | 80 | % | 81 | % | (1) | % | 81 | % | 80 | % | 1 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cost of revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2024 increased by $38.7 million compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to increases of $20.1 million in subcontractor expenses, $8.8 million in third-party cloud hosting services, and $6.2 million in stock-based compensation and related expenses.
Our gross margin for the three months ended September 30, 2024 decreased from 81% for the same period in 2023 to 80% as a result of the growth of cost of revenue slightly outpacing revenue growth.
Cost of revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 increased by $69.0 million, or 21%, compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to increases of $39.7 million in subcontractor expenses, $29.7 million in third-party cloud hosting services, and $13.5 million in stock-based compensation and related expenses. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $11.0 million in field service representatives.
Our gross margin for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 increased from 80% for the same period in 2023 to 81% as a result of the growth of revenue slightly outpacing cost of revenue growth.
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For additional information related to stock-based compensation expense, see the section titled “Stock-Based Compensation” below.
Operating Expenses
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Change | Nine Months Ended September 30, | Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % | 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | $ | 209,474 | $ | 176,373 | $ | 33,101 | 19 | % | $ | 599,460 | $ | 547,629 | $ | 51,831 | 9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | 117,555 | 105,708 | 11,847 | 11 | % | 336,376 | 295,341 | 41,035 | 14 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 138,708 | 128,173 | 10,535 | 8 | % | 411,335 | 397,054 | 14,281 | 4 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 465,737 | $ | 410,254 | $ | 55,483 | 14 | % | $ | 1,347,171 | $ | 1,240,024 | $ | 107,147 | 9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses increased by $33.1 million, or 19%, for the three months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to increases of $16.4 million in stock-based compensation and related expenses and $7.2 million in payroll and other payroll-related costs.
Sales and marketing expenses increased by $51.8 million, or 9%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to increases of $31.6 million in stock-based compensation and related expenses and $10.6 million in third-party cloud hosting services.
For additional information related to stock-based compensation expense, see the section titled “Stock-Based Compensation” below.
Research and Development
Research and development expenses increased by $11.8 million, or 11%, for the three months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to an increase of $11.0 million in stock-based compensation and related expenses.
Research and development expenses increased by $41.0 million, or 14%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to increases of $27.5 million in stock-based compensation and related expenses and $12.5 million in third-party cloud hosting services.
For additional information related to stock-based compensation expense, see the section titled “Stock-Based Compensation” below.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses increased by $10.5 million, or 8%, for the three months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to increases of $5.5 million in stock-based compensation and related expenses and $5.1 million in travel costs.
General and administrative expenses increased by $14.3 million, or 4%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to increases of $14.3 million in stock-based compensation and related expenses, and $8.6 million in travel costs. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $9.4 million to our allowance for credit losses.
For additional information related to stock-based compensation expense, see the section titled “Stock-Based Compensation” below.
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Stock-Based Compensation
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Change | Nine Months Ended September 30, | Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % | 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | $ | 13,123 | $ | 7,814 | $ | 5,309 | 68 | % | $ | 35,941 | $ | 24,995 | $ | 10,946 | 44 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 50,698 | 39,290 | 11,408 | 29 | % | 141,168 | 116,956 | 24,212 | 21 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | 30,715 | 21,952 | 8,763 | 40 | % | 87,532 | 65,068 | 22,464 | 35 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 47,889 | 45,324 | 2,565 | 6 | % | 145,199 | 136,276 | 8,923 | 7 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | 142,425 | $ | 114,380 | $ | 28,045 | 25 | % | $ | 409,840 | $ | 343,295 | $ | 66,545 | 19 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation expenses increased by $28.0 million and $66.5 million, or 25% and 19%, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2023. The increase was driven by expense from new grants awarded since September 30, 2023, including restricted stock units (“RSUs”), performance-based RSUs (“P-RSUs”), and stock appreciation rights (“SARs”), partially offset by a reduction in expense from equity awards that became fully vested, forfeitures, and lower expense under the accelerated attribution method for RSUs granted prior to September 30, 2020, the date we completed the direct listing of our Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”).
Interest Income
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Change | Nine Months Ended September 30, | Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | 2024 | 2023 | Amount | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | $ | 52,120 | $ | 36,864 | $ | 15,256 | $ | 142,065 | $ | 88,027 | $ | 54,038 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Interest income increased by $15.3 million and $54.0 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2023 primarily due to an increase in our interest-bearing cash, cash equivalents, and our investments in short-term U.S. Treasury securities.
Other Income (Expense), Net
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Change | Nine Months Ended September 30, | Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | 2024 | 2023 | Amount | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | $ | (8,110) | $ | 3,122 | $ | (11,232) | $ | (32,790) | $ | (11,355) | $ | (21,435) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other income (expense), net changed by $11.2 million and $21.4 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2023 primarily due to an increase in net realized and unrealized losses from our shares held in equity securities.
Provision for Income Taxes
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Change | Nine Months Ended September 30, | Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | 2024 | 2023 | Amount | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | $ | 7,809 | $ | 6,530 | $ | 1,279 | $ | 17,653 | $ | 10,382 | $ | 7,271 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Provision for income taxes increased by $1.3 million and $7.3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2023 primarily due to increased foreign tax expense as the result of higher foreign taxable income and withholding taxes.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
We generated positive cash flow from operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2024. We had cash, cash equivalents, and short-term U.S. Treasury securities totaling $4.6 billion available as of September 30, 2024. We believe that cash flows generated from operations, available funds, and access to financing sources, including our undrawn credit facility,
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will be sufficient to meet our anticipated operating cash needs for at least the next twelve months. However, any projections of future cash needs and cash flows are subject to substantial uncertainty. While we have generated income from operations and positive cash flows from operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the amounts may fluctuate for the foreseeable future.
As of September 30, 2024, our accumulated deficit balance was $5.3 billion, and our principal sources of liquidity were cash, cash equivalents, and short-term U.S. Treasury securities totaling $4.6 billion.
As of September 30, 2024, we had no outstanding debt balances and additional available and undrawn revolving commitments of $500.0 million under our credit facility. For more information, see Note 6. Debt in our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
In August 2023, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $1.0 billion of the Company’s outstanding shares of Class A common stock (the “Share Repurchase Program”). For additional information on our Share Repurchase Program, see Note 8. Stockholders’ Equity in our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the Company repurchased and subsequently retired 1.8 million shares of its Class A common stock for an aggregate amount, including commissions, of $45.6 million under the Share Repurchase Program. As of September 30, 2024, approximately $954.4 million of the originally authorized amount under the Share Repurchase Program remained available for future repurchases.
Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to, the rate of our growth, our ability to attract and retain customers and their willingness and ability to pay for our products and services, and the timing and extent of spending to support our efforts to market and develop our products. Further, we may enter into future arrangements to acquire or invest in businesses, products, services, strategic partnerships, and technologies; additionally, we have, and may in the future, repurchase shares of our Class A common stock from time to time under our Share Repurchase Program. As such, we may seek additional equity or debt financing on an as needed or opportunistic basis. In the event that additional financing is required from outside sources, we may not be able to raise it on terms acceptable to us or at all. If additional funds are not available to us on acceptable terms, or at all, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected. For additional information on our Share Repurchase Program, see Note 8. Stockholders’ Equity in our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
The following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods indicated (in thousands):
| Nine Months Ended September 30, | |||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||
| Net cash provided by (used in): | |||||||||||
| Operating activities | $ | 693,538 | $ | 411,011 | |||||||
| Investing activities | (980,849) | (2,141,954) | |||||||||
| Financing activities | 224,700 | 167,607 | |||||||||
Effect of foreign exchange on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | 960 | (2,113) | |||||||||
Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | $ | (61,651) | $ | (1,565,449) | |||||||
Operating Activities
Net cash provided by operating activities was $693.5 million and $411.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The increase was primarily driven by the growth of our business and timing of the receipt of payments from our customers and timing of payments to vendors.
Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities was $980.8 million and $2.1 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The decrease in cash used in investing activities was primarily due to fewer purchases of marketable securities, primarily comprised of U.S. Treasury securities, compared to the prior year.
Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities was $224.7 million and $167.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, each of which primarily consisted of proceeds from the exercise of common stock options.
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Contractual Obligations and Commitments
Our contractual obligations and commitments primarily consist of operating lease commitments for our facilities and non-cancelable purchase commitments related to third-party cloud hosting services. For additional information, refer to Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies to our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Except as already disclosed in Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies in our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, there has been no material change in our contractual obligations and commitments other than in the ordinary course of business since our fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. See our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 20, 2024, for additional information regarding the Company’s contractual obligations.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our condensed consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes thereto included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, and related disclosures. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ significantly from our estimates. To the extent that there are differences between our estimates and actual results, our future financial statement presentation, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows will be affected.
There have been no material changes to our critical accounting policies and estimates as compared to the critical accounting policies and estimates discussed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was filed with the SEC on February 20, 2024, except as described in Note 2. Significant Accounting Policies to the condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
For information on recently issued accounting pronouncements, if any, refer to Note 2. Significant Accounting Policies in our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
We are exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of our business, which primarily relate to fluctuations in the value of our investments, interest rates, foreign currency exchange, and inflation.
Market Risk
As of September 30, 2024, we held publicly-traded equity securities valued at $8.3 million. We have sold, and may continue to sell, some or all of such equity securities. These equity securities are often in early- or growth-stage companies that have minimal public trading history; as such the fair value of these equity securities, and the value of our equity holdings, may fluctuate depending on the financial outcome and prospects of the issuers, as well as global market conditions, including ongoing volatility related to the Russia-Ukraine and Israel conflicts, and heightened interest rates.
As of September 30, 2024, we held privately-held equity securities valued at $52.6 million. Valuations of our privately-held equity securities are complex due to, among other things, the lack of liquidity and the lack of readily available market data. Uncertainties in the global economic climate and financial markets, or in the business, financial results, or conditions of companies we hold equity in, could adversely impact the valuations of such companies and, therefore, result in an impairment or downward adjustment in the value of our holdings.
We have and may continue to accept securities as consideration or invest in securities, which may contribute to additional volatility to our condensed consolidated statements of operations.
Interest Rate Risk
Our cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and available-for-sale debt securities consist of cash, short-term U.S. Treasury securities, money market funds, and certificates of deposit. The primary objective of our investment activities and strategies are focused on the preservation of capital and supporting our liquidity requirements.
Due to the short-term nature of the financial instruments, we have not been exposed to, nor do we anticipate being exposed to, material risks due to changes in interest rates.
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Foreign Currency Exchange Risk
Our contracts with customers are primarily denominated in U.S. dollars, with the remaining denominated in foreign currencies. Our expenses are generally denominated in the currencies of the jurisdictions in which we conduct our operations, which are primarily in the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries. Our results of current and future operations and cash flows are, therefore, subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates, particularly changes in JPY, Euro, and GBP. We have experienced, and may continue to experience, fluctuations in net income as a result of transaction gains or losses related to remeasuring certain asset and liability balances that are denominated in foreign currencies. These exposures may change over time as business practices evolve and economic conditions change. To date, foreign currency transaction gains and losses have not been material to our condensed consolidated financial statements, and we have not engaged in any foreign currency hedging transactions.
Inflation Risk
We do not believe that inflation has had a material effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition. If our costs were to become subject to significant inflationary pressures, we may not be able to fully offset such higher costs through price increases. Our inability or failure to do so could harm our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information we are required to disclose in reports that we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Our management, with the participation and supervision of our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, have evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Based on such evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were, in design and operation, effective at a reasonable assurance level.
Changes in Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the evaluation required by Rule 13a-15(d) and 15d-15(d) of the Exchange Act that occurred during the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Inherent Limitations on the Effectiveness of Controls
The effectiveness of any system of internal control over financial reporting, including ours, is subject to inherent limitations, including the exercise of judgment in designing, implementing, operating, and evaluating the controls and procedures, and the inability to eliminate misconduct completely. Accordingly, in designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any system of internal control over financial reporting, including ours, no matter how well designed and operated, can only provide reasonable, not absolute, assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. In addition, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and that management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the benefits of possible controls and procedures relative to their costs. Moreover, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. We intend to continue to monitor and upgrade our internal controls as necessary or appropriate for our business but cannot assure you that such improvements will be sufficient to provide us with effective internal control over financial reporting.
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PART II - OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
From time to time, we are subject to legal proceedings and claims arising in the ordinary course of business. Based on our current knowledge, we believe that the amount or range of reasonably possible losses will not, either individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition.
The results of any litigation cannot be predicted with certainty, and an unfavorable resolution in any legal proceedings could materially affect our future business, results of operations, or financial condition. Regardless of the outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources, and other factors.
For information on legal proceedings, refer to Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies—Litigation and Legal Proceedings in our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes, before making a decision to invest in our Class A common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations, or prospects could also be harmed by risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently do not believe are material. If any of the risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects could be adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.
Risk Factor Summary
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that you should consider before investing in our Class A common stock. These risks are described more fully below and include, but are not limited to, risks relating to the following:
•until recent quarters, we had a history of incurring net losses, and we anticipate our operating expenses will continue to increase and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability in the future;
•we may not be able to sustain our revenue growth;
•our sales efforts involve considerable time and expense and our sales cycle is often long and unpredictable;
•a limited number of customers account for a substantial portion of our revenue;
•our results of operations and our key business measures are likely to fluctuate significantly on a quarterly basis;
•seasonality may cause fluctuations in our results of operations and financial position;
•our platforms are complex and may have a lengthy implementation process;
•we may not successfully develop and deploy new technologies (such as technologies incorporating AI) to address the needs of our customers;
•our platforms must operate with third-party products and services;
•we may be unable to hire, retain, train, and motivate qualified personnel and senior management and deploy our personnel and resources to meet customer demand;
•we may be unable to successfully build, expand, and deploy our marketing and sales organization;
•we may not be able to maintain and enhance our brand and reputation;
•unfavorable news or social media coverage may harm our reputation and business;
•exclusive arrangements or unique terms with customers or partners may result in significant risks or liabilities to us;
•we face intense competition in our markets;
•we may be unable to maintain or properly manage our culture as we grow;
•we may not enter into relationships with potential customers if we consider their activities to be inconsistent with our organizational mission or values;
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•joint ventures, channel sales relationships, platform partnerships, and strategic alliances may be unsuccessful;
•we may not be successful in executing our strategy to increase our sales to larger customers;
•breach of the systems of any third parties upon which we rely, our customers’ systems, locations, or environments, or our internal systems or unauthorized access to data;
•the market for our platforms and services may develop more slowly than we expect;
•we have made and may continue to make strategic investments to support key business initiatives, including in privately-held and publicly-traded companies, as well as alternative investments, and we may not realize a return on these investments;
•issues raised by the use of AI (including machine learning and large language models) in our platforms and business may result in reputational harm or liability;
•we depend on computing infrastructure of third parties and they may experience errors, disruption, performance problems, or failure;
•we may fail to adequately obtain, maintain, protect, and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights;
•we may be subject to intellectual property rights claims;
•there may be real or perceived errors, failures, defects, or bugs in our platforms;
•we rely on the availability of third-party technology that may be difficult to replace or that may cause errors;
•our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and non-U.S. laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection and security, technology protection, and other matters;
•our non-U.S. sales and operations subject us to additional risks and regulations;
•we may encounter unfavorable outcomes in legal, regulatory, and administrative inquiries and proceedings;
•we may fail to receive and maintain government contracts or there may be changes in the contracting or fiscal policies of the public sector;
•many of our customer contracts may be terminated by the customer at any time for convenience and may contain other provisions permitting the customer to discontinue contract performance;
•we may not realize the full deal value of our customer contracts;
•there may be a decline in the U.S. and other government budgets, changes in spending or budgetary priorities, or delays in contract awards;
•there are no guarantees that our Share Repurchase Program (as defined below) will result in increased shareholder value; and
•the multi-class structure of our common stock, the Founder Voting Trust Agreement, and the Founder Voting Agreement concentrate voting power with certain stockholders, in particular, Stephen Cohen, Alexander Karp, and Peter Thiel (our “Founders”) and their affiliates.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
Until recent quarters, we had a history of incurring net losses, and we anticipate our operating expenses will continue to increase and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability in the future.
Although we have achieved GAAP profitability in recent quarters, we incurred net losses in each period from our inception through the third quarter of 2022. We may not achieve or maintain profitability in future periods or, if we are profitable, we may not fully achieve our profitability targets. In addition, while we remain focused on operating efficiently, we anticipate that our operating expenses will continue to increase in the future. As we continue to expand our business, industry verticals, and the breadth of our operations, upgrade our infrastructure, hire additional employees, expand into new markets, invest in research and development, invest in sales and marketing, including expanding our sales organization and related sales-based payments that may come with such expansion, lease more real estate to accommodate our anticipated future growth, and incur costs associated with general administration, including expenses related to being a public company, we expect that our costs of revenue and operating expenses will continue to increase. To the extent we are successful in increasing our customer base, we may also incur increased expenses or losses because the costs associated with acquiring and growing our customers and with research and development are generally incurred upfront, while our revenue from customer contracts is generally recognized over the contract term. Furthermore, our sales model has historically required us to spend months and invest significant resources working with customers on pilot deployments at no or low cost to them. Though we have begun to integrate shorter,
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more cost-effective programs such as bootcamps, these initial deployments (including bootcamps) may result in no or minimal future revenue. We may also encounter unforeseen or unpredictable factors, including adverse macroeconomic conditions, unforeseen operating expenses, or other complications or delays, which may result in increased costs, or cause us to generate less revenue from our customers than we anticipated. We may not be able to continue to increase our revenue at a rate sufficient to offset increases in our costs of revenue and operating expenses in the near term or at all, which would prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability in the future. Any failure by us to maintain or increase profitability in the future or achieve our profitability targets could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We may not be able to sustain our revenue growth in the future.
Although our revenue has increased in recent periods, there can be no assurances that our revenue will continue to grow or do so at current rates, and you should not rely on the revenue of any prior quarterly or annual period as an indication of our future performance. Our revenue growth rate has declined in certain recent periods and may continue to decline in future periods. In addition, as we continue to expand our platform and product offerings, or experience greater adoption of certain of our platform and product offerings, we have and may continue to experience variability in our revenue growth in certain markets or with certain customer segments relative to other markets or customer segments. Many factors may contribute to declines or variability in our revenue growth, including macroeconomic factors, increased competition, slowing demand for our platforms from existing and new customers, a failure by us to continue capitalizing on growth opportunities, terminations of existing contracts or failure to exercise existing options by our customers, and the maturation of our business, among others. If our revenue growth or revenue growth rate declines overall, or with respect to certain areas of our business, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our sales efforts involve considerable time and expense, and our sales cycle is often long and unpredictable.
Our results of operations may fluctuate, in part, because of the intensive nature of our sales efforts and the length and unpredictability of our sales cycle. As part of our standard sales efforts, we invest considerable time and expense evaluating the specific organizational needs of our potential customers and educating these potential customers about the technical capabilities and value of our platforms and services. We often also provide our platforms to potential customers (including individual users at such customers) at no or low cost initially to them for evaluation purposes through short-term pilot deployments of our platforms, including at bootcamps, and there is no guarantee that we will be able to convert customers from these short-term pilot deployments to longer-term revenue-generating contracts. We may continue to modify and update our sales efforts to meet market demand and the organizational needs of our potential customers, including to implement new go-to-market mechanisms or self-service models, or to collaborate with third party service providers, and any of these changes may not be successful and could increase our operating expenses. In addition, we have grown and may continue to grow our direct sales force, and our sales efforts have historically depended on the significant involvement of our senior management team. The length of our sales cycle, from initial demonstration of our platforms to sale of our platforms and services, tends to be long and varies substantially from customer to customer. Our sales cycle often lasts six to nine months but can extend to a year or more for some customers. Because decisions to purchase our platforms involve significant financial commitments, potential customers generally evaluate our platforms at multiple levels within their organization, each of which often have specific requirements, and typically involve their senior management.
Our results of operations depend on sales to enterprise customers, which make product purchasing decisions based in part or entirely on factors, or perceived factors, not directly related to the features of the platforms, including, among others, that customer’s projections of business growth, uncertainty about macroeconomic conditions (including as a result of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and related economic sanctions, the ongoing conflict resulting from Hamas’ attack on Israel, heightened interest rates, monetary policy changes, or foreign currency fluctuations), capital budgets, anticipated cost savings from the implementation of our platforms, potential preference for such customer’s internally-developed software solutions, perceptions about our business and platforms, more favorable terms offered by potential competitors, and previous technology investments. In addition, certain decision makers and other stakeholders within our potential customers tend to have vested interests in the continued use of internally developed or existing software, which may make it more difficult for us to sell our platforms and services. As a result of these and other factors, our sales efforts typically require an extensive effort throughout a customer’s organization, a significant investment of human resources, expense and time, including by our senior management, and there can be no assurances that we will be successful in making a sale to a potential customer. If our sales efforts to a potential customer do not result in sufficient revenue to justify our investments, including in our growing direct sales force, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Historically, existing customers have expanded their relationships with us, which has resulted in a limited number of customers accounting for a substantial portion of our revenue. If existing customers do not make subsequent purchases
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from us or renew their contracts with us, or if our relationships with our largest customers are impaired or terminated, our revenue could decline, and our results of operations would be adversely impacted.
We derive a significant portion of our revenue from existing customers that expand their relationships with us. Increasing the size and number of the deployments of our existing customers is a major part of our growth strategy. We may not be effective in executing this or any other aspect of our growth strategy.
Our top three customers together accounted for 18% and 17% of our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and 17% and 19% of our revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Our top three customers by revenue, for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, have been with us for an average of nine years as of September 30, 2024. Certain of our customers, including customers that represent a significant portion of our business, have in the past reduced, and others may choose in the future to reduce, their spend with us or terminated their agreements with us, which has reduced our anticipated future payments or revenue from these customers, and which has required us to refund some previously paid amounts to these customers. It is not possible for us to predict the future level of demand from our larger customers for our platforms and applications.
While we generally offer contract terms of one to five years in length, our customers sometimes enter into shorter-term contracts which may not provide for automatic renewal and may require the customer to opt-in to extend the term. Our customers have no obligation to renew, upgrade, or expand their agreements with us after the terms of their existing agreements have expired. In addition, many of our customer contracts permit the customer to terminate their contracts with us with notice periods of varying lengths, generally three to six months. If one or more of our customers terminate their contracts with us, whether for convenience, for default in the event of a breach by us, or for other reasons specified in our contracts, as applicable; if our customers elect not to renew their contracts with us; if our customers renew their contractual arrangements with us for shorter contract lengths or for a reduced scope; or if our customers otherwise seek to renegotiate terms of their existing agreements on terms less favorable to us, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected. This adverse impact would be even more pronounced for customers that represent a material portion of our revenue or business operations.
Our ability to renew or expand our customer relationships may decrease or vary as a result of a number of factors, including our customers’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our platforms and services, the frequency and severity of software and implementation errors, our platforms’ reliability, our pricing, the effects of general economic conditions, competitive offerings or alternatives, or reductions in our customers’ spending levels. If our customers do not renew or expand their agreements with us or if they renew their contracts for shorter lengths or on other terms less favorable to us, our revenue may grow more slowly than expected or decline, and our business could suffer. Our business, financial condition, and results of operations would also be adversely affected if we face difficulty collecting our accounts receivable from our customers or if we are required to refund customer deposits.
Achieving renewal or expansion of deployments may require us to increasingly engage in sophisticated and costly sales efforts that may not result in additional sales. In addition, our customers’ decisions to expand the deployment of our platforms depends on a number of factors, including general economic conditions, the functioning of our platforms, the ability of our employees to assist our customers in identifying new use cases, modernizing their data architectures, and achieving success with data-driven initiatives, and our customers’ satisfaction with our services. If our efforts to expand within our existing customer base are not successful, our business may suffer.
We may not realize the full deal value of our customer contracts, which may result in lower than expected revenue.
As of December 31, 2023, the total remaining deal value, as defined in “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Overview—Total Remaining Deal Value” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was filed with the SEC on February 20, 2024, was $3.9 billion. Of our total remaining deal value, as of December 31, 2023, $2.1 billion was the remaining deal value of our contracts with commercial customers and $1.8 billion was the remaining deal value of our contracts with government customers.
Many of these contracts are subject to termination for convenience provisions. Additionally, the U.S. federal government is prohibited from exercising contract options more than one year in advance. As a result, there can be no guarantee that our customer contracts will not be terminated or that contract options will be exercised.
We historically have not realized all of the revenue from the full deal value of our customer contracts, and we may not do so in the future. This is because the actual timing and amount of revenue under contracts included are subject to various contingencies, including exercise of contractual options, customers not terminating their contracts, renegotiation of contracts, and other macroeconomic factors that may potentially inhibit a customer’s ability to pay. In addition, delays in the completion of the U.S. government’s budgeting process, the use of continuing resolutions, and a potential lapse in appropriations, or similar events in other jurisdictions, has and could in the future adversely affect our ability to timely recognize revenue under certain
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government contracts. If we are unable to realize all of the revenue from the full deal value of our customer contracts, our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our results of operations and our key business measures are likely to fluctuate significantly on a quarterly basis in future periods and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business, which makes our future results difficult to predict and could cause our results of operations to fall below expectations.
Our quarterly results of operations, including cash flows, have fluctuated significantly in the past and are likely to continue to do so in the future. Accordingly, the results of any one quarter should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Our quarterly results, financial position, and operations are likely to fluctuate as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, and as a result, may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business. Fluctuation in quarterly results may also negatively impact the value of our Class A common stock.
We typically close a large portion of our sales in the last several weeks of a quarter, which impacts our ability to plan and manage margins and cash flows. Our sales cycle is often long, and it is difficult to predict exactly when, or if, we will actually make a sale with a potential customer, particularly large government and commercial customers. As a result, large individual sales have, in some cases, occurred in quarters subsequent to those we anticipated, or have not occurred at all. The loss or delay of one or more large sales transactions in a quarter would impact our results of operations and cash flow for that quarter and any future quarters in which revenue from that transaction is lost or delayed. In addition, downturns in new sales may not be immediately reflected in our revenue because we generally recognize revenue over the term of our contracts. The timing of customer billing and payment varies from contract to contract. A delay in the timing of receipt of such collections, or a default on a large contract, may negatively impact our liquidity for the period and in the future. Because a substantial portion of our expenses are relatively fixed in the short term and require time to adjust, our results of operations and liquidity would suffer if revenue fell below our expectations in a particular period.
Other factors that may cause fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations and financial position include, without limitation, those listed below:
•the success of our sales and marketing efforts, including the success of our pilot deployments (including bootcamps);
•our ability to increase our contribution margins;
•the timing of expenses and revenue recognition;
•the timing and amount of payments received from our customers;
•termination of one or more large contracts by customers, including for convenience;
•the time and cost-intensive nature of our sales efforts and the length and variability of sales cycles;
•the amount and timing of operating expenses related to the development, maintenance, and expansion of our business and operations;
•the timing and effectiveness of new sales and marketing initiatives;
•changes in our pricing policies or those of our competitors;
•the timing and success of new platforms, products, features, and functionality introduced by us or our competitors;
•interruptions or delays in our operations and maintenance (“O&M”) services;
•cyberattacks and other actual or perceived data or security breaches or incidents;
•our ability to hire and retain employees, in particular, those responsible for operations and maintenance of and the selling or marketing of our platforms, and develop and retain talented sales personnel who are able to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time and provide sales leadership in areas in which we are expanding our sales and marketing efforts;
•the amount and timing of our stock-based compensation expenses;
•the amount and timing of employer payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation resulting from increases in our stock price;
•changes in the way we organize and compensate our employees;
•changes in the way we operate and maintain our platforms;
•unforeseen negative results in operations from our partnerships;
•changes in the competitive dynamics of our industry;
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•the cost of and potential outcomes of existing and future claims or litigation, which could have a material adverse effect on our business;
•changes in laws and regulations that impact our business, such as the FASA or the EU AI Act (“EU AIA”);
•indemnification payments to our customers or other third parties;
•ability to scale our business with increasing demands;
•the timing of expenses related to any future acquisitions; and
•general economic, regulatory, and market conditions, including the impacts of ongoing conflicts, such as those in Russia-Ukraine and Israel, and any related economic sanctions and regional instability, heightened interest rates, monetary policy changes, or foreign currency fluctuations.
In addition, many of our contracts contain termination for convenience provisions, and we may be obligated to repay prepaid amounts or otherwise not realize anticipated future revenue should we fail to provide future services as anticipated. These factors make it difficult for us to accurately predict financial metrics for any particular period.
The variability and unpredictability of our quarterly results of operations, cash flows, or other operating metrics could result in our failure to meet our expectations or those of analysts that cover us or investors with respect to revenue or other key metrics for a particular period. If we fail to meet or exceed such expectations for these or any other reasons, the trading price of our Class A common stock could fall, and we could face costly lawsuits. We and certain of our officers and directors were sued in purported class action lawsuits and derivative lawsuits, which could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources. For additional information see Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies in our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Seasonality may cause fluctuations in our results of operations and financial position.
Historically, the first quarter of our year generally has relatively lower sales, and sales generally increase in each subsequent quarter with substantial increases during our third and fourth quarters ending September 30 and December 31, respectively. We believe that this seasonality results from a number of factors, including:
•the fiscal year end procurement cycle of our government customers, and in particular U.S. government customers which have a fiscal year end of September 30;
•the fiscal year budgeting process for our commercial customers, many of which have a fiscal year end of December 31;
•seasonal reductions in business activity during the summer months in the United States, Europe, and certain other regions; and
•timing of projects and our customers’ evaluation of our work progress.
This seasonality has historically impacted and may in the future continue to impact the timing of collections and recognized revenue. Because a significant portion of our customer contracts are typically finalized near the end of the year, and we typically invoice customers shortly after entering into a contract, we may receive a portion of our customer payments near the end of the year and record such payment as an increase in deferred revenue or customer deposits (“contract liabilities”), while the revenue from our customer contracts is generally recognized over the contract term. While we have historically billed and collected payments for multiple contract years from certain customers in advance, we have and may continue to shift to collecting payments on an annual or other basis.
While this has been the historical seasonal pattern of our quarterly sales, we believe that our customers’ required timing for certain new government or commercial programs requiring new software may outweigh the nature or magnitude of seasonal factors that might have influenced our business to date. As a result, we may experience future growth from additional government or commercial mandates that do not follow the seasonal purchasing and evaluation decisions by our customers that we have historically observed.
For example, increased government spending on technology aimed at national defense, financial or policy regulation, cybersecurity, or healthcare mandates may drive customer demand at different times throughout our year, the timing of which we may not be able to anticipate and may cause fluctuations in our results of operations. The timing of our fiscal quarters and the U.S. federal government’s September 30 fiscal year end also may impact sales to governmental agencies in the third quarter of our year, offsetting, at least in part, the otherwise seasonal downturn we have historically observed in later summer months.
Our rapid growth in recent years may obscure the extent to which seasonality trends have affected our business and may continue to affect our business. We expect that seasonality will continue to materially impact our business in the future and may
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become more pronounced over time. The seasonality of our business may cause continued or increased fluctuations in our results of operations and cash flows, which may prevent us from achieving our quarterly or annual forecasts or meeting or exceeding the expectations of research analysts or investors, which in turn may cause a decline in the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Our platforms are complex and may have a lengthy implementation process, and any failure of our platforms to satisfy our customers or perform as desired could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Our platforms and services are complex and are deployed in a wide variety of network environments. Implementing our platforms can be a complex and lengthy process since we often configure our existing platforms for a customer’s unique environment. Inability to meet the unique needs of our customers may result in customer dissatisfaction and/or damage to our reputation, which could materially harm our business. Further, the proper use of our platforms may require training of the customer and the initial or ongoing services of our technical personnel as well as O&M services over the contract term. If training and/or ongoing services require more of our expenditures than we originally estimated, our margins will be lower than projected.
In addition, if our customers do not use our platforms correctly or as intended, inadequate performance or outcomes may result. It is possible that our platforms may also be intentionally misused or abused by customers or their employees or third parties who obtain access and use of our platforms. Similarly, our platforms sometimes are used by customers with smaller or less sophisticated IT departments, potentially resulting in sub-optimal performance at a level lower than anticipated by the customer. Because our customers rely on our platforms and services to address important business goals and challenges, the incorrect or improper use or configuration of our platforms and O&M services, failure to properly train customers on how to efficiently and effectively use our platforms, or failure to properly provide implementation or analytical or maintenance services to our customers may result in contract terminations or non-renewals, reduced customer payments, negative publicity, or legal claims against us. For example, as we continue to expand our customer base, any failure by us to properly provide these services may result in lost opportunities for follow-on expansion sales of our platforms and services.
Furthermore, if customer personnel are not well trained in the use of our platforms, customers may defer the deployment of our platforms and services, may deploy them in a more limited manner than originally anticipated, or may not deploy them at all. If there is substantial turnover of the Company or customer personnel responsible for procurement and use of our platforms, our platforms may go unused or be adopted less broadly, and our ability to make additional sales may be substantially limited, which could negatively impact our business, results of operations, and growth prospects.
If we do not successfully develop and deploy new technologies (such as technologies incorporating AI) to address the needs of our customers, our business and results of operations could suffer.
Our success has been based on our ability to design software and products that enable the integration of data into a common operating environment to facilitate advanced data analysis, knowledge management, and collaboration. We spend substantial amounts of time and money researching and developing new technologies and enhanced versions of existing features to meet our customers’ and potential customers’ rapidly evolving needs. There is no assurance that our enhancements to our platforms or our new product features, capabilities, or offerings, including new platforms or product modules, such as AIP, will, either individually or in the aggregate, be compelling to our customers, gain market acceptance, or have a positive or material impact on our business, financial condition, or results of operations, in each case in a timely or cost-effective manner. For example, we and our peers and competitors are investing more significantly in AI (including machine learning, large language and other generative AI models, and software functionality to operationalize the foregoing). There are significant risks involved in deploying AI and there can be no assurance that using AI in our platforms and products will enhance or be beneficial to our business, including our profitability. Further, other companies may develop products that are similar to ours, or adopt and implement AI more successfully or at a quicker pace than us. If our research and development investments do not accurately anticipate customer demand or if we fail to develop our platforms in a manner that satisfies customer preferences in a timely and cost-effective manner, we may fail to retain our existing customers or increase demand for our platforms.
The introduction of new products and services by competitors or the development of entirely new technologies to replace existing offerings could make our platforms obsolete or adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. We may experience difficulties with software development, design, or marketing that delay or prevent our development, introduction, or implementation of new platforms, features, or capabilities. We have in the past experienced delays in our internally planned release dates of new features and capabilities, and there can be no assurance that new platforms, features, or capabilities will be released according to schedule. Any delays could result in adverse publicity, loss of revenue or market acceptance, or claims by customers brought against us, any of which could harm our business. Moreover, the design and development of new platforms or new features and capabilities to our existing platforms may require substantial investment, and we have no assurance that such investments will be successful. If customers do not widely adopt our new platforms,
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products, features, and capabilities, we may not be able to realize a return on our investment and our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely affected.
Our new and existing platforms and changes to our existing platforms could fail to attain sufficient market acceptance for many reasons, including:
•our failure to predict market demand accurately in terms of product functionality and to supply offerings that meet this demand in a timely fashion;
•product defects, errors, or failures or our inability to satisfy customer service level requirements;
•negative publicity or negative private statements about the security, performance, or effectiveness of our platforms or product enhancements;
•delays in releasing to the market our new offerings or enhancements to our existing offerings, including new product modules;
•introduction or anticipated introduction of competing platforms or functionalities by our competitors;
•inability of our platforms or product enhancements to scale and perform to meet customer demands;
•receiving qualified or adverse opinions in connection with security or penetration testing, certifications or audits, such as those related to IT controls and security standards and frameworks or compliance;
•poor business conditions for our customers, causing them to delay software purchases;
•reluctance of customers to purchase proprietary software products;
•reluctance of our customers to purchase products hosted by our vendors and/or service interruption from such providers;
•reluctance of customers to purchase products incorporating generative AI; and
•reluctance of customers to purchase products incorporating open source software.
If we are not able to continue to identify challenges faced by our customers and develop, license, or acquire new features and capabilities to our platforms in a timely and cost-effective manner, or if such enhancements do not achieve market acceptance, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects may suffer and our anticipated revenue growth may not be achieved.
Because we derive, and expect to continue to derive, substantially all of our revenue from customers purchasing our platforms and products, market acceptance of these platforms and products, and any enhancements or changes thereto, is critical to our success.
The competitive position of our platforms depends in part on their ability to operate with third-party products and services, and if we are not successful in maintaining and expanding the compatibility of our platforms with such third-party products and services, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted.
The competitive position of our platforms depends in part on their ability to operate with products and services of third parties, software services, and infrastructure in connection with our work in the public and commercial sectors, including but not limited to with our joint ventures, channel sales relationships, platform partnerships, strategic alliances, and other similar arrangements where applicable. As such, we must continuously modify and enhance our platforms to adapt to changes in, or to be integrated or otherwise compatible with, hardware, software, networking, browser, and database technologies. In the future, one or more companies may choose not to support the operation of their hardware, software, or infrastructure, or our platforms may not support the capabilities needed to operate with such hardware, software, or infrastructure. In addition, to the extent that a third party were to develop software or services that compete with ours, that provider may choose not to support one or more of our platforms. We intend to facilitate the compatibility of our platforms with various third-party hardware, software, and infrastructure by maintaining and expanding our business and technical relationships. For example, in March 2024, we were selected by the U.S. Army to develop and deliver the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node ground station system, the Army’s first AI-defined vehicle, which will involve coordination with third parties such as hardware manufacturers. If we are not successful in achieving our compatibility goal, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted.
If we fail to manage future growth effectively, our business could be harmed.
Since our founding in 2003, we have experienced rapid growth. We operate in a growing market and have experienced, and may continue to experience, significant expansion of our operations. This growth has placed, and may continue to place, a strain on our employees, management systems, operational, financial, and other resources. As we have grown, we have
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increasingly managed larger and more complex deployments of our platforms and services with a broader base of government and commercial customers. As we continue to grow, we face challenges of integrating, developing, retaining, and motivating our employee base in various countries around the world. For example, our headcount has grown from 313 full-time employees as of December 31, 2010 to 3,892 full-time employees as of September 30, 2024, with employees located both in the United States and outside the United States. In the event of continued growth of our operations, our operational resources, including our information technology systems, our employee base, or our internal controls and procedures may not be adequate to support our operations and deployments. Managing our growth may require significant expenditures and allocation of valuable management resources, improving our operational, financial, and management processes and systems, and effectively expanding, training, and managing our employee base. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as it grows, our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be harmed. As our organization continues to grow, we may find it increasingly difficult to maintain the benefits of our traditional company culture, including our ability to quickly respond to customers, and avoid unnecessary delays that may be associated with a formal corporate structure. This could negatively affect our business performance or ability to hire or retain personnel in the near- or long-term.
In addition, our prior rapid growth may make it difficult to evaluate our future prospects. Our ability to forecast our future results of operations is subject to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to effectively plan for and model future growth. We have encountered in the past, and may encounter in the future, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies with global operations in rapidly changing industries. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as it grows, or if we are not able to accurately forecast future growth, our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be harmed.
If we are unable to hire, retain, train, and motivate qualified personnel and senior management, including Alexander Karp, one of our founders and our Chief Executive Officer, and deploy our personnel and resources to meet customer demand around the world, our business could suffer.
Our ability to compete in the highly competitive technology industry depends upon our ability to attract, motivate, and retain qualified personnel. We are highly dependent on the continued contributions and customer relationships of our management, and particularly on the services of Alexander Karp, our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Karp was part of our founding team and has been integral to our growth since our founding. We believe that Mr. Karp’s management experience would be difficult to replace. All of our executive officers and many key personnel are at-will employees and may terminate their employment relationship with us at any time. The loss of the services of our key personnel and any of our other executive officers, and our inability to find suitable replacements, could result in a decline in sales, delays in product development, and harm to our business and operations.
At times, we have experienced, and we may continue to experience, difficulty in hiring and retaining personnel with appropriate qualifications, and we may not be able to fill positions in a timely manner or at all. Our recruiting personnel, methodology, and approach may need to be altered to address a changing candidate pool and profile. We may not be able to identify or implement such changes in a timely manner. In addition, we may incur significant costs to attract and recruit skilled personnel, and we may lose new personnel to our competitors or other technology companies before we realize the benefit of our investment in recruiting and training them. As we move into new geographies, we will need to attract and recruit skilled personnel in those geographic areas, but it may be challenging for us to compete with traditional local employers in these regions for talent. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel who are capable of meeting our growing technical, operational, and managerial requirements on a timely basis or at all, our business may be harmed.
In addition, certain personnel may be required to receive various security clearances and substantial training in order to work on certain customer engagements or to perform certain tasks. Necessary security clearances may be delayed or unsuccessful, which may negatively impact our ability to perform on our U.S. and non-U.S. government contracts in a timely manner or at all.
Further, potential employees may request to work entirely or partially remotely. Though some of our current employees have continued to work remotely following the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a limited history of operating with a hybrid workforce. There is no guarantee that we will realize any anticipated benefits to our business from this model, including cost savings, operational efficiencies, or productivity. It is also possible that remote work arrangements may have a negative impact on our ability to recruit, train, manage, and retain employees; our operations; our information, data security and cybersecurity; consumer privacy and the risk of fraud; the execution of our business plans; our ability to maintain and strengthen our company culture; the productivity and availability of key personnel and other employees necessary to conduct our business; and on third-party service providers who perform critical services for us, or otherwise cause operational failures due to changes in our normal business practices.
Our success depends on our ability to effectively source and staff people with the right mix of skills and experience to perform services for our customers, including our ability to transition personnel to new assignments on a timely basis. If we are unable to effectively utilize our personnel on a timely basis to fulfill the needs of our customers, our business could suffer. Further, if
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we are not able to utilize the talent we need because of increased regulation of immigration or work visas, including limitations placed on the number of visas granted, limitations on the type of work performed or location in which the work can be performed, and new or higher minimum salary requirements, it could be more difficult to staff our personnel on customer engagements and could increase our costs.
We face intense competition for qualified personnel, especially engineering personnel, in major U.S. markets, where a large portion of our personnel are based, as well as in other non-U.S. markets where we have expanded or expect to expand our non-U.S. operations. We incur costs related to attracting, relocating, and retaining qualified personnel in these highly competitive markets, including leasing real estate in prime areas in these locations. Further, many of the companies with which we compete for qualified personnel have greater resources than we have. If the perceived value of our equity awards declines, or if the mix of equity and cash compensation or the structure and terms of the compensation that we offer is less attractive than that of our competitors, it may adversely affect our ability to recruit and retain highly skilled personnel. Additionally, laws and regulations, such as restrictive immigration laws, may limit our ability to recruit outside of the United States. We seek to retain and motivate existing personnel through our compensation practices, company culture, and career development opportunities. If we fail to attract new personnel or to retain our current personnel, our business and operations could be harmed.
Volatility or lack of appreciation in the trading price of our Class A common stock may also affect our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. Many of our senior personnel and other key personnel hold equity awards that have vested in part or are exercisable, which could adversely affect our ability to retain these personnel. Personnel may be more likely to leave us if the shares they own or the shares underlying their vested options, restricted stock units (“RSUs”), or other equity awards have significantly appreciated in value. In addition, many of our personnel may be able to receive significant proceeds from sales of our equity in the public markets, which may reduce their motivation to continue to work for us. Any of these factors could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
If we are unable to successfully build, expand, and deploy our marketing and sales organization in a timely manner, or at all, or to successfully hire, retain, train, and motivate our sales personnel, our growth and long-term success could be adversely impacted.
We have grown, and may continue to grow, our direct sales force and our sales efforts have historically depended on the significant direct involvement of our senior management team, including Mr. Karp. The successful execution of our strategy to increase our sales to existing customers, identify and engage new customers, and enter new U.S. and non-U.S. markets will depend, among other things, on our ability to successfully build and expand our sales organization and operations. Identifying, recruiting, training, and managing sales personnel requires significant time, expense, and attention, including from our senior management and other key personnel, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations in the short and long term.
In order to successfully scale our unique sales model, we may need to increase the size of our direct sales force, both in the United States and outside of the United States, to generate additional revenue from new and existing customers while preserving the cultural and mission-oriented elements of our company. If we do not hire a sufficient number of qualified sales personnel, our future revenue growth and business could be adversely impacted. It may take a significant period of time before our sales personnel are fully trained and productive, particularly in light of our unique sales model, and there is no guarantee we will be successful in adequately training and effectively deploying our sales personnel. In addition, we have invested, and may need to continue investing, significant resources in our sales operations to enable our sales organization to run effectively and efficiently, including supporting sales strategy planning, sales process optimization, data analytics and reporting, and administering incentive compensation arrangements. Furthermore, hiring personnel in new countries requires additional setup and upfront costs that we may not recover if those personnel fail to achieve full productivity in a timely manner. Our business would be adversely affected if our efforts to build, expand, train, and manage our sales organization are not successful. We periodically change and make adjustments to our sales organization in response to market opportunities, competitive threats, management changes, product introductions or enhancements, acquisitions, sales performance, increases in sales headcount, cost levels, and other internal and external considerations. Any future sales organization changes may result in a temporary reduction of productivity, which could negatively affect our rate of growth. In addition, any significant change to the way we structure and implement the compensation of our sales organization may be disruptive or may not be effective and may affect our revenue growth. If we are unable to attract, hire, develop, retain, and motivate qualified sales personnel, if our new sales personnel are unable to achieve sufficient sales productivity levels in a reasonable period of time or at all, if our marketing programs are not effective or if we are unable to effectively build, expand, and manage our sales organization and operations, our sales and revenue may grow more slowly than expected or materially decline, and our business may be significantly harmed.
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Our ability to sell our platforms and satisfy our customers is dependent on the quality of our services, and our failure to offer high quality services could have a material adverse effect on our sales and results of operations.
Once our platforms are deployed and integrated with our customers’ existing information technology investments and data, our customers depend on our O&M services to resolve any issues relating to our platforms. Increasingly, our platforms have been deployed in large-scale, complex technology environments, and we believe our future success will depend on our ability to increase sales of our platforms for use in such deployments. Further, our ability to provide effective ongoing services, or to provide such services in a timely, efficient, or scalable manner, may depend in part on our customers’ environments and their upgrading to the latest versions of our platforms and participating in our centralized platform management and services.
In addition, our ability to provide effective services is largely dependent on our ability to attract, train, and retain qualified personnel with experience in supporting customers on platforms such as ours. The number of our customers has grown significantly, and that growth has and may continue to put additional pressure on our services teams. Our services teams may need additional personnel to respond to customer demand, and we have, and may in the future continue to, partner with third parties in providing O&M services to our customers. We may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in customer demand for our O&M services. We also may be unable to modify the future scope and delivery of our O&M services to compete with changes in the services provided by our competitors. Increased customer demand for support, without corresponding revenue, could increase costs and negatively affect our business and results of operations. In addition, as we continue to grow our operations and expand outside of the United States, we need to be able to provide efficient services that meet our customers’ needs globally at scale, and our services teams may face additional challenges, including those associated with operating the platforms and delivering support, training, and documentation in languages other than English and providing services across expanded time-zones. If we are unable to provide efficient O&M services globally at scale, our ability to grow our operations may be harmed, and we may need to hire additional services personnel or partner with third-party organizations, which could increase our expenses, and negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our customers typically need training in the proper use of and the variety of benefits that can be derived from our platforms to maximize the potential of our platforms. If we do not effectively deploy, update, or upgrade our platforms, succeed in helping our customers quickly resolve post-deployment issues, and provide effective ongoing services, our ability to sell additional products and services to existing customers could be adversely affected, we may face negative publicity, and our reputation with potential customers could be damaged. Many enterprise and government customers require higher levels of service than smaller customers. If we fail to meet the requirements of the larger customers, it may be more difficult to execute on our strategy to increase our penetration with larger customers. As a result, our failure to maintain high quality services may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.
If we are not able to maintain and enhance our brand and reputation, our relationships with our customers, partners, and employees may be harmed, and our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.
We believe that maintaining and enhancing our brand identity and reputation is important to our relationships with, and to our ability to attract and retain customers, partners, investors, and employees. The successful promotion of our brand depends upon our ability to continue to offer high-quality software, maintain strong relationships with our customers, the community, and others, while successfully differentiating our platforms from those of our competitors. Unfavorable media coverage may adversely affect our brand and reputation. We anticipate that as our market becomes increasingly competitive, maintaining and enhancing our brand may become increasingly difficult and expensive. If we do not successfully maintain and enhance our brand identity and reputation, we may fail to attract and retain employees, customers, investors, or partners, grow our business, or sustain pricing power, all of which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects. Additionally, despite our internal safeguards and efforts to the contrary, and as our platforms and products become more widely accessible, we cannot guarantee that our customers will not ultimately use our platforms for purposes inconsistent with our company values, and such uses may harm our brand and reputation.
Our reputation and business may be harmed by news or social media coverage of Palantir, including but not limited to coverage that presents, or relies on, inaccurate, misleading, incomplete, or otherwise damaging information.
Publicly available information regarding Palantir has historically been limited, in part due to the sensitivity of our work with customers or contractual requirements limiting or preventing public disclosure of certain aspects of our work or relationships with certain customers. As our business has grown and as interest in Palantir and the technology industry overall has increased and we have engaged more actively with media and marketing efforts, we have attracted, and may continue to attract, significant attention from news and social media outlets, including unfavorable coverage and coverage that is not directly attributable to statements authorized by our leadership, that incorrectly reports on statements made by our leadership or employees and the nature of our work, perpetuates unfounded speculation about company involvements, or that is otherwise misleading. If such news or social media coverage presents, or relies on, inaccurate, misleading, incomplete, or otherwise damaging information regarding Palantir, such coverage could damage our reputation in the industry and with current and
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potential customers, employees, and investors, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects could be adversely affected. Due to the sensitive nature of our work and our confidentiality obligations and despite our ongoing efforts to provide increased transparency into our business, operations, and product capabilities, we may be unable to or limited in our ability to respond to such harmful coverage, which could have a negative impact on our business.
Our relationships with government customers and customers that are engaged in certain sensitive industries, including organizations whose products or activities are or are perceived to be harmful, has resulted in public criticism, including from political and social activists, and unfavorable coverage in the media. Activists have also engaged in public protests at our properties. Activist criticism of our relationships with customers could potentially engender dissatisfaction among potential and existing customers, investors, and employees with how we address political and social concerns in our business activities. Conversely, being perceived as yielding to activism targeted at certain customers could damage our relationships with certain customers, including governments and government agencies with which we do business, whose views may or may not be aligned with those of political and social activists. Actions we take in response to the activities of our customers, up to and including terminating our contracts or refusing a particular product use case could harm our brand and reputation. In either case, the resulting harm to our reputation could:
•cause certain customers to cease doing business with us;
•impair our ability to attract new customers, or to expand our relationships with existing customers;
•diminish our ability to recruit, hire, or retain employees;
•undermine our standing in professional communities to which we contribute and from which we receive expert knowledge; or
•prompt us to cease doing business with certain customers.
Any of these factors could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Because we recognize a substantial portion of our revenue from our platforms and O&M services over the contractual term, downturns or upturns in new sales and renewals may not be immediately reflected in our results of operations.
We generally recognize revenue from our platforms and O&M services over the contractual term. As a result, a portion of the revenue we recognize in each quarter is derived from customer contracts generally entered into during previous periods. Consequently, a decline in new or renewed contracts in any single quarter may have an immaterial impact on the revenue that we recognize for that quarter. However, such a decline would negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in sales or renewals, significant customer terminations, and potential changes in our contracting terms and pricing policies would not be fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods. The timing of our revenue recognition model also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenue through additional sales in any given period, as revenue is generally recognized over the applicable contractual term.
Our pricing structures for our platforms and services change from time to time, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We have in the past changed, and we expect that in the future we may change, our pricing models, including as a result of competition, global economic conditions, general reductions in our customers’ spending levels, pricing studies, or changes in how our platforms are broadly consumed. Similarly, as we introduce new platforms, products, and services, such as AIP, or as a result of the evolution of our existing platforms, products, and services, we may have difficulty determining the appropriate price structure for our products and services, or customers may request or demand different pricing structures. In addition, as new and existing competitors introduce new products or services that compete with ours, or revise their pricing structures, we may be unable to attract new customers at the same price or based on the same pricing model as we have used historically. Moreover, as we continue to target selling our platforms and services to larger organizations, these larger organizations may demand different pricing structures or substantial price concessions. As we expand access to our products to increasingly broad swaths of the market, our pricing model and product and service offerings for such customers have been, and will continue to be, tailored to be attractive for such customers. In addition, we may need to change pricing policies to accommodate government pricing guidelines for our contracts with federal, state, local, and foreign governments and government agencies. If we are unable to modify or develop pricing models and strategies that are attractive to existing and prospective customers, while enabling us to significantly grow our sales and revenue relative to our associated costs and expenses in a reasonable period of time, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely impacted.
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If our customers are not able or willing to accept our product-based business model, instead of a labor-based business model, our business and results of operations could be negatively impacted.
Our platforms are generally offered on a productized basis to minimize our customers’ overall cost of acquisition, maintenance, and deployment time of our platforms. Many of our customers and potential customers are instead generally familiar with the practice of purchasing or licensing software through labor contracts, where custom software is written for specific applications, the intellectual property in such software is often owned by the customer, and the software typically requires additional labor contracts for modifications, updates, and services during the life of that specific software. Customers may be unable or unwilling to accept our model of commercial software procurement. Should our customers be unable or unwilling to accept this model of commercial software procurement, our growth could be materially diminished, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.
We have entered into, and expect in the future to enter into, agreements with our customers that include exclusivity arrangements or unique contractual, pricing, or payment terms, which may result in significant risks or liabilities to us.
Our contracts with our customers are typically non-exclusive, but we have historically entered into arrangements with our customers and our partners that include exclusivity provisions, and we expect to continue to do so in the future. These exclusivity provisions limit our ability to license our platforms and provide services to specific customers, or to compete in certain geographic markets or industries, which may limit our growth and negatively impact our results. In addition, we have entered into joint ventures and strategic alliances with our customers, as described below, which also limit our ability to compete in certain geographic markets or industry verticals.
We have entered into and may continue to enter into, in limited circumstances, unique contractual, pricing, and payment arrangements with our customers, including some that may be outside of our typical scope of business, including arrangements relating to the receipt of noncash consideration. Our ability to sell or transfer, convert to cash, or realize value from, any noncash consideration we have received, or may receive in the future, in a timely manner or at all, may be limited by, among other things, applicable securities law and regulations, and global market and macroeconomic conditions, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, cash flows, and results of operations.
We face intense competition in our markets, and we may lack sufficient financial or other resources to maintain or improve our competitive position.
The markets for our platforms are very competitive, and we expect such competition to continue or increase in the future. A significant number of companies are developing products that currently, or in the future may, compete with some or all aspects of our proprietary platforms. We may not be successful in convincing the management teams of our potential customers to deploy our platforms in lieu of existing software solutions or in-house software development projects often favored by internal IT departments or other competitive products and services. In addition, our competitors include large enterprise software companies, government contractors, and system integrators, and we may face competition from emerging companies as well as established companies who have not previously entered this market. Additionally, we may be required to make substantial additional investments in our research, development, services, marketing, and sales functions in order to respond to competition, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully in the future.
Many of our existing competitors have, and some of our potential competitors could have, substantial competitive advantages such as:
•greater name recognition, longer operating histories, and larger customer bases;
•larger sales and marketing budgets and resources and the capacity to leverage their sales efforts and marketing expenditures across a broader portfolio of products;
•broader, deeper, or otherwise more established relationships with technology, channel and distribution partners, and customers;
•wider geographic presence or greater access to larger potential customer bases;
•greater focus in specific geographies;
•lower labor and research and development costs;
•larger and more mature intellectual property portfolios; and
•substantially greater financial, technical, and other resources to provide services, to make acquisitions, and to develop and introduce new products and capabilities.
In addition, some of our larger competitors have substantially broader and more diverse product and service offerings and may be able to leverage their relationships with distribution partners and customers based on other products or incorporate
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functionality into existing products to gain business in a manner that discourages customers from purchasing our platforms, including by selling at zero or negative margins, product bundling, or offering closed technology platforms. Potential customers may also prefer to purchase from their existing provider rather than a new provider regardless of platform performance or features. As a result, even if the features of our platforms offer advantages that others do not, customers may not purchase our platforms. These larger competitors often have broader product lines and market focus or greater resources and may therefore not be as susceptible to economic downturns or other significant reductions in capital spending by customers. If we are unable to sufficiently differentiate our platforms from the integrated or bundled products of our competitors, such as by offering enhanced functionality, performance, or value, we may see a decrease in demand for those platforms, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In addition, new, innovative start-up companies and larger companies that are making significant investments in research and development may introduce products that have greater performance or functionality, are easier to implement or use, incorporate technological advances that we have not yet developed, or implemented or may invent similar or superior platforms and technologies that compete with our platforms, such as platforms, products, or services that incorporate AI. Our current and potential competitors may also establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties that may further enhance their resources.
Some of our competitors have made or could make acquisitions of businesses that allow them to offer more competitive and comprehensive solutions. As a result of such acquisitions, our current or potential competitors may be able to accelerate the adoption of new technologies that better address customer needs, devote greater resources to bring these products and services to market, initiate or withstand substantial price competition, or develop and expand their product and service offerings more quickly than we do. These competitive pressures in our market, or our failure to compete effectively, may result in fewer orders, reduced revenue and margins, and loss of market share. In addition, it is possible that industry consolidation may impact customers’ perceptions of the viability of smaller or even mid-size software firms and consequently customers’ willingness to purchase from such firms.
We may not compete successfully against our current or potential competitors. If we are unable to compete successfully, or if competing successfully requires us to take costly actions in response to the actions of our competitors, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, companies competing with us may have an entirely different pricing or distribution model. Increased competition could result in fewer customer orders, price reductions, reduced margins, and loss of market share, any of which could harm our business and results of operations.
Our culture emphasizes rapid innovation and advancement of successful hires who may in some cases have limited prior industry expertise and prioritizes customer outcomes over short-term financial results, and if we cannot maintain or properly manage our culture as we grow, our business may be harmed.
We have a culture that encourages employees to quickly develop and launch key technologies and platforms intended to solve our customers’ most important problems and prioritizes the advancement of employees to positions of significant responsibility based on merit despite, in some cases, limited prior work or industry experience. Much of our hiring into technical roles comes through our internship program or from candidates joining us directly from undergraduate or graduate engineering programs rather than industry hires. Successful entry-level hires are often quickly advanced and rewarded with significant responsibilities, including in important customer-facing roles as project managers, development leads, and product managers. Larger competitors, such as defense contractors, system integrators, and large software and service companies that traditionally target large enterprises typically have more sizeable direct sales forces staffed by individuals with significantly more industry experience than our customer-facing personnel, which may negatively impact our ability to compete with these larger competitors. We have historically operated with a relatively flat reporting and organization structure and have few formal promotions. As our business grows and becomes more complex, the staffing of customer-facing personnel, some of whom may have limited industry experience, may result in unintended outcomes or in decisions that are poorly received by customers or other stakeholders. For example, in many cases we launch, at our expense, pilot deployments with customers without a long-term contract in place, and some of those deployments have not resulted in the customer’s adoption or expansion of its use of our platforms and services, or the generation of significant, or any, revenue or payments. In addition, as we continue to grow, including geographically, we may find it difficult to maintain our culture.
Our culture also prioritizes customer outcomes over short-term financial results, and we frequently make service and product decisions that may reduce our short-term revenue or cash flow if we believe that the decisions are consistent with our mission and responsive to our customers’ goals and thereby have the potential to improve our financial performance over the long term. These decisions may not produce the long-term benefits and results that we expect or may be poorly received in the short term by the public markets, in which case our customer growth and our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be harmed.
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We may not enter into relationships with potential customers if we consider their activities to be inconsistent with our organizational mission or values.
We generally do not enter into business with customers or governments whose positions or actions we consider inconsistent with our mission to support Western liberal democracy and its strategic allies. Our decisions to not enter into these relationships may not produce the long-term financial benefits and results that we expect, in which case our growth prospects, business, and results of operations could be harmed. Although we endeavor to do business with customers and governments that are aligned with our mission and values, we cannot predict how the activities and values of our government and private sector customers will evolve over time, and they may evolve in a manner inconsistent with our mission.
We do not work with the Chinese communist party and have chosen not to host our platforms in China, which may limit our growth prospects.
Our leadership believes that working with the Chinese communist party is inconsistent with our culture and mission. We do not consider any sales opportunities with the Chinese communist party, do not host our platforms in China, and impose limitations on access to our platforms in China in order to protect our intellectual property, to promote respect for and defend privacy and civil liberties protections, and to promote data security. Our decision to avoid this large potential market may limit our growth prospects and could adversely impact our business, results of operations, and financial condition, and we may not compete successfully against our current or potential competitors who choose to work in China.
Joint ventures, channel sales relationships, platform partnerships, and strategic alliances may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and prospects.
We expect to continue to enter into joint ventures, channel sales relationships (including original equipment manufacturer and reseller relationships), platform partnerships, and strategic alliances (including teaming agreements) as part of our long-term business strategy. Joint ventures, channel sales relationships, platform partnerships, strategic alliances, and other similar arrangements involve significant investments of both time and resources, and there can be no assurances that they will be successful. They may present significant challenges and risks, including that they may not advance our business strategy, we may get an unsatisfactory return on our investment or lose some or all of our investment, they may distract management and divert resources from our core business, including our business development and product development efforts, they may expose us to additional or unexpected liabilities, including as a result of partnering with entities in new or unfamiliar territories or markets, they may conflict with our sales hiring and direct sales strategy, or we may choose a partner that does not cooperate as we expect them to and that fails to meet its obligations or that has economic, business, or legal interests or goals that are inconsistent with ours. For example, in 2016, we entered into a partnership with Airbus S.A.S. (“Airbus”) that, over time, developed into the Skywise platform partnership, which provides our business strategic advantages but also limits our ability to independently provide our platforms to certain airlines and companies that compete with Airbus. Additionally, in November 2019, we created a jointly controlled entity in Japan with SOMPO Holdings, Inc., in which we subsequently obtained a controlling interest in November 2022. For more information see Note 14. Business Combinations in the consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was filed with the SEC on February 20, 2024. We also created a jointly-owned entity in South Korea with HD Hyundai Co. Ltd. in December 2022 in which we have a controlling interest. We believe these arrangements offer our business strategic operational advantages within Japanese and Korean markets, but they also limit our ability to independently sell our platforms, provide certain services, engage certain customers, or compete in Japanese and Korean markets or related industry verticals, which in turn limits our opportunities for growth in Japan and Korea and, depending on the success of each respective entity, may negatively impact our results. Furthermore, since 2020, we have entered into channel sales relationships and strategic alliances with various global system integrators that we believe provide us with more diverse go-to-market opportunities and access to a wider base of potential customers and pool of qualified subcontractor personnel that we can call upon to enhance and augment our implementation and engineering services.
When we enter into such relationships, our partners may be required to undertake some portion of sales, marketing, implementation services, engineering services, or software configuration that we would otherwise provide. In such cases, our partner may be less successful than we would have otherwise been absent the arrangement and our ability to influence, or have visibility into, the sales, marketing, and related efforts of our partners may be limited. In the event we enter into an arrangement with a particular partner, we may be less likely (or unable) to work with one or more direct competitors of our partner with which we would have worked absent the arrangement. We may have interests that are different from our partners and/or which may affect our ability to successfully collaborate with a given partner. In addition, customer satisfaction with our products provided in connection with these arrangements may be less favorable than anticipated, negatively impacting anticipated revenue growth and results of operations of arrangements in question. Further, some of our strategic partners offer competing products and services or work with our competitors. As a result of these and other factors, many of the companies with which we have or are seeking joint ventures, channel sales relationships, platform partnerships, or strategic alliances may choose to pursue alternative technologies and develop alternative products and services in addition to or in lieu of our platforms, either on their own or in collaboration with others, including our competitors. If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our
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relationships with these partners, our ability to compete in a given marketplace, secure certain customer contracts (including contracts for large or complex government procurement programs), or to grow our revenue would be impaired, and our results of operations may suffer. Even if we are successful in establishing and maintaining these relationships with our partners, we cannot assure you that these relationships will result in increased customer usage of our platforms or increased revenue. Additionally, if our partners’ brand, reputation, or products are negatively impacted in any way, that could impact our expected outcomes in those markets.
Entry into certain joint ventures, channel sales relationships, platform partnerships, or strategic alliances now or in the future may be subject to government regulation, including review by U.S. or foreign government entities related to foreign direct investment. If a joint venture or similar arrangement were subject to regulatory review, such regulatory review might limit our ability to enter into the desired strategic alliance and thus our ability to carry out our long-term business strategy.
As our joint ventures, channel sales relationships, platform partnerships, and strategic alliances come to an end or terminate, we may be unable to renew or replace them on comparable terms, or at all. Furthermore, one or more of our partners in such a relationship may independently suffer a bankruptcy or other economic hardship that negatively affects its ability to continue as a going concern or successfully perform on its obligation under the arrangement. Winding down joint ventures, channel sales relationships, platform partnerships, or other strategic alliances can result in additional costs, litigation, and negative publicity. Any of these events could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.
If we are not successful in executing our sales strategy, our results of operations may suffer.
An important part of our growth strategy is to increase sales of our platforms to large enterprises and government entities. Sales to large enterprises and government entities involve risks that may not be present (or that are present to a lesser extent) with sales to small-to-mid-sized entities. These risks include:
•increased leverage held by large customers in negotiating contractual arrangements with us;
•changes in key decision makers within these organizations that may negatively impact our ability to negotiate in the future;
•customer IT departments may perceive that our platforms and services pose a threat to their internal control and advocate for legacy or internally developed solutions over our platforms;
•resources may be spent on a potential customer that ultimately elects not to purchase our platforms and services;
•challenges in successfully identifying, evaluating, and collaborating or teaming with one or more third-party partners or suppliers in order to jointly pursue, secure, and perform under large or complex customer contracts, including certain government procurement programs;
•more stringent requirements in our service contracts, including stricter service response times, and increased penalties for any failure to meet service requirements;
•increased competition from larger competitors, such as defense contractors, system integrators, or large software and service companies that traditionally target large enterprises and government entities and that may already have purchase commitments from those customers; and
•less predictability in completing some of our sales than we do with smaller customers.
Large enterprises and government entities often undertake a significant evaluation process that results in a lengthy sales cycle, in some cases over twelve months, requiring approvals of multiple management personnel and more technical personnel than would be typical of a smaller organization. Due to the length, size, scope, and stringent requirements of these evaluations, we typically provide short-term pilot deployments of our platforms, or one or more bootcamps, to prospective customers at no or low cost initially. We sometimes spend substantial time, effort, and money in our sales efforts without producing any sales. The success of the investments that we make in the earlier stages of our sales cycle depends on factors such as our ability to identify potential customers for which our platforms have an opportunity to add significant value to the customer’s organization, our ability to identify and agree with the potential customer on an appropriate pilot deployment to demonstrate the value of our platforms, and whether we successfully execute on such pilot deployment. Even if the pilot deployment is successful, we or the customer could choose not to enter into a larger contract for a variety of reasons. For example, product purchases by large enterprises and government entities are frequently subject to budget constraints, leadership changes, multiple approvals, and unplanned administrative, processing, and other delays, any of which could significantly delay or entirely prevent our realization of sales. Finally, large enterprises and government entities typically (i) have longer implementation cycles, (ii) require greater product functionality and scalability and a broader range of services, including design services, (iii) demand that vendors take on a larger share of risks, (iv) sometimes require acceptance provisions that can lead to a delay in revenue recognition, (v) typically have more complex IT and data environments, and (vi) expect greater payment flexibility from vendors. Customers, and sometimes we, may also engage third parties to be the users of, or to integrate their products and services with, our platforms, which may result in contractual complexities and risks, require additional investment of time and
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human resources to train or work with the third parties and allow third parties (who may be building competitive projects or engaging in other competitive activities, or may not have appropriate organizational or technical expertise) to influence our customers’ perception of our platforms. All these factors can add further risk to business conducted with these customers. If sales expected from a large customer for a particular quarter are not realized in that quarter or at all, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
In addition, part of our growth strategy involves supporting a broader set of potential customers. Sales to such customers involve risks that vary from those present with sales to large or otherwise established organizations, due to their limited operating history, limited resources for adopting new technologies, and uncertain resources for future operations, among other things. Accordingly, we will continue to refine our business strategy and pricing structures to attract and retain such customers, as well as existing and larger customers across the potential customer base. There is no guarantee that our existing or proposed business strategies, including subscription-based or usage-based pricing structures, will achieve broad adoption by current or prospective customers or be appropriately structured to attract and retain other potential customers across the customer base.
If we are not successful in executing our sales strategy, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects could be adversely affected.
If the market for our platforms and services develops more slowly than we expect, our growth may slow or stall, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be harmed.
The market for our platforms is rapidly evolving. Our future success will depend in large part on the growth and expansion of this market, which is difficult to predict and relies on a number of factors, including customer adoption, customer demand, changing customer needs, the entry of competitive products, the success of existing competitive products, potential customers’ willingness to adopt an alternative approach to data collection, storage, and processing and their willingness to invest in new software after significant prior investments in legacy data collection, storage, and processing software. The estimates and assumptions that are used to calculate our market opportunity are subject to change over time, and there is no guarantee that any particular number or percentage of the organizations covered by our market opportunity estimates will pay for our platforms and services at all or generate any particular level of revenue for us. Even if the market in which we compete meets the size estimates and growth forecasts, our business could fail to grow at the levels we expect or at all for a variety of reasons outside our control, including competition in our industry. Further, if we or other data management and analytics providers experience security breaches or incidents, loss, corruption, or unavailability of or unauthorized access to customer data, disruptions in delivery, or other problems, this market as a whole, including our platforms, may be negatively affected. If software for the challenges that we address does not achieve widespread adoption, or there is a reduction in demand caused by a lack of customer acceptance, technological challenges, weakening economic conditions (including due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and related economic sanctions, heightened interest rates, or monetary policy changes), security or privacy concerns, competing technologies and products, decreases in corporate spending, or otherwise, or, alternatively, if the market develops but we are unable to continue to penetrate it due to the cost, performance, and perceived value associated with our platforms, or other factors, it could result in decreased revenue and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We will face risks associated with the growth of our business in new commercial markets and with new customer verticals, and we may neither be able to continue our organic growth nor have the necessary resources to dedicate to the overall growth of our business.
We plan to continue to expand our operations in new commercial markets, including those where we may have limited operating experience, and may be subject to increased business, technology and economic risks that could affect our financial results. In recent periods, we have increased our focus on commercial customers. In the future, we may increasingly focus on such customers, including in the banking, financial services, healthcare, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, telecommunication, automotive, airlines and aerospace, consumer packaged goods, insurance, retail, transportation, shipping and logistics, energy, mining, and other emerging industries. We have also increased our focus on new technologies, such as AI. Entering new verticals, expanding in the verticals in which we are already operating, and expanding our offerings will continue to require significant resources and there is no guarantee that such efforts will be successful or beneficial to us. Historically, sales to new customers have often led to additional sales to the same customers or similarly situated customers. As we expand into and within new and emerging markets and heavily regulated industry verticals and technologies, we will likely face additional regulatory scrutiny, risks, and burdens from the governments and agencies which regulate those markets, industries, and technologies. While this approach to expansion within new commercial markets and verticals has proven successful in the past, it is uncertain we will achieve the same penetration and organic growth in the future and our reputation, business, financial condition, and results of operations could be negatively impacted.
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In the future, we may not be able to secure the financing necessary to operate and grow our business as planned, or to make acquisitions.
In the future, we may seek to raise or borrow additional funds to expand our product or business development efforts, make acquisitions or otherwise fund or grow our business and operations. Our existing revolving credit facility, as amended, matures in March 2027 and provides for total commitments of up to $500.0 million, all of which are undrawn as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Any interest or facility payments are generally due and payable quarterly. Additional equity or debt financing may not be available on favorable terms, or at all.
Historically, we have funded our operations and capital expenditures primarily through cash flows from operations, equity issuances, and proceeds from option exercises. Although we currently anticipate that our existing cash, cash equivalents, and U.S. Treasury securities will be sufficient to meet our cash needs for at least the next twelve months, we may require additional financing, and we may not be able to obtain debt or equity financing on favorable terms, if at all. If we raise equity financing to fund operations or on an opportunistic basis, our stockholders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests. Additionally, tightening of the credit markets and high interest rates continue to negatively impact the capital raising environment. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, or at all, we may be unable to, among other things:
•develop new platforms, products, features, capabilities, and enhancements;
•continue to expand our product development, sales, and marketing organizations;
•recruit, hire, train, and retain employees;
•respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated working capital requirements; or
•pursue acquisitions or other growth or investment opportunities.
Our inability to take any of these actions because adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.
Our debt agreements contain restrictions that may limit our flexibility in operating our business.
Our credit agreement and related documents, including our pledge and security agreements, contain, and instruments governing any future indebtedness of ours would likely contain, a number of covenants that will impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us, including restrictions on our ability to, among other things:
•create liens on certain assets;
•incur additional debt;
•consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets;
•sell certain assets;
•pay dividends on or make distributions in respect of our capital stock;
•place restrictions on certain activities of subsidiaries;
•transact with our affiliates; and
•use a portion of our cash resources.
Any of these restrictions could limit our ability to plan for or react to market conditions and could otherwise restrict corporate activities. Any failure to comply with these covenants could result in a default under our credit facility or instruments governing any future indebtedness of ours. Additionally, our credit facility is secured by substantially all of our assets. Upon a default, unless waived, the lenders under our credit facility could elect to terminate their commitments and cease making further loans, and, when amounts are outstanding, foreclose on our assets pledged to such lenders to secure our obligations under our credit agreement and force us into bankruptcy or liquidation. In addition, a default under our credit facility could trigger a cross default under agreements governing any future indebtedness. If we experience a default under our credit facility or instruments governing our future indebtedness, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely impacted.
In addition, a portion of our cash is pledged as cash collateral for letters of credit and bank guarantees which support certain of our real estate leases, customer contracts, and other guarantees and financing obligations. While these obligations remain outstanding and are cash collateralized, we do not have access to and cannot use the pledged cash for our operations or to repay our other indebtedness. As of September 30, 2024, we were in compliance with all covenants and restrictions associated with our credit facility.
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Variable rate indebtedness that we may incur under our credit facility will subject us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.
As of September 30, 2024, no borrowings were outstanding under our credit facility. Any borrowings under the credit facility bear interest at variable rates, which would expose us to interest rate risk. Our loans under our credit facility would incur interest at the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as administered by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, or a successor administrator of the SOFR (or the applicable benchmark replacement) plus 2.00% or a base rate plus 1.00%, subject to certain adjustments, and would generally be payable quarterly.
We have invested in, and may in the future acquire or invest in, companies and technologies, which may divert our management’s attention, and result in additional dilution to our stockholders. We may be unable to integrate acquired businesses and technologies successfully or achieve the expected benefits of such acquisitions or investments. We are subject to risks associated with our investments, including a partial or complete loss of invested capital.
As part of our business strategy, we have engaged in strategic transactions and alternative investments in the past and expect to evaluate and consider potential strategic transactions, including acquisitions of, or investments in, businesses, technologies, services, products and other assets in the future. We also may enter into relationships with other businesses to complement or expand our products or our ability to provide services. An acquisition, investment or business relationship may result in unforeseen risks, operating difficulties and expenditures, including the following:
•any such transactions may negatively affect our financial results because it may require us to incur charges or assume substantial debt or other liabilities, may cause adverse tax consequences or unfavorable accounting treatment, may expose us to claims and disputes by third parties, including intellectual property claims and disputes, or may not generate sufficient financial return to offset additional costs and expenses related to such transactions;
•costs and potential difficulties associated with the requirement to test and assimilate the internal control processes of the acquired business;
•we may encounter difficulties or unforeseen expenditures assimilating or integrating the businesses, technologies, infrastructure, products, personnel, or operations of the acquired companies, particularly if the key personnel of the acquired company choose not to work for us or if we are unable to retain key personnel, if their technology is not easily adapted to work with ours, or if we have difficulty retaining the customers of any acquired business due to changes in ownership, management, or otherwise;
•we may not realize the expected benefits of the transaction;
•an acquisition may disrupt our ongoing business, divert resources, increase our expenses, result in unfavorable public perception, and distract our management;
•an acquisition may result in a delay or reduction of customer purchases for both us and the company acquired due to customer uncertainty about continuity and effectiveness of service from either company;
•the potential impact on relationships with existing customers, vendors, and distributors as business partners as a result of acquiring another company or business that competes with or otherwise is incompatible with those existing relationships;
•the potential that our due diligence of the applicable company or business does not identify significant problems or liabilities, or that we underestimate the costs and effects of identified liabilities;
•exposure to litigation or other claims in connection with, or inheritance of claims or litigation risk as a result of, the transaction, including but not limited to claims from former employees, customers, or other third parties, which may differ from or be more significant than the risks our business faces;
•potential goodwill impairment charges related to acquisitions;
•we may encounter difficulties in, or may be unable to, successfully sell any acquired products;
•the transaction may involve the entry into geographic or business markets in which we have little or no prior experience or where competitors have stronger market positions;
•an acquisition may require us to comply with additional laws and regulations, or to engage in substantial remediation efforts to cause the acquired company to comply with applicable laws or regulations, or result in liabilities resulting from the acquired company’s failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations;
•our use of cash to pay for the transaction would limit other potential uses for our cash;
•if we incur debt to fund such a transaction, such debt may subject us to material restrictions on our ability to conduct our business as well as financial maintenance covenants; and
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•to the extent that we issue a significant amount of equity securities in connection with such transactions, existing stockholders may be diluted and earnings per share may decrease.
We have accepted, and may continue to accept, securities as noncash consideration or invest in securities, including but not limited to in connection with customer contracts, partnerships, or strategic investments. For example, we have made and may continue to make strategic investments pursuant to certain approved agreements (“Investment Agreements”) to purchase, or commit to purchase, shares of various entities, including special purpose acquisition companies and/or other privately-held or publicly-traded entities (each, an “Investee,” and such purchases, the “Investments”); however, we do not currently anticipate entering into new Investment Agreements to purchase, or commit to purchase, securities of special purpose acquisition companies. Our ability to sell or transfer, or realize value from noncash consideration and our investments may be limited by applicable securities laws and regulations, including the requirement that offers or sales of securities must be registered with the SEC pursuant to applicable laws or qualify for an exemption from such registration, and our ability to liquidate and realize value from our equity securities may be negatively and materially impacted by any delays or limitations on our ability to offer, sell, or transfer such equity securities. In addition, certain of our equity securities are speculative in nature and may be volatile or decline in value or be entirely lost. We have realized, and may continue to realize, losses related to these equity securities, which could have a negative impact on our future financial position, results of operations, earnings per share, and cash flows.
Additionally, in connection with approving and signing the Investment Agreements, we and each Investee or an associated entity entered into a commercial contract for access to our products and services (collectively, the “Strategic Commercial Contracts”). The total value of Strategic Commercial Contracts, which is calculated as the sum of the cumulative revenue recognized from Strategic Commercial Contracts and the remaining deal value of such contracts, was $376.7 million, inclusive of $40.4 million of contractual options, as of September 30, 2024. Strategic Commercial Contracts with remaining deal value as of September 30, 2024 have original contract terms, including contractual options, of five and seven years and are subject to termination for cause provisions. When determining the total value of these Strategic Commercial Contracts, we assess customers’ financial condition, including the consideration of their ability and intention to pay, and whether all or some portion of the value of the contracts continue to meet the criteria for revenue recognition, among other factors. Certain companies with which we have entered into commercial contracts have been, and may continue to be, unable to generate sufficient revenues or profitability or to access any necessary financing or funding in a timely manner or on favorable terms to them, which has negatively impacted, and may continue to negatively impact, our expected revenue and collections. These companies are generally engaged in businesses that involve novel and unproven technologies, products, and services and such companies have been, and may continue to be, unable to perform all or some of their obligations under any commercial contracts that we enter into with them in a timely manner or at all. For example, some of our early-stage Investee customers filed for bankruptcy or terminated their contracts with us, and the remaining value of the commercial contracts with such customers that is not expected to be recognized as revenue has been excluded from the total value of Strategic Commercial Contracts above. As of September 30, 2024, the cumulative amount of revenue recognized from Strategic Commercial Contracts was $296.6 million, of which $42.7 million was recognized by us during the nine months ended September 30, 2024.
The occurrence of any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Moreover, we cannot assure you that we would not be exposed to unknown liabilities.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property, Information Technology, Data Privacy, and Security
If any of the systems of any third parties upon which we rely, our customers’ systems, locations, or environments, or our internal systems, are breached or if unauthorized access to customer, third-party, or our data is otherwise obtained, public perception of our platforms and O&M services may be harmed, and we may lose business and incur losses or liabilities.
Our success depends in part on our ability to provide effective data security protection in connection with our technology platforms and services, and we rely on information technology networks and systems to securely store, transmit, index, and otherwise process electronic information. Because our platforms and services are used by our customers to store, transmit, index, or otherwise process and analyze large data sets that often contain proprietary, confidential, and/or sensitive information (including in some instances personal or identifying information, personal health information, government classified information, and other information subject to regulatory or statutory control or requirements), our software is perceived as an attractive target for attacks by computer hackers or others seeking unauthorized access, and our software faces threats of unintended exposure, exfiltration, alteration, deletion, loss, or unavailability of data. Additionally, because many of our customers use our platforms to store, transmit, and otherwise process proprietary, confidential, or sensitive information, and complete mission critical tasks, they have a lower risk tolerance for security vulnerabilities in our platforms and services than for vulnerabilities in other, less critical, software products and services.
Our platforms and services operate in conjunction with, and we are dependent upon, third-party products and components across a broad ecosystem, including our customer environments. There have been and may continue to be significant attacks on certain third-party providers, and we cannot guarantee that our or any third-party providers’ systems, networks, products or
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components have not been breached or that they do not contain exploitable defects or bugs that could result in a breach of or disruption to our systems and networks or the systems and networks of third parties that support or otherwise interface with us and our platforms and services. Furthermore, changes such as configurations, updates or upgrades of third-party products or services have introduced and may in the future introduce or exacerbate vulnerabilities that may compromise our systems or those of our customers. If there is a security vulnerability, error, or other bug in one of these products or components and if there is a security exploit targeting them, we could face increased costs, claims, liability, reduced revenue, and harm to our reputation or competitive position. The natural sunsetting or phasing out of third-party products and operating systems that we use requires that our infrastructure teams reallocate time and attention to migration and updates, during which period potential security vulnerabilities could be exploited. In addition, the locations or environments in which our software is deployed have expanded, and may continue to expand, including on customer networks, on-premises at customer sites, on edge devices, on mobile devices, in data centers, in colocation spaces or in other locations or environments that we do not maintain or operate. In such locations or environments, we may not have full control over how our platforms and products are deployed, managed, or secured, our standards for information security may not be met, and our ability to deploy certain security features and controls may be limited. These locations and environments may be more vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks, phishing attacks, viruses, malware, ransomware, and hacking, or similar breaches and incidents, including those from nation-state actors or affiliated actors, and such attacks could harm our customers’ ability to operate and perform their obligations under our contracts, or result in increased costs or liabilities, a perceived or actual security breach of our platforms, or harm to our business and reputation. Moreover, if our platforms and products are not appropriately deployed, managed, and secured in these locations or environments, or such locations or environments are not appropriately secured or experience cybersecurity attacks or other security breaches or incidents, our platforms and products could be compromised, inappropriately accessed or acquired, or undergo unauthorized use, copying, and distribution, and reverse engineering of our intellectual property, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Further, certain of our platforms and services now allow customers to deploy their own applications in our environments, for example via our FedStart offering. These third-party applications have been built outside of our platforms or environments utilizing security procedures, techniques, and controls that may not meet our standards for information security, or may contain exploitable defects, errors, or bugs that could result in failures, disruptions, cybersecurity attacks, or other security breaches or incidents. Further, as we increase the number of customers we serve on our cloud environment, the likelihood increases that some usage of our products may occur that violates our terms of service or is otherwise improper or perceived as improper, which could cause reputational damage and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We, and the third-party vendors upon which we rely, have experienced, and may in the future experience, cybersecurity attacks and threats, including threats or attempts to disrupt our information technology infrastructure and unauthorized attempts to gain access to sensitive or confidential information. Our and our third-party vendors’ technology systems have been, and in the future may be, damaged, disrupted, or compromised by harmful events, including malicious activities, natural occurrences, inadvertent errors, cybersecurity incidents or cyberattacks (including computer viruses, ransomware, and other malicious and destructive code, phishing attacks, and denial of service attacks), physical or electronic security breaches and incidents, natural disasters, fire, power loss, telecommunications failures, personnel misconduct, and human error. Such attacks or security breaches or incidents may be perpetrated by internal bad actors, such as employees or contractors, or by third parties (including traditional computer hackers, persons involved with organized crime, or foreign state or foreign state-supported actors). Cybersecurity threats can employ a wide variety of methods and techniques, may include the use of social engineering techniques or supply-chain attacks, are constantly evolving, and have become increasingly complex and sophisticated, all of which increase the difficulty of detecting and successfully defending against them. Furthermore, because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not identified until after they are launched against a target, we and our third-party vendors may not have the capacity to immediately detect such efforts, may be unable to anticipate these techniques, or may be unable to implement adequate preventative measures. Although prior known cyberattacks directed at us have not had a material impact on our financial results, and we are continuing to bolster our threat detection and mitigation processes and procedures, our security measures may be circumvented and we cannot guarantee that past, future, or ongoing cyberattacks or other security breaches or incidents against us or a third party, if successful, will not have a material impact on our business or financial results, whether directly or indirectly. Further, the practical security prioritization decisions we make based on our assessment of potential risks may not be successful in identifying or mitigating cyberattacks or other security breaches or incidents that could result in material impacts.
We have provided, and may continue to provide, our platforms, products, personnel, and services to support operations in conflict zones. Such zones are subject to, among other things, political uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and military actions, such as those associated with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine and Israel conflicts. As a result, we and our third-party vendors have been vulnerable to a heightened risk of, and increased exposure to, cybersecurity attacks, phishing attacks, viruses, malware, ransomware, hacking or similar breaches and incidents, including increasingly sophisticated threats, from nation-state actors or affiliated actors, including attacks that could materially disrupt our systems and operations, supply chain, and ability to produce, sell, and distribute our products and services. While we have security measures in place to protect our information and our customers’ information and to prevent data loss and other security breaches and incidents, we have not always been able to do so and there can be no assurance that in the future we will be able to anticipate or prevent security breaches or incidents, or
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intentional or unintentional action or inaction by employees or third parties, which may result in unauthorized access of our information technology systems or the information technology systems of the third-party vendors upon which we rely. Despite our implementation of network security measures and internal information security policies, data stored on personnel computer systems is also vulnerable to similar security breaches and incidents, unauthorized tampering, bad actors, or human error.
If an actual or perceived breach of security measures, unauthorized access to our system or the systems of the third-party vendors that we rely upon, or any other cybersecurity attack, threat, or incident occurs, we may face direct or indirect liability, costs, or damages, including expenses related to responding and/or alleviating an actual or perceived breach or other incident, contract termination, our reputation in the industry and with current and potential customers may be compromised, our ability to attract new customers could be negatively affected, our management’s attention could be diverted, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
Further, unauthorized access to our or our third-party vendors’ information technology systems or data or other security breaches or incidents could result in the loss, corruption, or unavailability of information; significant remediation costs; litigation, disputes, regulatory action, or investigations that could result in damages, material fines, and penalties; indemnity obligations; interruptions in the operation of our business, including our ability to provide new product features, new platforms, or services to our customers; damage to our operation technology networks and information technology systems; and other liabilities. Moreover, our remediation efforts may not be successful. Any or all of these issues, or the perception that any of them have occurred, could negatively affect our ability to attract new customers, cause existing customers to terminate or not renew their agreements, hinder our ability to obtain and maintain required or desirable cybersecurity certifications, and result in reputational damage, any of which could materially adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects. There can be no assurance that any limitations of liability provisions in our license arrangements with customers or in our agreements with vendors, partners, or others would be enforceable, applicable, or adequate or would otherwise protect us from any such liabilities or damages with respect to any particular claim.
We maintain cybersecurity insurance and other types of insurance, subject to applicable deductibles and policy limits, but our insurance may not be sufficient to cover all costs associated with a potential data security incident. We also cannot be sure that our existing general liability insurance coverage and coverage for cyber liability or errors or omissions will continue to be available on acceptable terms or will be available in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large claims or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim as a result of inapplicability of coverage or administrative or procedural issues. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could harm our financial condition.
Issues raised by the use of AI (including machine learning, large language and other generative AI models, and software functionality to operationalize the foregoing) in our platforms and business may result in reputational harm or liability.
AI is enabled by or integrated into some of our technology platforms and is a significant and growing element of our business. We have also incorporated AI into certain operations within our business, including by using our platforms for internal functions. As with many developing technologies, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its further development, adoption, and use, and therefore our business. AI algorithms and models may be flawed. Datasets in AI training, development, or operations may be insufficient, of poor quality, reflect unwanted forms of bias, or raise other legal concerns (such as concerns regarding copyright protections). Inappropriate or controversial data practices by, or practices reflecting inherent biases of, data scientists, engineers, and end-users of our systems could impair the acceptance of AI solutions. Third-party AI capabilities that can be integrated with our platforms could also produce false or “hallucinatory” inferences about customer data or enterprises, or other information or subject matter. If the recommendations, forecasts, or analyses that AI applications assist in producing are deficient, unreliable or inaccurate, we could be subject to competitive harm, potential legal liability, including under existing, forthcoming, or proposed legislation regulating AI in jurisdictions such as the European Union (“EU”), and brand or reputational harm. The rapid evolution of AI and its evolving regulatory landscape may also require additional resources to develop, test, and maintain our platforms and products to help ensure that AI is implemented appropriately in order to minimize unintended or harmful impact, which may be costly and may not produce the benefits and results that we expect.
Some AI scenarios present ethical issues, and the enablement or integration of AI into our platforms may subject us to new or heightened legal, regulatory, ethical, or other challenges, the application or interpretation of which are complex and will likely continue to evolve. Moreover, AI, including our use of AI, may create additional cybersecurity risks or increase existing cybersecurity risks, and may result in cyberattacks, security breaches, phishing attacks, personal data breaches, or other incidents. For example, threat actors are increasingly using tools and techniques that circumvent controls, evade detection, and remove forensic evidence, which means that we and others may be unable to anticipate, detect, deflect, contain or recover from cyberattacks in a timely or effective manner. As AI capabilities improve and are increasingly adopted, we may see cyberattacks crafted with an AI tool to attack information systems by creating more effective phishing emails or social engineering and by exploiting vulnerabilities in electronic security programs utilizing false image or voice recognition. In addition, enhanced risk
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of cyberattacks could be a result of us or a third party incorporating the output of an AI tool, such as malicious code from an AI generated source code.
Our technologies and business practices are designed to mitigate many of these risks. For example, our platforms include data governance tools and machine learning modeling tools which help to regulate and limit user access to data sets and develop, deploy, and manage more effective and responsible AI capabilities. However, if these controls are not properly implemented by, or for, our customers, or if we enable or offer AI solutions that are controversial or problematic because of their purported or real impact on human rights, privacy, employment, or other societal issues, we may experience brand or reputational harm, as well as regulatory or legal scrutiny.
We depend on computing infrastructure operated by Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), Microsoft, and other third parties to support some of our customers and any errors, disruption, performance problems, or failure in their or our operational infrastructure could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We rely on the technology, infrastructure, and software applications, including software-as-a-service offerings, of certain third parties, such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, in order to host or operate some or all of certain key technology platform features or functions of our business, including our cloud-based services (including Palantir Cloud, as defined in the section titled “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Components of Results of Operations”), customer relationship management activities, billing and order management, cybersecurity program, and financial accounting services. Additionally, we rely on computer hardware purchased in order to deliver our platforms and services. We do not have control over the operations of the facilities of the third parties that we use. If any of these third-party services experience errors, disruptions, security issues, or other performance deficiencies, if they are updated such that our platforms become incompatible, if these services, software, or hardware fail or become unavailable due to extended outages, interruptions, defects, or otherwise, or if they are no longer available on commercially reasonable terms or prices (or at all), these issues could result in errors or defects in our platforms, cause our platforms to fail, our revenue and margins could decline, or our reputation and brand could be damaged, we could be exposed to legal or contractual liability, our expenses could increase, our ability to manage our operations could be interrupted, and our processes for managing our sales and servicing our customers could be impaired until equivalent services or technology, if available, are identified, procured, and implemented, all of which may take significant time and resources, increase our costs, and could adversely affect our business. Many of these third-party providers attempt to impose limitations on their liability for such errors, disruptions, defects, performance deficiencies, or failures, and if enforceable, we may have additional liability to our customers which may not be compensated by our third-party providers which are responsible for the liability.
We have experienced, and may in the future experience, disruptions, failures, data loss, corruption, unavailability, outages, and other performance problems with our infrastructure or cloud-based offerings due to a variety of factors, which have included or may in the future include infrastructure changes, introductions of new functionality, human or software errors, employee misconduct, capacity constraints, denial of service attacks, phishing attacks, computer viruses, ransomware, and other malicious or destructive code, or other security-related incidents, and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient for all situations. If we experience disruptions, failures, data loss, outages, or other performance problems, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our systems and the third-party systems upon which we and our customers rely are also vulnerable to damage or interruption from catastrophic occurrences such as earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunication failures, cybersecurity threats, terrorist attacks, such as the ongoing conflict resulting from Hamas’ attack on Israel, natural disasters, public health crises (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), geopolitical tensions such as those that may be caused by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, or acts of misconduct. Moreover, we have business operations in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is a seismically active region. Despite any precautions we may take, the occurrence of a catastrophic event or other unanticipated problems at our or our third-party vendors’ hosting facilities, or within our systems or the systems of third parties upon which we rely, could result in interruptions, performance problems, or failure of our infrastructure, technology, or platforms, which may adversely impact our business. In addition, our ability to conduct normal business operations could be severely affected. In the event of significant physical damage to one of these facilities, it may take a significant period of time to achieve full resumption of our services, and our disaster recovery planning may not account for all eventualities. In addition, any negative publicity arising from these disruptions could harm our reputation and brand and adversely affect our business.
Furthermore, our platforms are in many cases important or essential to our customers’ operations, including in some cases, their cybersecurity or oversight and compliance programs, and subject to service level agreements (“SLAs”). Any interruption in our service, whether as a result of an internal or third-party issue, could damage our brand and reputation, cause our customers to terminate or not renew their contracts with us or decrease use of our platforms and services, require us to indemnify our customers against certain losses, result in our issuing credit or paying penalties or fines, subject us to other losses or liabilities, cause our platforms to be perceived as unreliable or unsecure, and prevent us from gaining new or additional business from current or future customers, any of which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
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Moreover, to the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed, and continually develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected. The provisioning of additional cloud hosting capacity or upgrading technology, infrastructure, and software applications each require lead time and resources. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and other third parties have no obligation to renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. In addition, if we fail to meet the minimum usage commitments we have in place with third-party cloud hosting providers, we may be required to pay certain penalties or fees, including the difference between the minimum usage commitments and our actual usage, which could negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations. If AWS, Microsoft Azure, or other third parties increase pricing terms, terminate or seek to terminate our contractual relationship, establish more favorable relationships with our competitors, change or interpret their terms of service or policies in a manner that is unfavorable to us, or fall out of favor with our customers who use our cloud-based services, we may be required to transfer to other cloud providers or invest in a private cloud. If we are required to transfer to other cloud providers or invest in a private cloud, we could incur significant costs and experience possible service interruption in connection with doing so, or risk loss of customer contracts if they are unwilling to accept such a change.
A failure to maintain our relationships with our third-party providers (or obtain adequate replacements), and to receive services from such providers that do not contain any material errors or defects, could adversely affect our ability to deliver effective products and solutions to our customers and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Our policies regarding customer confidential information and support for individual privacy and civil liberties could cause us to experience adverse business and reputational consequences.
We strive to protect our customers’ confidential information and individuals’ privacy interests consistent with applicable laws, directives, and regulations. Consequently, we do not provide information about our customers to third parties without legal process. From time to time, government entities may seek our assistance with obtaining information about our customers or could request that we modify our technology platforms in a manner to permit access or monitoring. In light of our confidentiality and privacy commitments, we may legally challenge law enforcement or other government requests to provide information, to obtain encryption keys, or to modify or weaken encryption. To the extent that we do not provide assistance to or comply with requests from government entities, or if we challenge those requests publicly or in court, we may experience adverse political, business, and reputational consequences among certain customers or portions of the public. Conversely, to the extent that we do provide such assistance, or do not challenge those requests publicly in court, we may experience adverse political, business, and reputational consequences from other customers or portions of the public arising from concerns over privacy or the government’s activities.
Failure to adequately obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights could adversely affect our business.
Our success and ability to compete depends in part on our ability to protect proprietary methods and technologies that we develop under a combination of patent and other intellectual property and proprietary rights in the United States and other jurisdictions outside the United States so that we can prevent others from using our inventions and proprietary information and technology. Despite our efforts, third parties may attempt to disclose, obtain, copy, or use our intellectual property or other proprietary information or technology without our authorization, and our efforts to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights may not prevent such unauthorized disclosure or use, misappropriation, infringement, reverse engineering or other violation of our intellectual property or other proprietary rights. Effective protection of our rights may not be available to us in every country in which our technology platforms or services are available. The laws of some countries may not be as protective of intellectual property and other proprietary rights as those in the United States, and mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property and other proprietary rights may be inadequate. Also, our involvement in standard setting activity or the need to obtain licenses from others may require us to license our intellectual property. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to prevent third parties from using our intellectual property or other proprietary information or technology.
In addition, we may be the subject of intellectual property infringement or misappropriation claims, which could be very time-consuming and expensive to settle or litigate and could divert our management’s attention and other resources. These claims could also subject us to significant liability for damages if we are found to have infringed patents, copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights, or breached trademark co-existence agreements or other intellectual property licenses and could require us to cease using or to rebrand all or portions of our platforms. Any of our patents, copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights may be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation.
While we have issued patents and patent applications pending, we may be unable to obtain patent protection for the technology covered in our patent applications or such patent protection may not be obtained quickly enough to meet our business needs. Furthermore, the patent prosecution process is expensive, time-consuming, and complex, and we may not be able to prepare, file, prosecute, maintain, and enforce all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. The scope of patent protection also can be reinterpreted after issuance and issued patents may be invalidated. Even if our patent
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applications do issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that is sufficiently broad to protect our technology, prevent competitors or other third parties from competing with us or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. Even if our patents issue in a form that covers our technology, enforcing patents against suspected infringers is time consuming, expensive, and involves risks associated with litigation, including the risk the suspected infringers file counterclaims against us.
In addition, any of our patents, copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights may be challenged, narrowed, invalidated, held unenforceable, or circumvented in litigation or other proceedings, including, where applicable, opposition, re-examination, inter partes review, post-grant review, interference, nullification and derivation proceedings, and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions, and such intellectual property or other proprietary rights may be lost or no longer provide us meaningful competitive advantages. Such proceedings may result in substantial cost and require significant time from our management, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us. Third parties also may legitimately and independently develop products, services, and technology similar to or duplicative of our platforms. In addition to protection under intellectual property laws, we rely on confidentiality or license agreements that we generally enter into with our corporate partners, employees, consultants, advisors, vendors, and customers, and generally limit access to and distribution of our proprietary information. However, we cannot be certain that we have entered into such agreements with all parties who may have or have had access to our confidential information or that the agreements we have entered into will not be breached or challenged, or that such breaches will be detected. Furthermore, non-disclosure provisions can be difficult to enforce, and even if successfully enforced, may not be entirely effective. Additionally, as more information about us and our platforms is made or becomes publicly available, it may be more difficult to manage actions by third parties with respect to, or other use of, such information. We cannot guarantee that any of the measures we have taken will prevent infringement, misappropriation, or other violation of our technology or other intellectual property or proprietary rights. Because we may be an attractive target for cyberattacks, we also may have a heightened risk of unauthorized access to, and misappropriation of, our proprietary and competitively sensitive information. We may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, and we may conclude that in at least some instances the benefits of protecting our intellectual property or other proprietary rights may be outweighed by the expense or distraction to our management. We may initiate claims or litigation against third parties for infringement, misappropriation, or other violation of our intellectual property or other proprietary rights or to establish the validity of our intellectual property or other proprietary rights. Any such litigation, whether or not it is resolved in our favor, could be time-consuming, result in significant expense to us and divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel. Furthermore, attempts to enforce our intellectual property rights against third parties could also provoke these third parties to assert their own intellectual property or other rights against us, or result in a holding that invalidates or narrows the scope of our rights, in whole or in part.
We have been, and may in the future be, subject to intellectual property rights claims, which are extremely costly to defend, could require us to pay significant damages and could limit our ability to use certain technologies.
Our success and ability to compete also depends in part on our ability to operate without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of third parties. Companies in the software and technology industries, including some of our current and potential competitors, own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets and frequently pursue litigation based on allegations of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property rights. In addition, many of these companies have the capability to dedicate substantial resources to enforce their intellectual property rights and to defend claims that may be brought against them. Such litigation also may involve non-practicing patent assertion entities or companies who use their patents as a means to extract license fees by threatening costly litigation or that have minimal operations or relevant product revenue and against whom our patents may provide little or no deterrence or protection. We have received notices, and may continue to receive notices in the future, that claim we have infringed, misappropriated, misused or otherwise violated other parties’ intellectual property rights, and, to the extent we have made or will make more information about our platforms publicly available and become exposed to greater visibility, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or other violation claims, which is not uncommon with respect to software technologies in particular. There may be third-party intellectual property rights, including issued patents or pending patent applications, that cover significant aspects of our technologies, or business methods. There may also be third-party intellectual property rights, including trademark registrations and pending applications, that cover the goods and services that we offer in certain regions. We may also be exposed to increased risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation, or other violation claims as a result of acquisitions and our incorporation of open source and other third-party software into, or new branding for, our technology platforms, as, among other things, we have a lower level of visibility into the development process with respect to such technology or the care taken to safeguard against infringement, misappropriation, or other violation risks. In addition, former employers of our current, former, or future employees may assert claims that such employees have improperly disclosed to us confidential or proprietary information of these former employers. Any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, are difficult to predict, could be very time-consuming and expensive to settle or litigate, could divert our management’s attention and other resources, and may not be covered by the insurance that we carry. These claims could subject us to significant liability for damages, potentially including treble damages if we are found to have willfully infringed a third party’s intellectual property rights. These claims could also result in our having to stop using technology, branding or marks found to be in violation of a third party’s rights and
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any necessary rebranding could result in the loss of goodwill. We could be required to seek a license for the intellectual property, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if a license were available, we could be required to pay significant royalties, which would increase our expenses. As a result, we could be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology, branding or marks, which could require significant effort and expense. If we cannot license rights or develop technology for any infringing aspect of our business, we would be forced to limit or stop sales of one or more of our platforms or features, we could lose existing customers, and we may be unable to compete effectively. Any of these results would harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Further, our agreements with customers and other third parties generally include indemnification provisions under which we agree to indemnify them for losses suffered or incurred as a result of third-party claims of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation, or other violations of intellectual property rights, damages caused by us to property or persons, or other liabilities relating to or arising from our platforms, services, or other contractual obligations. Large indemnity payments could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Any dispute with a customer with respect to such obligations could have adverse effects on our relationship with that customer and other existing customers and new customers and harm our business and results of operations.
Real or perceived errors, failures, defects, or bugs in our platforms could adversely affect our results of operations and growth prospects.
Because we offer very complex technology platforms, various errors, defects, failures, or bugs have occurred and may in the future occur, especially when platforms, products, or capabilities are introduced, configured or reconfigured, or when upgrades, new versions or other product or infrastructure updates are deployed, installed, configured, or released. Our platforms are often installed and used in large-scale computing environments with different operating systems, software products and equipment, and data source and network configurations, which may cause errors or failures in our platforms or may expose undetected errors, failures, or bugs in our platforms. Despite our internal systems and processes, errors, failures, or bugs may not be found or may not be properly mitigated or remediated in configured, reconfigured, upgraded or new software or other releases until after commencement of commercial shipments. Errors, failures, defects, and bugs have affected the performance of our platforms and can also delay the development or release of new platforms, products, or capabilities or upgrades or new versions of platforms, adversely affect our reputation and our customers’ willingness to buy platforms from us, and adversely affect market acceptance or perception of our platforms. Many of our customers use our platforms in applications that are critical to their businesses or missions and may have a lower risk tolerance to errors, failures, defects, or bugs in our platforms than in other, less critical, software products. Any errors or delays in releasing new software or new versions of platforms, allegations of unsatisfactory performance, real or perceived errors, defects, or failures, such as data loss, or untimely or ineffective upgrades, patches, or other fixes to address errors, failures, defects, or bugs, could increase the risk of security vulnerabilities, cause us to lose revenue or market share, increase our service costs, cause us to incur substantial costs in redesigning the software, cause us to lose significant customers, cause us to issue credits or refunds, subject us to liability for damages and divert our resources from other tasks, any one of which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, our platforms could be perceived to be ineffective for a variety of reasons outside of our control. Hackers or other malicious parties could circumvent our or our customers’ security measures, and customers may misuse our platforms resulting in a security breach or perceived product failure.
Real or perceived errors, failures, or bugs in our platforms and services, or dissatisfaction with our services and outcomes, could result in customer terminations and/or claims by customers for losses sustained by them. In such an event, we may be required, or we have chosen, or in the future may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources in order to help correct any such errors, failures, or bugs. Although we have limitation of liability provisions in our standard software licensing and service agreement terms and conditions, these provisions may not be enforceable in some circumstances, may vary in levels of protection across our agreements, or may not fully or effectively protect us from such claims and related liabilities and costs. We generally provide a warranty for our software products and services and an SLA for our performance of software operations. In the event that there is a failure of warranties in such agreements, we are generally obligated to correct the product or service to conform to the warranty provision, or, if we are unable to do so, the customer is entitled to seek a refund of the purchase price of the product and service (generally prorated over the contract term). In the event of a violation of an SLA, some customers may be entitled to seek a refund of a portion of the applicable monthly fee, with such portion determined by the magnitude of SLA violation, subject to a cap of a portion of total monthly fees, as applicable. The sale and support of our products also entail the risk of product liability claims. We maintain insurance to protect against certain claims associated with the use of our products, but our insurance coverage may not adequately cover any claim asserted against us. In addition, even claims that ultimately are unsuccessful could result in our expenditure of funds in litigation and divert management’s time and other resources.
In addition, our platforms integrate a wide variety of other elements, and our platforms must successfully interoperate with products from other vendors and our customers’ internally developed software. As a result, when problems occur for a customer using our platforms, it may be difficult to identify the sources of these problems, and we may receive blame for a security,
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access control, or other compliance breach that was the result of the failure of one of the other elements in a customer’s or another vendor’s IT, security, or compliance infrastructure. The occurrence of software or errors in data, whether or not caused by our platforms, could delay or reduce market acceptance of our platforms and have an adverse effect on our business and financial performance, and any necessary revisions may cause us to incur significant expenses. The occurrence of any such problems could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. If an actual or perceived breach of information correctness, auditability, integrity, or availability occurs in one of our customers’ systems, regardless of whether the breach is attributable to our platforms, the market perception of the effectiveness of our platforms could be harmed. Alleviating any of these problems could require additional significant expenditures of our capital and other resources and could cause interruptions, delays, or cessation of our product licensing, which could cause us to lose existing or potential customers and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.
We rely on the availability of licenses to third-party technology that may be difficult to replace or that may cause errors or delay implementation of our platforms and services should we not be able to continue or obtain a commercially reasonable license to such technology.
Our technology platforms include software or other intellectual property licensed from third parties. It may be necessary in the future to renew licenses relating to various aspects of these platforms or to seek new licenses for existing or new platforms or other products. There can be no assurance that the necessary licenses would be available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. Third parties may terminate their licenses with us for a variety of reasons, including actual or perceived failures or breaches of security or privacy, or reputational concerns, or they may choose not to renew their licenses with us. In addition, we may be subject to liability if third-party software that we license is found to infringe, misappropriate, or otherwise violate intellectual property or privacy rights of others. The loss of, or inability to obtain, certain third-party licenses or other rights or to obtain such licenses or rights on favorable terms, or the need to engage in litigation regarding these matters, could result in product roll-backs, delays in product releases until equivalent technology can be identified, licensed or developed, if at all, and integrated into our platforms, and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Moreover, the inclusion in our platforms of software or other intellectual property licensed from third parties on a nonexclusive basis could limit our ability to differentiate our platforms from products of our competitors and could inhibit our ability to provide the current level of service to existing customers.
In addition, any data that we license from third parties for potential use in our platforms may contain errors or defects, which could negatively impact the analytics that our customers perform on or with such data. This may have a negative impact on how our platforms are perceived by our current and potential customers and could materially damage our reputation and brand.
Changes in or the loss of third-party licenses could lead to our platforms becoming inoperable or the performance of our platforms being materially reduced resulting in our potentially needing to incur additional research and development costs to ensure continued performance of our platforms or a material increase in the costs of licensing, and we may experience decreased demand for our platforms.
Our platforms contain “open source” software, and any failure to comply with the terms of one or more of these open source licenses could negatively affect our business.
Our technology platforms are distributed with software licensed by its authors or other third parties under “open source” licenses. Some of these licenses contain requirements that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon the open source software, and that we license these modifications or derivative works under the terms of a particular open source license or other license granting third parties certain rights of further use. If we combine our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain provisions of the open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software. In addition to risks related to license requirements, usage of open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide updates, warranties, support, indemnities, assurances of title, or controls on origin of the software, and are provided on an “as-is” basis. Likewise, some open source projects have known security and other vulnerabilities and architectural instabilities, or are otherwise subject to security attacks due to their wide availability, and are provided on an “as-is” basis. We have established processes to help alleviate these risks, including a review process for screening requests from our development organization for the use of open source software, and the use of software tools to review our source code for open source software, but we cannot be sure that all open source software is submitted for approval prior to use in our platforms or that such software tools will be effective. In addition, open source license terms may be ambiguous and many of the risks associated with usage of open source software cannot be eliminated, and could, if not properly addressed, negatively affect our business. If we were found to have inappropriately used open source software, we may be required to re-engineer our platforms, to release proprietary source code, to discontinue the sale of our platforms in the event re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis, or to take other remedial action that may divert resources away from our development efforts, any of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and growth prospects. In addition, if the open source software we use is no longer maintained by the relevant open source community, then it may be more difficult to make the necessary revisions to our software, including modifications to address security vulnerabilities, which could impact
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our ability to mitigate cybersecurity risks or fulfill our contractual obligations to our customers. We may also face claims from copyright owners seeking to enforce the terms of an open source license governing the software, including by demanding release of the open source software, derivative works or our proprietary source code that was developed using such software. Such claims, with or without merit, could result in litigation, could be time-consuming and expensive to settle or litigation, including copyright infringement claims, could divert our management’s attention and other resources, could require us to lease some of our proprietary code, or could require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our software, any of which could adversely affect our business.
Additionally, we have intentionally made certain proprietary software available on an open source basis, both by contributing modifications back to existing open source projects, and by making certain internally developed tools available pursuant to open source licenses, and we plan to continue to do so in the future. While we have established procedures, including a review process for any such contributions, which is designed to protect any code that may be competitively sensitive, we cannot guarantee that this process has always been applied consistently. Even when applied, because any software source code we contribute to open source projects is publicly available, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights with respect to such software source code may be limited or lost entirely, and we may be unable to prevent our competitors or others from using such contributed software source code for competitive purposes, or for commercial or other purposes beyond what we intended.
Many of these risks associated with usage of open source software could be difficult to eliminate or manage, and could, if not properly addressed, negatively affect the performance of our offerings and our business.
Risks Related to Legal, Regulatory, and Accounting
Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and non-U.S. laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection and security, technology protection, and other matters. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or otherwise harm our business.
We are subject to a variety of local, state, national, and international laws, directives, and regulations in the United States and abroad that involve matters central to our business, including privacy and data protection, data security, data storage, retention, transfer and deletion, technology protection, and personal information. International data protection, data security, privacy, and other laws and regulations can impose different obligations or be more restrictive than those in the United States. These U.S. federal and state and foreign laws and regulations, which, depending on the regime, may be enforced by private parties or government entities, are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change, and they are likely to continue to develop and evolve for the foreseeable future. In addition, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving software and technology industry in which we operate, and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from country to country and inconsistently with our current policies and practices. A number of proposals are pending before U.S. federal, state, and foreign legislative and regulatory bodies that could significantly affect our business. For example, despite recent developments including the EU’s adoption of an adequacy decision for the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, legal challenges to the mechanisms allowing companies to transfer personal data from the European Economic Area to certain other jurisdictions, including the United States, have occurred and new legal challenges could emerge, resulting in further limitations on the ability to transfer data across borders. The California state legislature passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) in 2018 and California voters approved a ballot measure subsequently establishing the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) in 2020, which regulate the processing of personal information of California residents and increase the privacy and security obligations of entities handling certain personal information of California residents, including requiring covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers, and affording such consumers new abilities to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA went into effect on January 1, 2020, and the California Attorney General may bring enforcement actions, with penalties for violations of the CCPA. The CPRA went into effect on January 1, 2023 instilling enforcement authority in a new dedicated regulatory body, the California Privacy Protection Agency. While aspects of both the CCPA and CPRA and their interpretations remain to be determined in practice, we are committed to complying with their applicable obligations. More generally, some observers have noted the CCPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States, as observed with the subsequent adoption of state-level comprehensive consumer privacy legislation. For example, Connecticut, Virginia, Colorado and Utah each has enacted legislation similar to the CCPA and CPRA that took effect in 2023; Florida, Montana, Oregon, and Texas each has enacted similar legislation that took effect in 2024; Tennessee, Iowa, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota, and Nebraska each has enacted similar legislation that will take effect in 2025; and Indiana, Kentucky, and Rhode Island each has enacted similar legislation that will become effective in 2026.
We cannot yet fully assess the impact of these laws and other new laws or regulations on our business or operations, but developments regarding these and all privacy and data protection laws and regulations around the world may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to maintain compliance on an ongoing basis. Outside of the United States, virtually every jurisdiction in which we operate has established
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its own legal framework relating to privacy, data protection, and information security matters with which we and/or our customers must comply. Laws and regulations in these jurisdictions apply broadly to the collection, use, storage, retention, disclosure, security, transfer, and other processing of data that identifies or may be used to identify or locate an individual. Some countries and regions, including the EU, are considering or have passed legislation that imposes significant obligations in connection with privacy, data protection, and information security that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our platforms and services, including the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) which took effect in May 2018. Complying with the GDPR or other data protection laws, directives, and regulations as they emerge may cause us to incur substantial operational costs or require us to modify our data handling practices on an ongoing basis. Non-compliance with the GDPR specifically may result in administrative fines or monetary penalties of up to 4% of worldwide annual revenue in the preceding financial year or €20 million (whichever is higher) for the most serious infringements and could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or other related parties and may otherwise adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Additionally, post-Brexit updates to United Kingdom (“U.K.”) data protection laws and regulations, while largely conforming to EU GDPR standards paving the way for a 2021 European Commission adequacy determination for export of personal data from the European Economic Area to the U.K., may change over time as the U.K. and its regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office, continue to examine its global market standing, and a formal sunset clause will necessitate a reassessment and renegotiated terms to carry the determination beyond June 2025. Modifications in the standards for valid data transfer to the U.S. from the U.K., the EU, Switzerland, and other countries using standard contractual clauses or similar mechanisms may further require us to change our product and business practices, as well as to update client agreements in ways that introduce additional costs to our business.
The overarching complexity of laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection, and information security around the world pose a compliance challenge that could manifest in costs, damages, or liability in other forms as a result of failure to implement proper programmatic controls, failure to adhere to those controls or to the commitments we make, or the malicious or inadvertent breach of applicable legal, regulatory, or contractual privacy or data protection requirements by us, our employees, our business partners, or our customers.
In addition to government regulation, self-regulatory standards and other industry standards may legally or contractually apply to us, be argued to apply to us, or we may elect to comply with such standards or to facilitate our customers’ compliance with such standards. Because privacy, data protection, and information security are critical competitive factors in our industry, we may make statements on our website, in marketing materials, or in other settings about our data security measures and our compliance with, or our ability to facilitate our customers’ compliance with, these standards. We also expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws and regulations concerning privacy, data protection, and information security, and we cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards, or amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws and regulations, industry standards, or other obligations may have on our business. New laws, amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws and regulations, industry standards, and contractual and other obligations may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations. As these legal regimes relating to privacy, data protection, and information security continue to evolve, they may result in ever-increasing public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions. Furthermore, because the interpretation and application of laws, standards, contractual obligations and other obligations relating to privacy, data protection, and information security are uncertain, these laws, standards, and contractual and other obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is, or is alleged to be, inconsistent with our data management practices, our policies or procedures, or the features of our platforms, or we may simply fail to properly develop or implement our practices, policies, procedures, or features in compliance with such obligations. If so, in addition to the possibility of fines, lawsuits, investigations, and other claims or proceedings, we could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or modify our platforms, which could have an adverse effect on our business. We may be unable to make such changes and modifications in a commercially reasonable manner or at all, and our ability to fulfill existing obligations, make enhancements, or develop new platforms and features could be limited. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations, and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our customers may limit the use and adoption of, and reduce the overall demand for, our platforms.
These existing and proposed laws and regulations can be costly to comply with and can make our platforms and services less effective or valuable, delay or impede the development of new products, result in negative publicity, increase our operating costs, require us to modify our data handling practices, limit our operations, impose substantial fines and penalties, require significant management time and attention, or put our data or technology at risk. Any failure or perceived failure by us or our platforms to comply with the laws, regulations, directives, policies, industry standards, or legal obligations of the United States, EU, or other governmental or non-governmental bodies at the regional, national, or supra-national level relating to privacy, data protection, or information security, or any security incident that results in actual or suspected loss of or the unauthorized access to, or acquisition, use, release, or transfer of, personal information, personal data, or other customer or sensitive data or information may result in governmental investigations, inquiries, enforcement actions and prosecutions, private claims and litigation, indemnification or other contractual obligations, other remedies, including fines or demands that we modify or cease
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existing business practices, or adverse publicity, and related costs and liabilities, which could significantly and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Our non-U.S. sales and operations subject us to additional risks and regulations that can adversely affect our results of operations.
Our successes to date have primarily come from customers in relatively stable and developed countries, but we are in the process of entering new and emerging markets in non-U.S. countries, including with law enforcement, national security, and other government agencies, as part of our growth strategy. These new and emerging markets may involve uncertain business, technology, and economic risks and may be difficult or impossible for us to penetrate, even if we were to commit significant resources to do so.
We currently have sales personnel and sales and services operations in the United States and certain countries around the world. To the extent that we experience difficulties in recruiting, training, managing, or retaining non-U.S. staff, and specifically sales management and sales personnel staff, we may experience difficulties in sales productivity in, or market penetration of, non-U.S. markets. Our ability to convince customers to expand their use of our platforms or renew their subscription, license, or maintenance and service agreements with us is correlated to, among other things, our direct engagement with the customer. To the extent we are restricted or unable to engage with non-U.S. customers effectively with our limited sales force and services capacity, we may be unable to grow sales to existing customers to the same degree we have experienced in the United States.
Our non-U.S. operations subject us to a variety of risks and challenges, including:
•increased management, travel, infrastructure, and legal and financial compliance costs and time associated with having multiple non-U.S. operations, including but not limited to compliance with local employment laws and other applicable laws and regulations;
•longer payment cycles, greater difficulty in enforcing contracts, difficulties in collecting accounts receivable, especially in emerging markets, and the likelihood that revenue from non-U.S. system integrators, government contractors, and customers may need to be recognized when cash is received, at least until satisfactory payment history has been established, or upon confirmation of certain acceptance criteria or milestones;
•the need to adapt our platforms for non-U.S. customers, whether to accommodate customer preferences or local law;
•differing regulatory and legal requirements and possible enactment of additional regulations or restrictions on the use, import, or re-export of our platforms or the provision of services, which could delay, restrict, or prevent the sale or use of our platforms and services in some jurisdictions;
•compliance with multiple and changing foreign laws and regulations, including those governing employment, privacy, data protection, information security, data transfer, AI, and the risks and costs of non-compliance with such laws and regulations;
•new and different sources of competition not present in the United States;
•heightened risks of unfair or corrupt business practices in certain geographies and of improper or fraudulent sales arrangements that may cause us to withdraw from particular markets, or impact financial results and result in restatements of financial statements and irregularities in financial statements;
•volatility in non-U.S. political and economic environments, including by way of examples, the potential effects of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as economic sanctions the United States and other countries have imposed on Russia, and the ongoing conflict resulting from Hamas’ attack on Israel;
•weaker protection of intellectual property rights in some countries and the risk of potential theft, copying, or other compromises of our technology, data, or intellectual property in connection with our non-U.S. operations, whether by state-sponsored malfeasance or other foreign entities or individuals;
•volatility and fluctuations in currency exchange rates, including that, because many of our non-U.S. contracts are denominated in U.S. dollars, an increase in the strength of the U.S. dollar in the past has made our products more expensive for non-U.S. dollar denominated customers, which may make doing business with us less appealing to such customers;
•management and employee communication and integration problems resulting from language differences, cultural differences, and geographic dispersion;
•difficulties in repatriating or transferring funds from, or converting currencies in, certain countries;
•potentially adverse tax consequences, including multiple and possibly overlapping tax regimes, the complexities of foreign value-added tax systems, and changes in tax laws;
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•lack of familiarity with local laws, customs, and practices, and laws and business practices favoring local competitors or partners; and
•interruptions to our business operations and our customers’ business operations subject to events such as war, incidents of terrorism, natural disasters, public health concerns or epidemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), shortages or failures of power, internet, telecommunications, or hosting service providers, cyberattacks or malicious acts, or responses to these events.
In addition to the factors above, foreign governments may take administrative, legislative, or regulatory action that could materially interfere with our ability to sell our platforms in certain countries. For example, foreign governments may require a percentage of prime contracts be fulfilled by local contractors or provide special incentives to government-backed local customers to buy from local competitors, even if their products are inferior to ours. Moreover, both the U.S. government and foreign governments may regulate the acquisition of or import of our technologies or our entry into certain foreign markets or partnership with foreign third parties through investment screening or other regulations. Such regulations may apply to certain non-U.S. joint ventures, platform partnerships, and strategic alliances that may be integral to our long-term business strategy.
Compliance with laws and regulations applicable to our non-U.S. operations increases our cost of doing business in foreign jurisdictions. We may be unable to keep current with changes in foreign government requirements and laws as they change from time to time. Failure to comply with these regulations could subject us to investigations, sanctions, enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, fines, damages, civil and criminal penalties, injunctions, or other collateral consequences. In many foreign countries, it is common for others to engage in business practices that are prohibited by our internal policies and procedures or U.S. regulations applicable to us. In addition, although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws and policies, there can be no assurance that all of our employees, contractors, partners, and agents will comply with these laws and policies. Violations of laws or key control policies by our employees, contractors, partners, or agents could result in delays in revenue recognition, financial reporting misstatements, governmental sanctions, fines, penalties, or the prohibition of the importation or exportation of our platforms. In addition, responding to any action may result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and an increase in professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions or failure to prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation could harm our business, reputation, financial condition, and results of operations.
Also, we are expanding operations, including our work with existing commercial customers, into countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere, which may place restrictions on the transfer of data and potentially the import and use of foreign encryption technology. Any of these risks could harm our non-U.S. operations and reduce our non-U.S. sales, adversely affecting our business, results of operations, financial condition, and growth prospects.
Some of our business partners also have non-U.S. operations and are subject to the risks described above. Even if we are able to successfully manage the risks of our own non-U.S. operations, our business may be adversely affected if our business partners are not able to successfully manage these risks.
Failure to comply with governmental laws and regulations or contractual requirements could harm our business, and we have been, and expect to be, the subject of legal and regulatory inquiries, which may result in monetary payments or may otherwise negatively impact our reputation, business, and results of operations.
Our business is subject to regulation by various federal, state, local, and foreign governments in which we operate. In certain jurisdictions, the regulatory requirements imposed by foreign governments may be more stringent than those in the United States. Noncompliance with applicable regulations or requirements could subject us to investigations, administrative proceedings, sanctions, enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, fines, damages, litigation, civil and criminal penalties, termination of contracts, exclusion from sales channels or sales opportunities, injunctions, or other consequences. Such matters may include, but are not limited to, claims, disputes, allegations, or investigations related to alleged violations of laws or regulations relating to anti-corruption requirements, lobbying or conflict-of-interest requirements, export or other trade controls, data privacy or data protection requirements, or laws or regulations relating to employment, procurement, cybersecurity, securities, or antitrust/competition requirements. The effects of recently imposed and proposed actions are uncertain because of the dynamic nature of governmental action and responses. For example, governmental bodies have implemented laws and are considering further regulation of AI (including machine learning), which could negatively impact our ability to use and develop platforms and products incorporating these technologies. The European Union Parliament adopted the EU AIA, that, when effective, would impose onerous obligations related to the development, sale and use of AI-related systems. In addition, Colorado has passed a Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence bill introducing state-level oversight of “high-risk” AI systems, which mirrors language and several provisions appearing in the EU AIA. Further, certain administrations, including in the United States, have encouraged companies to sign on to voluntary commitments to manage the risks posed by AI alongside related legislative or regulatory efforts, some of which we have signed. When such legislation or commitments, or if similar legislation or commitments in other jurisdictions, are enacted or adopted, compliance with such obligations may be difficult,
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onerous, and costly, and could adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.
Many governments have enacted laws requiring companies to provide notice of data security breaches or incidents involving certain types of data, including personal data. For example, the SEC recently adopted cybersecurity risk management and disclosure rules, which require the disclosure of information pertaining to cybersecurity incidents and cybersecurity risk management, strategy, and governance. In addition, most of our customers, including U.S. government customers, contractually require us to notify them of certain data security breaches and incidents. However, determining whether a cybersecurity incident has occurred and is notifiable or reportable may not be straightforward, and we may not effectively identify all relevant cybersecurity incidents in a timely manner, or at all. If we are unable to comply with contractual or regulatory notification requirements, which may include timelines for appropriate notification or methods by which such notifications must be made, we may be subject to additional penalties, contractual liability, and reputational damage.
We may be subject to government inquiries that drain our time and resources, tarnish our brand among customers and potential customers, prevent us from doing business with certain customers or markets, including government customers, affect our ability to hire, attract and maintain qualified employees, or require us to take remedial action or pay penalties. From time to time, we receive formal and informal inquiries from governmental agencies and regulators regarding our compliance with laws and regulations or otherwise relating to our business or transactions. Any negative outcome from such inquiries or investigations or failure to prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation could adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.
We have previously been, and are currently, or in the future may become, involved in a number of legal, regulatory, and administrative inquiries and proceedings, and unfavorable outcomes in litigation or other of these matters could negatively impact our business, financial conditions, and results of operations.
We have previously been, and are currently, and from time to time going forward may become involved in and subject to regulatory or other governmental inquiries or investigations, or government or private-party litigation or proceedings for a variety of claims or disputes. These claims, lawsuits, and proceedings have involved, and could in the future involve, labor and employment, discrimination and harassment, commercial disputes, intellectual property rights (including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and other proprietary rights), class actions, general contract, tort, defamation, data privacy rights, antitrust, common law fraud, government regulation, or compliance, alleged federal and state securities and “blue sky” law violations or other investor claims, and other matters. Derivative claims, lawsuits, and proceedings involving breach of fiduciary duty, failure of oversight, corporate waste claims, and other matters have been, and may in the future be, asserted against our officers and directors by our stockholders. In addition, we and certain of our officers and directors were sued in purported class action lawsuits and derivative lawsuits. Our business and results may be adversely affected by the outcome of any currently pending or any future legal, regulatory, and/or administrative claims or proceedings, including through monetary damages or injunctive relief.
The number and significance of our legal disputes and inquiries may increase as we continue to grow larger, as our business expands in employee headcount, scope, and geographic reach, and as our platforms and services become more complex. Additionally, if customers fail to pay us under the terms of our agreements, we may be adversely affected due to the cost of enforcing the terms of our contracts through litigation. Litigation or other proceedings can be expensive and time consuming and can divert our resources and leadership’s attention from our primary business operations. The results of our litigation also cannot be predicted with certainty. If we are unable to prevail in litigation, we could incur payments of substantial monetary damages or fines, or undesirable changes to our platforms or business practices, and accordingly, our business, financial condition, or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, if we accrue a loss contingency for pending litigation and determine that it is probable, any disclosures, estimates, and reserves we reflect in our financial statements with regard to these matters may not reflect the ultimate disposition or financial impact of litigation or other such matters. These proceedings could also result in negative publicity, which could harm customer and public perception of our business, regardless of whether the allegations are valid or whether we are ultimately found liable. Additional information regarding certain of the lawsuits we are involved in is described further in Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies in our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Failure to comply with anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.
As we operate and sell our platforms and services around the world, we are subject to the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), the U.K. Bribery Act, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the United States Travel Act, and other anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we do business, both domestic and abroad. These laws and regulations generally prohibit improper payments or offers of improper payments to government officials, political parties, or commercial partners for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing an improper business advantage.
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We have operations, deal with and make sales to governmental or quasi-governmental entities in the United States and in non-U.S. countries, including those known to experience corruption, particularly certain emerging countries in East Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, South America, and the Middle East, and further expansion of our non-U.S. sales efforts may involve additional regions.
Corruption issues pose a risk in every country and jurisdiction, but in many countries, particularly in countries with developing economies, it may be more common for businesses to engage in practices that are prohibited by the FCPA or other applicable laws and regulations, and our activities in these countries pose a heightened risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by one of our employees or third-party business partners, representatives, and agents that could be in violation of various laws including the FCPA. The FCPA, U.K. Bribery Act and other applicable anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws also may hold us liable for acts of corruption and bribery committed by our third-party business partners, representatives, and agents. We and our third-party business partners, representatives, and agents may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities and we may be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees or such third parties even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. The FCPA or other applicable laws and regulations also require that we keep accurate books and records and maintain internal controls and compliance procedures designed to prevent any such actions. While we have implemented policies and procedures to address compliance with such laws, we cannot ensure that our employees or other third parties working on our behalf will not engage in conduct in violation of our policies or applicable law for which we might ultimately be held responsible. Violations of the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act, and other laws may result in whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, imposition of significant legal fees, loss of export privileges, as well as severe criminal or civil sanctions, including suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracting, and we may be subject to other liabilities and adverse effects on our reputation, which could negatively affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and growth prospects. In addition, responding to any enforcement action may result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees. Our exposure for violating these laws increases as our non-U.S. presence expands and as we increase sales and operations in foreign jurisdictions.
Governmental trade controls, including export and import controls, sanctions, customs requirements, and related regimes, could subject us to liability or loss of contracting privileges or limit our ability to compete in certain markets.
Our offerings are subject to U.S. export controls, and we incorporate encryption technology into certain of our offerings. Our controlled software offerings and the underlying technology may be exported outside of the United States only with the required export authorizations, which may include license requirements in some circumstances. Additionally, our current or future products may be classified under the Commerce Department Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) or as defense articles subject to the United States International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”). Most of our products, including our core software platforms, have been classified under the EAR and are generally exportable without needing a specific license, under an EAR exception for encrypted software. If a product, or component of a product, is classified under the ITAR, or is ineligible for the EAR encryption exception, then those products could be exported outside the United States only if we obtain the applicable export license or qualify for a different license exemption or exception. In certain contexts, the services we provide might be classified as defense services subject to the ITAR separately from the products we provide. Compliance with the EAR, ITAR, and other applicable regulatory requirements regarding the export of our products, including new releases of our products and/or the performance of services, may create delays in the introduction of our products in non-U.S. markets, prevent our customers with non-U.S. operations from deploying our products throughout their global systems or, in some cases, prevent the export of our products to some countries altogether.
Furthermore, our activities are subject to the economic sanctions, laws and regulations of the United States and other jurisdictions. Such controls prohibit the shipment or transfer of certain products and services without the required export authorizations or export to countries, governments, and persons targeted by applicable sanctions. We take precautions to prevent our offerings from being exported in violation of these laws, including: (i) seeking to proactively classify our platforms and obtain authorizations for the export and/or import of our platforms where appropriate, (ii) implementing certain technical controls and screening practices to reduce the risk of violations, and (iii) requiring compliance with U.S. export control and sanctions obligations in customer and vendor contracts. However, we cannot guarantee the precautions we take will prevent violations of export control and sanctions laws.
As discussed above, if we misclassify a product or service, export or provide access to a product or service in violation of applicable restrictions, or otherwise fail to comply with export regulations, we may be denied export privileges or subjected to significant per violation fines or other penalties, and our platforms may be denied entry into other countries. Any decreased use of our platforms or limitation on our ability to export or sell our platforms would likely adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Violations of U.S. sanctions or export control laws can result in fines or penalties, including civil penalties of over $300,000 or twice the value of the transaction, whichever is greater, per EAR violation and a civil penalty of over $1,000,000 or twice the value of the transaction, whichever is greater, per ITAR violation. In the event of criminal
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knowing and willful violations of these laws, fines of up to $1,000,000 per violation and possible incarceration for responsible employees and managers could be imposed.
We also note that if we or our business partners or counterparties, including licensors and licensees, prime contractors, subcontractors, sublicensors, vendors, customers, shipping partners, or contractors, fail to obtain appropriate import, export, or re-export licenses or permits, notwithstanding regulatory requirements or contractual commitments to do so, or if we fail to secure such contractual commitments where necessary, we may also be adversely affected, through reputational harm as well as other negative consequences, including government investigations and penalties. For instance, violations of U.S. sanctions or export control laws can result in fines or penalties, including significant civil and criminal penalties per violation, depending on the circumstances of the violation or violations.
Negative consequences for violations or apparent violations of trade control requirements may include the absolute loss of the right to sell our platforms or services to the government of the United States, or to other public bodies, or a reduction in our ability to compete for such sales opportunities. Further, complying with export control and sanctions regulations for a particular sale may be time-consuming and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities.
Also, various countries, in addition to the United States, regulate the import and export of certain encryption and other technology, including import and export permitting and licensing requirements, and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our platforms or could limit our customers’ abilities to implement our platforms in those countries. For example, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and as the conflict has continued, the United States and other countries have imposed economic sanctions and severe export control restrictions against Russia, Belarus, and certain regions of Ukraine, and the United States and other countries could continue to impose wider sanctions and export restrictions and take other actions should the conflict further escalate. Any new export restrictions, new legislation, changes in economic sanctions, or shifting approaches in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations, or in the countries, persons, or technologies targeted by such regulations, could result in decreased use of our platforms by existing customers with non-U.S. operations, declining adoption of our platforms by new customers with non-U.S. operations, limitation of our expansion into new markets, and decreased revenue.
Changes in accounting principles or their application to us could result in unfavorable accounting charges or effects, which could adversely affect our results of operations and growth prospects.
We prepare our condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP. In particular, we make certain estimates and assumptions related to the adoption and interpretation of these principles including related to the recognition of our revenue. If these assumptions turn out to be incorrect, our financial results and position could materially differ from our expectations and could be materially adversely affected. A change in any of these principles or guidance, or in their interpretations or application to us, may have a significant effect on our reported results, as well as our processes and related controls, and may retroactively affect previously reported results or our forecasts, which may negatively impact our financial statements.
If our judgments or estimates relating to our critical accounting policies are based on assumptions that change or prove to be incorrect, our results of operations could fall below expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in our stock price.
The preparation of our financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make judgments, estimates, and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities, and equity, and the amount of revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Our results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the trading price of our Class A common stock. Significant judgments, estimates, and assumptions used in preparing our condensed consolidated financial statements include, or may in the future include, those related to revenue recognition.
We could be subject to additional tax liabilities.
We are subject to federal, state, and local income taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Determining our provision for income taxes requires management judgment, and the ultimate tax outcome may be uncertain. In addition, our provision for income taxes is subject to volatility and could be adversely affected by many factors, including, among other things, changes to our operating or holding structure, changes in the amounts of earnings in jurisdictions with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, and changes in U.S. and foreign tax laws. Moreover, we are subject to the examination of our income tax returns by tax authorities in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions,
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which may disagree with our calculation of research and development tax credits, cross-jurisdictional transfer pricing, or other matters and assess additional taxes, interest or penalties. While we regularly assess the likely outcomes of these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes and we believe that our financial statements reflect adequate reserves to cover any such contingencies, there can be no assurance that the outcomes of such examinations will not have a material impact on our results of operations and cash flows. If U.S. or other foreign tax authorities change applicable tax laws, our overall taxes could increase, and our financial condition or results of operations may be adversely impacted.
For example, provisions enacted by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act related to the capitalization for tax purposes of research and experimental (“R&E”) expenditures became effective on January 1, 2022. Beginning January 1, 2022, all U.S. and foreign based R&E expenditures must be capitalized and amortized over five years and 15 years, respectively. Beginning January 1, 2022, we began capitalizing and amortizing R&E expenditures over five years for domestic research and 15 years for international research rather than expensing these costs as incurred. However, recently proposed tax legislation, if enacted, would restore the ability to deduct currently domestic R&E expenditures through 2025 and would retroactively restore this benefit for 2022 and 2023. Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, enacted on August 16, 2022, imposes a one-percent non-deductible excise tax on the value of net repurchases of stock that are made by U.S. publicly traded corporations on or after January 1, 2023, which may affect our Share Repurchase Program.
Many countries are beginning to implement legislation and other guidance to align their international tax rules with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (“OECD”) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting recommendations and action plan that aim to standardize and modernize global corporate tax policy, including changes to cross-border tax, transfer pricing documentation rules, and nexus-based tax incentive practices. The OECD is also continuing discussions surrounding fundamental changes in allocation of profits among tax jurisdictions in which companies do business, as well as the implementation of a global minimum tax (namely the “Pillar One” and “Pillar Two” proposals). Many countries have enacted or begun the process of enacting laws based on Pillar Two proposals, which may adversely impact our provision for income taxes, net income, and cash flows. We have considered the impact of Pillar Two rules and determined that we became subject to such rules starting January 1, 2024 in some jurisdictions, but we do not believe that such developments will have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations during the year ended December 31, 2024.
As a result of the heightened scrutiny of corporate taxation policies, prior decisions by tax authorities regarding treatments and positions of corporate income taxes could be subject to enforcement activities, and legislative investigation and inquiry, which could also result in changes in tax policies or prior tax rulings. Any substantial changes in domestic or international corporate tax policies, regulations or guidance, enforcement activities or legislative initiatives may materially adversely affect our business, the amount of taxes we are required to pay and our financial condition and results of operations generally.
We may not be able to utilize a significant portion of our net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
We record an asset for the future tax benefits from unused U.S. federal, state, and foreign net operating losses (“NOLs”) and tax credits subject to a full valuation allowance. Federal, state, and foreign taxing bodies often place limitations on NOLs and tax credit carryforward benefits. As a result, we may not be able to utilize our NOLs and tax credits. In general, under Section 382 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), a corporation that undergoes an ownership change is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs to offset future taxable income. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which are outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. If our existing NOLs are subject to limitations arising from an ownership change, our ability to utilize NOLs could be limited by Section 382 of the Code, and a certain amount of our prior year NOLs could expire without benefit. Changes in the law may also impact our ability to use our NOLs and tax credit carryforwards. In addition, there is also a risk that the expiration of our existing NOLs or tax credits or a limitation on their use to offset future income tax liabilities could result from statutory or regulatory changes, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
Our results of operations may be harmed if we are required to collect sales or other related taxes for our license arrangements in jurisdictions where we have not historically done so.
States and some local taxing jurisdictions have differing rules and regulations governing sales and use taxes, and these rules and regulations are subject to varying interpretations that may change over time. We collect and remit U.S. sales and use tax, value-added tax (“VAT”), and goods and services tax (“GST”) in a number of jurisdictions. It is possible, however, that we could face sales tax, VAT, or GST audits and that our liability for these taxes could exceed our estimates as state and foreign tax authorities could still assert that we are obligated to collect additional tax amounts from our customers and remit those taxes to those authorities. We could also be subject to audits in states and foreign jurisdictions for which we have not accrued tax liabilities. One or more states or countries may seek to impose incremental or new sales, use, or other tax collection obligations on us or may determine that such taxes should have, but have not been, paid by us.
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Risks Related to Relationships and Business with the Public Sector
A significant portion of our business depends on sales to the public sector, and our failure to receive and maintain government contracts or changes in the contracting or fiscal policies of the public sector has adversely affected and could continue to adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and growth prospects.
We derive a significant portion of our revenue from contracts with federal, state, local, and foreign governments and government agencies, and we believe that the success and growth of our business will continue to depend on our successful procurement of government contracts. For example, we have historically derived, and expect to continue to derive, a significant portion of our revenue from sales to agencies of the U.S. federal government, either directly by us or through other government contractors. Our perceived relationship with the U.S. government could adversely affect our business prospects in certain non-U.S. geographies or with certain non-U.S. governments.
Sales to such government agencies are subject to a number of challenges and risks. Selling to government agencies can be highly competitive, expensive, and time-consuming, often requiring significant upfront time and expense without any assurance that these efforts will generate a sale. We also must comply with laws and regulations relating to the formation, administration, and performance of contracts, which provide public sector customers rights, many of which are not typically found in commercial contracts.
Accordingly, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects may be adversely affected by certain events or activities, including, but not limited to:
•changes in fiscal or contracting policies or decreases in available government funding;
•changes in government programs or applicable requirements;
•restrictions in the grant of personnel security clearances to our employees;
•ability to maintain facility clearances required to perform on classified contracts for U.S. federal government and foreign government agencies;
•ability to achieve or maintain one or more government certifications, including, but not limited to, our existing FedRAMP, IL2, IL4, IL5, and IL6 authorizations;
•changes in the political environment, including before or after a change to the leadership within the government administration, or due to ongoing conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and related economic sanctions or the conflict resulting from Hamas’ attack on Israel, and regional instability, and any resulting uncertainty or changes in policy or priorities and resultant funding;
•changes in the government’s attitude towards the capabilities that we offer, especially in the areas of national defense, cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure, including the financial, energy, telecommunications, and healthcare sectors;
•changes in the government’s attitude towards us as a company or our platforms as viable or acceptable software solutions;
•appeals, disputes, or litigation relating to government procurement, including but not limited to bid protests by unsuccessful bidders on potential or actual awards of contracts to us or our partners by the government;
•the adoption of new laws or regulations or changes to existing laws or regulations, including as may relate to the implementation of AI by federal agencies;
•budgetary constraints, including automatic reductions as a result of “sequestration” or similar measures and constraints imposed by any lapses in appropriations for the federal government or certain of its departments and agencies, for example in connection with an extended federal government shutdown;
•influence by, or competition from, third parties with respect to pending, new, or existing contracts with government customers;
•changes in political or social attitudes with respect to security or data privacy issues;
•potential delays or changes in the government appropriations or procurement processes, including as a result of events such as war, incidents of terrorism, natural disasters, and public health concerns or epidemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; and
•increased or unexpected costs or unanticipated delays caused by other factors outside of our control, such as performance failures of our subcontractors.
Such events or activities, among others, have caused and could continue to cause governments and governmental agencies to delay or refrain from purchasing our platforms and services in the future, reduce the size or payment amounts of purchases from
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existing or new government customers, or otherwise have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and growth prospects.
We have contracts with governments that involve classified programs, which may limit investor insight into portions of our business.
We derive a portion of our revenue from programs with governments and government agencies that are subject to security restrictions (e.g., contracts involving classified information, classified contracts, and classified programs), which preclude the dissemination of information and technology that is classified for national security purposes under applicable law and regulation. In general, access to classified information, technology, facilities, or programs requires appropriate personnel security clearances, is subject to additional contract oversight and potential liability, and may also require appropriate facility clearances and other specialized infrastructure. In the event of a security incident involving classified information, technology, facilities, or programs or personnel holding clearances, we may be subject to legal, financial, operational, and reputational harm. We are limited in our ability to provide specific information about these classified programs, their risks, or any disputes or claims relating to such programs. As a result, investors have less insight into our classified programs than our other businesses and therefore less ability to fully evaluate the risks related to our classified business or our business overall. However, historically the business risks associated with our work on classified programs have not differed materially from those of our other government contracts.
Our business could be adversely affected if our employees cannot obtain and maintain required personnel security clearances or we cannot establish and maintain a required facility security clearance.
Certain government contracts may require our employees to maintain various levels of security clearances and may require us to maintain a facility security clearance to comply with U.S. and international government agency requirements. Many governments have strict security clearance requirements for personnel who perform work in support of classified programs. Obtaining and maintaining security clearances for employees typically involves a lengthy process, and it can be difficult to identify, recruit, and retain employees who already hold security clearances. If our employees are unable to obtain security clearances in a timely manner, or at all, or if our employees who hold security clearances are unable to maintain their clearances or terminate employment with us, then we may be unable to comply with relevant U.S. and international government agency requirements, or our customers requiring classified work could choose to terminate or decide not to renew one or more contracts requiring employees to obtain or maintain security clearances upon expiration. To the extent we are not able to obtain or maintain a facility security clearance, we may not be able to bid on or win new classified contracts, and existing contracts requiring a facility security clearance could be terminated, either of which would have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Many of our customer contracts may be terminated by the customer at any time for convenience and may contain other provisions permitting the customer to discontinue contract performance, and if terminated contracts are not replaced, our results of operations may differ materially and adversely from those anticipated. In addition, our contracts with government customers often contain provisions with additional rights and remedies favorable to such customers that are not typically found in commercial contracts.
Many of our contracts, including our government contracts, contain termination for convenience provisions. Customers that terminate such contracts may also be entitled to a pro rata refund of the amount of the customer deposit for the period of time remaining in the contract term after the applicable termination notice period expires. Government contracts often contain provisions and are subject to laws and regulations that provide government customers with additional rights and remedies not typically found in commercial contracts. These rights and remedies allow government customers, among other things, to:
•terminate existing contracts for convenience with short notice;
•reduce orders under or otherwise modify contracts;
•for contracts subject to the Truth in Negotiations Act, reduce the contract price or cost where it was increased because a contractor or subcontractor furnished cost or pricing data during negotiations that was not complete, accurate, and current;
•for some contracts, (i) demand a refund, make a forward price adjustment, or terminate a contract for default if a contractor provided inaccurate or incomplete data during the contract negotiation process and (ii) reduce the contract price under triggering circumstances, including the revision of price lists or other documents upon which the contract award was predicated;
•cancel multi-year contracts and related orders if funds for contract performance for any subsequent year become unavailable;
•decline to exercise an option to renew a multi-year contract or issue task orders in connection with indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (“IDIQ”) contracts;
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•claim rights in solutions, systems, or technology produced by us, appropriate such work-product for their continued use without continuing to contract for our services, and disclose such work-product to third parties, including other government agencies and our competitors, which could harm our competitive position;
•prohibit future procurement awards with a particular agency due to a finding of organizational conflicts of interest based upon prior related work performed for the agency that would give a contractor an unfair advantage over competing contractors, or the existence of conflicting roles that might bias a contractor’s judgment;
•subject the award of contracts to protest by competitors, which may require the contracting federal agency or department to suspend our performance pending the outcome of the protest and may also result in a requirement to resubmit offers for the contract or in the termination, reduction, or modification of the awarded contract;
•suspend or debar us from doing business with the applicable government; and
•control or prohibit the export of our services.
If a customer were to unexpectedly terminate, cancel, or decline to exercise an option to renew with respect to one or more of our significant contracts, or if a government were to suspend or debar us from doing business with such government, our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be materially harmed.
Failure to comply with laws, regulations, or contractual provisions applicable to our business could cause us to lose government customers or our ability to contract with the U.S. and other governments.
As a government contractor, we must comply with laws, regulations, and contractual provisions relating to the formation, administration, and performance of government contracts and inclusion on government contract vehicles, which affect how we and our partners do business with government agencies. As a result of actual or perceived noncompliance with government contracting laws, regulations, or contractual provisions, we may be subject to audits and internal investigations which may prove costly to our business financially, divert management time, or limit our ability to continue selling our platforms and services to our government customers. These laws and regulations may impose other added costs on our business, and failure to comply with these or other applicable regulations and requirements, including non-compliance in the past, could lead to claims for damages from our channel partners, penalties, and termination of contracts and suspension or debarment from government contracting for a period of time with government agencies. Any such damages, penalties, disruption, or limitation in our ability to do business with a government could adversely impact, and could have a material adverse effect on, our business, results of operations, financial condition, public perception, and growth prospects.
Evolving government procurement policies and increased emphasis on cost over performance could adversely affect our business.
Federal, state, local, and foreign governments and government agencies could implement procurement policies that negatively impact our profitability. Changes in procurement policy favoring more non-commercial purchases, different pricing, or evaluation criteria or government contract negotiation offers based upon the customer’s view of what our pricing should be may affect the predictability of our margins on such contracts or make it more difficult to compete on certain types of programs.
Governments and government agencies are continually evaluating their contract pricing and financing practices, and we have no assurance regarding the full scope and recurrence of any study and what changes will be proposed, if any, and their impact on our financial position, cash flows, or results of operations.
Increased competition and bid protests in a budget-constrained environment may make it more difficult to maintain our financial performance and customer relationships.
A substantial portion of our business is awarded through competitive bidding. Even if we are successful in obtaining an award, we may encounter bid protests from unsuccessful bidders on any specific award. Bid protests could result, among other things, in significant expenses to us, contract modifications, or even loss of the contract award. Even where a bid protest does not result in the loss of a contract award, the resolution can extend the time until contract activity can begin and, as a result, delay the recognition of revenue. We also may not be successful in our efforts to protest or challenge any bids for contracts that were not awarded to us, and we would be required to incur significant time and expense in such efforts.
In addition, governments and agencies increasingly have relied on competitive contract award types, including IDIQ and other multi-award contracts, which have the potential to create pricing pressure and to increase our costs by requiring us to submit multiple bids and proposals. Multi-award contracts require us to make sustained efforts to obtain orders under the contract. The competitive bidding process entails substantial costs and managerial time to prepare bids and proposals for contracts that may not be awarded to us or may be split among competitors.
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We are experiencing increased competition while, at the same time, many of our customers are facing budget pressures, cutting costs, identifying more affordable solutions, performing certain work internally rather than hiring contractors, and reducing product development cycles. To remain competitive, we must maintain consistently strong customer relationships, seek to understand customer priorities, and provide superior performance, advanced technology solutions, and service at an affordable cost with the agility that our customers require to satisfy their objectives in an increasingly price competitive environment. Failure to do so could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The U.S. government may procure non-commercial developmental services rather than commercial products, which could materially impact our future U.S. government business and revenue.
U.S. government agencies, including our customers, often award large developmental item and service contracts to build custom software rather than firm fixed-price contracts for commercial products. We sell commercial items and services and do not contract for non-commercial developmental services. The U.S. government is required to procure commercial items and services to the maximum extent practicable in accordance with FASA, 10 U.S.C. § 2377; 41 U.S.C. § 3307, and the U.S. government may instead decide to procure non-commercial developmental items and services if commercial items and services are not practicable. In order to challenge a government decision to procure developmental items and services instead of commercial items and services, we would be required to file a bid protest at the agency level and/or with the Government Accountability Office. This can result in contentious communications with government agency legal and contracting offices, and may escalate to litigation in federal court. The results of any future challenges or potential litigation cannot be predicted with certainty, however, and any dispute or litigation with the U.S. government may not be resolved in our favor; moreover, whether or not it is resolved in our favor, such disputes or litigation could result in significant expense and divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel. These proceedings could adversely affect our reputation and relationship with government customers and could also result in negative publicity, which could harm customer and public perception of our business. The enforcement of FASA has resulted in a significant increase in our business with the U.S. federal government. Any change in or repeal of FASA, or a contrary interpretation of FASA by a court of competent jurisdiction, would adversely affect our competitive position for U.S. federal government contracts.
A decline in the U.S. and other government budgets, changes in spending or budgetary priorities, or delays in contract awards have affected and may continue to significantly and adversely affect our future revenue and limit our growth prospects.
Because we generate a substantial portion of our revenue from contracts with governments and government agencies, and in particular from contracts with the U.S. government and government agencies, our results of operations could be adversely affected by government spending caps or changes in government budgetary priorities, as well as by delays in the government budget process, program starts, or the award of contracts or orders under existing contract vehicles, including as a result of a new U.S. administration. Current U.S. government spending levels for defense-related and other programs may not be sustained beyond government fiscal year 2024. Future spending and program authorizations may not increase or may decrease or shift to programs in areas in which we do not provide services or are less likely to be awarded contracts. Such changes in spending authorizations and budgetary priorities may occur as a result of shifts in spending priorities from defense-related and other programs as a result of competing demands for federal funds and the number and intensity of military conflicts or other factors.
The U.S. government also conducts periodic reviews of U.S. defense strategies and priorities which may shift Department of Defense budgetary priorities, reduce overall spending, or delay contract or task order awards for defense-related programs from which we would otherwise expect to derive a significant portion of our future revenue. A significant decline in overall U.S. government spending, a significant shift in spending priorities, the substantial reduction or elimination of particular defense-related programs, or significant budget-related delays in contract or task order awards for large programs have affected and could continue to adversely affect our future revenue and limit our growth prospects.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock
The public trading price of our Class A common stock may be volatile and may decline regardless of our operating performance.
Prior to the listing of our Class A common stock, there was no public market for shares of our Class A common stock. The market prices of the securities of other recently public companies have historically been highly volatile. The public trading price of our Class A common stock has been, and may in the future be, subject to fluctuations in response to various factors, including those listed in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, some of which are beyond our control. These fluctuations could cause you to lose all or part of your investment in our Class A common stock since you might be unable to sell your shares at or above the price you paid. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the public trading price of our Class A common stock include the following:
•the number of shares of our Class A common stock publicly owned and available for trading;
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•price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;
•volatility in the trading prices and trading volumes of technology stocks;
•the inclusion, exclusion, or deletion of our Class A common stock from any major trading indices, such as the Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) 500 Index;
•changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other technology companies generally, or those in our industry in particular;
•sales or expected sales of shares of our Class A common stock by us or our stockholders;
•our repurchase of shares of our Class A common stock pursuant to our Share Repurchase Program;
•short-selling of our Class A common stock or related derivative securities;
•failure of securities analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by securities analysts who follow our company or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;
•any financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in those projections or our failure to meet those projections;
•announcements by us or our competitors of new platforms, products, services, or capabilities;
•the public’s reaction to our press releases, other public announcements, and filings with the SEC;
•rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;
•actual or anticipated changes in our results of operations or fluctuations in our results of operations;
•actual or anticipated developments in our business, our competitors’ businesses, or the competitive landscape generally;
•litigation involving us, our industry or both, or investigations by regulators into our operations or those of our competitors;
•actual or perceived privacy or security breaches or other incidents;
•developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or other proprietary rights;
•announced or completed acquisitions of businesses, services or technologies by us or our competitors;
•changes in our management, including any departures of one of our Founders;
•new laws or regulations, public expectations regarding new laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations applicable to our business;
•changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations, or principles;
•any significant change in our management;
•other events or factors, including those resulting from war, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, incidents of terrorism, such as Hamas’ attack against Israel, pandemics, or responses to these events; and
•general macroeconomic conditions, such as heightened interest rates and slow or negative growth of our markets.
In addition, stock markets, and the market for technology companies in particular, have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the trading prices of equity securities of many companies. Stock prices of many companies, including technology companies, have fluctuated in a manner often unrelated to the operating performance of those companies. In the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the trading price of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. Such litigation, including the purported class action lawsuits and derivative lawsuits filed against us and certain of our officers and directors, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources and harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Further, in the future, we may be the target of additional litigation of this type.
Our amended and restated bylaws designate a state or federal court located within the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, and also provide that the federal district courts will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, each of which could limit our stockholders’ ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, stockholders, or employees.
Our amended and restated bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for (a) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (b) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our current or former directors, stockholders, officers, or other employees to us or our
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stockholders, (c) any action or proceeding asserting a claim arising pursuant to, or seeking to enforce any right, obligation or remedy under, any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or our amended and restated bylaws, (d) any action or proceeding as to which the Delaware General Corporation Law confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or (e) any action or proceeding asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, another state court in Delaware or, if no state court in Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) and any appellate court therefrom, in all cases subject to the court having jurisdiction over the claims at issue and the indispensable parties; provided that the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act.
Section 22 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all such Securities Act actions. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such claims. To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, our amended and restated bylaws also provide that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding or owning (or continuing to hold or own) any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing bylaw provisions. Although we believe these exclusive forum provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law and federal securities laws in the types of lawsuits to which each applies, the exclusive forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, stockholders, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims against us and our current and former directors, officers, stockholders, or other employees. Our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder as a result of our exclusive forum provisions. Further, in the event a court finds either exclusive forum provision contained in our amended and restated bylaws to be unenforceable or inapplicable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our results of operations.
Sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public markets or the perception that sales might occur, including sales by our Founders and their affiliates, could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline.
Sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public markets or the perception that sales might occur, could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline.
In addition to the supply and demand and volatility risk factors discussed above, sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock into the public market, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers, and principal stockholders, or the perception that these sales might occur in large quantities, could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline. As of September 30, 2024, approximately 0.2 million options will expire through December 2024 if not exercised prior to their respective expiration dates, and we expect many holders will elect to exercise such options prior to expiration. Upon exercise, the holders will receive shares of our Class A or Class B common stock, which may subsequently be sold.
As of September 30, 2024, there were 2,172,437,083 shares of our Class A common stock outstanding, 96,366,544 shares of our Class B common stock outstanding and 1,005,000 shares of our Class F common stock outstanding. Substantially all of these shares may be immediately sold, although sales by our affiliates remain subject to compliance with the volume limitations of Rule 144.
Further, as of September 30, 2024, there were outstanding options to purchase an aggregate of 61,457,243 shares of our Class A common stock and 171,899,715 shares of our Class B common stock, 38,819,951 shares of our Class A common stock and 33,675,000 shares of Class B common stock subject to RSUs, 47,963,098 shares of our Class A common stock subject to SARs, and 861,875 shares of our Class A common stock subject to P-RSUs. All shares of our common stock reserved for future issuance under our equity compensation plans have been registered for sale under the Securities Act. Subject to compliance with Rule 144 or the availability of an alternative exemption, the shares issued upon exercise of stock options or SARs, or upon settlement of RSUs or P-RSUs will be available for immediate resale in the United States in the open market.
We also may issue our capital stock or securities convertible into our capital stock from time to time in connection with a financing, acquisition, investments or otherwise. Any such issuance could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders and cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline.
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There are no guarantees that our Share Repurchase Program will result in increased shareholder value.
In August 2023, our Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $1.0 billion of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock (the “Share Repurchase Program”). We have repurchased, and may continue to repurchase, shares of Class A common stock from time to time, as authorized by our Board of Directors, through open market purchases, in privately negotiated transactions or by other means, including through the use of trading plans intended to qualify under Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act, in accordance with applicable securities laws and other restrictions. The timing and the amount of stock repurchases in the Share Repurchase Program will be determined by Palantir’s management, based on its evaluation of factors including business and market conditions, corporate and regulatory requirements, and other considerations.
There are a number of ways in which the Share Repurchase Program could fail to result in enhanced shareholder value. For example, any failure to repurchase stock after we have announced our intention to do so may negatively impact our stock price. The existence of the Share Repurchase Program could also cause our stock price to trade higher than it otherwise would and could potentially reduce the market liquidity for our stock. The market price of our common stock could decline below the levels at which we repurchased shares and short-term stock price fluctuations could reduce the effectiveness of this program.
Additionally, repurchasing our Class A common stock will reduce the amount of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities we have available to fund working capital, capital expenditures, capital preserving investments, strategic acquisitions or business opportunities, and other general corporate purposes, and there are no guarantees that the Share Repurchase Program will result in increased shareholder value. Furthermore, the timing and amount of repurchases have been, and will in the future be, subject to liquidity, market and economic conditions, compliance with applicable legal requirements and other relevant factors.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may discourage certain types of transactions that may involve an actual or threatened acquisition of the Company, which will likely depress the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that may make the acquisition of our company more difficult, including the following:
•our multi-class common stock structure, which provides our Founders and their affiliates with the ability to effectively control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if they own significantly less than a majority of the shares of our outstanding common stock;
•prior to the Final Class F Conversion Date (as defined in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation), the holders of our common stock will only be able to take action by written consent if the action also receives the affirmative consent of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class F common stock, and after such point the holders of our common stock will only be able to take action at a meeting of the stockholders and will not be able to take action by written consent for any matter;
•from and after the Final Class F Conversion Date, our Board of Directors will be classified into three classes of directors with staggered three-year terms;
•our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide for cumulative voting;
•certain transactions, other than restructuring transactions or transactions that otherwise do not involve a Change of Control (as defined in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation), which transactions require, pursuant to Section 251(c) or Section 271(a) of the Delaware General Corporation Law, the approval of the holders of a majority of the voting power of all of the outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote thereon, will require approval by the holders of at least 55.0% of the voting power of all of the outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote thereon if the record date for determining the stockholders entitled to vote to approve such transaction occurs prior to the Final Class F Conversion Date;
•certain transactions prior to the Final Class F Conversion Date, that would require disclosure pursuant to Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K, between any of our Founders (or their controlled affiliates), on the one hand, and us, on the other, in which consideration exchanges hands between our Founders (or their controlled affiliates) and us, and such consideration has a fair market value in excess of $50.0 million as determined in accordance with our amended and restated bylaws will require approval by either (i) the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of all of the outstanding shares of our capital stock, voting together as a single class, or (ii) an Independent Committee (as defined in our amended and restated bylaws);
•the acquisition of our equity securities by our Founders (including their controlled affiliates), prior to the Final Class F Conversion Date, in a “Rule 13e-3 transaction” (as defined in Rule 13e-3 under the Exchange Act) will be conditioned on approval by (i) an Independent Committee and (ii) the holders of a majority of the voting power of our capital stock that is held by our stockholders other than the Founders (including their controlled affiliates) and any holder of the Class F Common Stock;
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•vacancies on our Board of Directors will be able to be filled only by our Board of Directors and not by stockholders;
•our directors may only be removed as provided in the Delaware General Corporation Law;
•a special meeting of our stockholders may only be called by the chairperson of our Board of Directors, our Chief Executive Officer, our President, or our Board of Directors pursuant to a resolution adopted by a majority of the total number of authorized directorships, whether or not there exist any vacancies or other unfilled seats in previously authorized directorships;
•our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes undesignated preferred stock, the terms of which may be established and shares of which may be issued without further action by our stockholders, except that any designation and issuance of preferred stock must receive the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class F common stock; and
•advance notice procedures apply for stockholders to nominate candidates for election as directors or to bring matters before an annual meeting of stockholders.
These provisions, alone or together, could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of our company. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for stockholders to elect directors of their choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions they desire, any of which, under certain circumstances, could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our Class A common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our Class A common stock.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, our business or our market, or if they change their recommendation regarding our Class A common stock adversely, the trading price and trading volume of our Class A common stock could decline.
The trading market for our Class A common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our ordinary shares or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, the trading price of our Class A common stock would likely decline. If these analysts publish target prices for our Class A common stock that are below the then-current public price of our Class A common stock, it could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline significantly. Further, if one or more of these analysts cease coverage of Palantir or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our Class A common stock could decrease, which might cause our Class A common stock trading price and trading volume to decline.
Although we currently are not considered to be a “controlled company” under the NYSE corporate governance rules, we may in the future become a controlled company due to the concentration of voting power among our Founders and their affiliates.
Although we currently are not considered to be a “controlled company” under the NYSE corporate governance rules, we may in the future become a controlled company due to the concentration of voting power among our Founders and their affiliates resulting from the issuance of our Class F common stock. See “Risks Related to the Multiple Class Structure of our Common Stock, the Founder Voting Trust Agreement, and the Founder Voting Agreement” below. A “controlled company” pursuant to the NYSE corporate governance rules is a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group, or another company. In the event that our Founders and their affiliates or other stockholders acquire more than 50% of the voting power of the Company, we may in the future be able to rely on the “controlled company” exemptions under the NYSE corporate governance rules due to this concentration of voting power and the ability of our Founders and their affiliates to act as a group. If we were a controlled company, we would be eligible, and could elect, not to comply with certain of the NYSE corporate governance standards. Such standards include the requirement that a majority of directors on our Board of Directors are independent directors, subject to certain phase-in periods, and the requirement that our compensation, nominating and governance committee consist entirely of independent directors. In such a case, if the interests of our stockholders differ from the group of stockholders holding a majority of the voting power, our stockholders would not have the same protection afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the NYSE corporate governance standards, and the ability of our independent directors to influence our business policies and corporate matters may be reduced.
We do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future.
We have never declared nor paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, as well as to fund our Share Repurchase Program, and we do not anticipate declaring or paying any dividends to holders of our capital stock in the foreseeable future. In addition, our credit facility contains restrictions on our ability to pay dividends. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors. Consequently, stockholders must rely on sales of their Class A common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment.
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Risks Related to the Multiple Class Structure of our Common Stock, the Founder Voting Trust Agreement, and the Founder Voting Agreement
The multiple class structure of our common stock has the effect of concentrating voting power with certain stockholders, in particular, our Founders and their affiliates, which will effectively eliminate your ability to influence the outcome of important transactions, including a change in control.
Our Class A common stock has one (1) vote per share, and our Class B common stock has ten (10) votes per share with respect to each matter submitted to our stockholders. Assuming that the Founders and certain of their affiliates collectively meet the Ownership Threshold (as defined below) on the applicable record date for a vote of the stockholders (except as provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation), shares of Class F common stock will generally have a number of votes per share in respect of a matter submitted to our stockholders that would cause the total votes of all shares of Class F common stock, together with the votes attributable to shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock held by our Founders and their affiliates that are subject to the voting agreement among our Founders and Wilmington Trust, National Association (the “Founder Voting Agreement”) and the votes attributable to shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock held by our Founders and their affiliates that are designated as Designated Founders’ Excluded Shares (as defined in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation), in each case entitled to vote on such matter, to equal, with respect to such matter, 49.999999% of the voting power of (i) all of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the Company entitled to vote on such matter (including in the case of the election of directors); or (ii) the shares present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on such matter only if a majority of the shares present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on such matter is the applicable voting standard (as applicable, “49.999999% of the Voting Power”). Accordingly, subject to limited exceptions described in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, such Founders will effectively control all matters submitted to the stockholders for the foreseeable future, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, compensation matters, and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or other major corporate transaction requiring stockholder approval. Our Founders and their affiliates also hold the substantial majority of our outstanding Class B common stock. Because of the ten-to-one voting ratio between our Class B and Class A common stock, even without regard to the voting power of the Class F common stock, our Founders and their affiliates collectively control a significant portion of the voting power of our capital stock based on their current ownership and may significantly increase their ownership of Class B common stock in the future due to the exercise of currently outstanding stock options or the settlement of RSUs.
The Founders may have interests that differ from yours and may vote in a way with which you disagree, and which may be adverse to your interests. This concentration of voting power is likely to have the effect of limiting the likelihood of an unsolicited merger proposal, unsolicited tender offer, or proxy contest for the removal of directors. As a result, our governance structure, including the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may have the effect of depriving our stockholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices and make it more difficult to replace our directors and management.
The Founder Voting Trust Agreement and the Founder Voting Agreement also have the effect of concentrating voting power with our Founders and their affiliates, which will effectively eliminate your ability to influence the outcome of important transactions, including a change in control.
All shares of our Class F common stock are held in a voting trust (the “Founder Voting Trust”), established by our Founders pursuant to a voting trust agreement (the “Founder Voting Trust Agreement”) with Wilmington Trust, National Association as trustee (the “Trustee”). Our Founders are also currently party to the Founder Voting Agreement. Our Founders have agreed through the Founder Voting Trust Agreement and Founder Voting Agreement that all of the shares of Class F common stock and all of the shares of our capital stock over which they and their affiliates have granted a proxy under the Founder Voting Agreement will be voted in the manner instructed by a majority of our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement. Accordingly, together with the multiple class structure of our common stock and subject to limited exceptions described in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, such Founders will effectively control all matters submitted to the stockholders for the foreseeable future, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, compensation matters, and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or other major corporate transaction requiring stockholder approval.
Upon the withdrawal or removal of any of our Founders from the Founder Voting Agreement, including upon their death or disability, the remaining Founders or Founder, as the case may be, will determine the manner in which the shares of our Class F common stock as well as the shares subject to the Founder Voting Agreement are voted. In such cases, the voting power of our outstanding capital stock will be further concentrated among the remaining Founders, which may be as few as one. Further, if there are only two Founders who are party to the Founder Voting Agreement, one Founder will be able to effectively defeat any stockholder action, except for the election of directors or other matters that are decided by a plurality of votes, if his instruction to vote the shares of Class F common stock differs from the other Founder. The Founders who are then party to the Founder
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Voting Agreement will retain the right to direct the voting of the Class F common stock without regard to their employment status with us.
All shares of our Class F common stock are held in the Founder Voting Trust and voted pursuant to the Founder Voting Trust Agreement. Accordingly, our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement will control any vote that requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of our Class F common stock, including action of our stockholders by written consent, the designation or issuance by us of shares of preferred stock, and certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation relating to our preferred stock.
Although we are a third-party beneficiary of the Founder Voting Agreement and the Founder Voting Trust Agreement, we do not have a general consent right with respect to amendments thereto, and either agreement may be amended or modified in the future in a manner that is adverse to our stockholders, which may include increasing the ability of one or more of our Founders to exercise control over matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders.
In certain circumstances in the future, the Founders and their affiliates could have voting power that exceeds 49.999999% of the Voting Power.
If the voting power of shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock held by the Founders or their affiliates that are subject to the Founder Voting Agreement or are Designated Founders’ Excluded Shares collectively equals greater than 49.999999% of the Voting Power with respect to a matter submitted to our stockholders, then the Class F common stock will have zero votes with respect to such matter. In this case, although the shares of our Class F common stock would generally be entitled to zero votes per share on that matter, all of the shares that are then subject to the Founder Voting Agreement would continue to be voted in accordance with the decision of a majority in number of the Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement.
For example, if the Founders and their affiliates hold shares other than the Class F common stock, such as Class B common stock, that, in the aggregate, have voting power that exceeds 49.999999% of the Voting Power with respect to a matter submitted to our stockholders, then the total voting power of the Founders and their affiliates would exceed 49.999999% of the Voting Power with respect to such matter. Our Founders and their affiliates may acquire additional shares of our Class A common stock or Class B common stock. Shares of our Class B common stock may be transferred (without converting into shares of Class A common stock) to, among others, our Founders or their affiliates, and such transfers to our Founders or their affiliates could increase the total voting power of the Founders and their affiliates above 49.999999% of the Voting Power with respect to such matter. Excluding the voting power of the Class F common stock, our Founders and their affiliates owned shares entitled to approximately 22.9% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock in the aggregate as of October 28, 2024.
In addition, if one or two Founders withdraw from the Founder Voting Agreement, the total voting power of the Founders and their affiliates in the aggregate could exceed 49.999999% of the Voting Power. For instance, if one Founder has withdrawn from the Founder Voting Agreement and such withdrawing Founder votes his shares in the same manner as the shares of Class F common stock are voted pursuant to the Founder Voting Trust Agreement, then our Founders and their affiliates, in the aggregate, could exercise 49.999999% of the Voting Power of our capital stock plus the voting power of shares held by the withdrawing Founder (which would no longer represent a subset of the 49.999999% of the Voting Power of our capital stock voted by those Founders that remain party to the Founder Voting Agreement).
As a result of future issuances of our common stock or the disposal of shares of our common stock by our Founders and their affiliates, our Founders and their affiliates could have voting power that is substantially greater than, and outsized in comparison to, their economic interests and the percentage of our common stock that they hold.
In certain circumstances, our Founders and their affiliates could have voting power that is substantially greater than, and outsized in comparison to, their economic interests and the percentage of our common stock that they hold. This separation between voting power and economic interests could cause conflicts of interest between our Founders and our other stockholders, which may result in our Founders undertaking, or causing us to undertake, actions that would be desirable for the Founders or their affiliates but would not be desirable for our other stockholders.
In the event that our Founders and their affiliates have less than 49.999999% of the Voting Power prior to giving effect to the voting power of the Class F common stock, the issuance of additional shares by us in the future to stockholders other than our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement or their affiliates will dilute the economic interests of our Founders but will generally not result in further dilution of the voting power of such Founders and their affiliates. Because of the voting rights of the Class F common stock, such issuances will instead correspondingly increase the voting power of the Class F common stock. Any future issuances of additional shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock will not be subject to approval by our stockholders except as required by the listing standards of the NYSE.
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In addition, our Founders and their affiliates are free to transfer or otherwise dispose of their shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock without diminishing their voting power so long as our Founders and certain of their affiliates continue to collectively hold 100,000,000 Corporation Equity Securities (as defined in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation) on the applicable record date (subject to equitable adjustments as provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation) (the “Ownership Threshold”). Shares of our Class F common stock will not convert into shares of our Class B common stock, and our multi-class structure will not terminate, solely because our Founders and certain of their affiliates do not satisfy this Ownership Threshold on the applicable record date. Upon the withdrawal, or removal, of one or more of our Founders from the Founder Voting Agreement (including as a result of death or disability), the Ownership Threshold that must be met on the applicable record date will be reduced on a pro rata basis based on the ownership of Corporation Equity Securities (which excludes Designated Founders’ Excluded Shares) of the Founders and certain of their affiliates as of August 10, 2020, which could substantially decrease the Ownership Threshold without reducing the effective voting power of the Class F common stock. Accordingly, our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement will be able to achieve substantial liquidity in their holdings, and substantially diminish their economic interest in us, without diminishing their voting power.
Furthermore, meeting the Ownership Threshold on the applicable record date will not ensure that the Founders and their affiliates do not or will not have differing economic interests from the interests of holders of the Class A common stock. For example, the Founder Voting Agreement does not prohibit a Founder from hedging his economic exposure to our common stock; however, we have implemented a policy that will prohibit hedging by our directors, officers and employees, which currently includes the Founders. In addition, the trustee will vote shares of Class F common stock in accordance with the decision of a majority in number of the Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement, regardless of such Founders’ relative ownership of any class of our common stock.
In August 2020, we granted two of our Founders, Mr. Karp, our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors, and Mr. Cohen, our President and a member of our Board of Directors, options and RSUs for an aggregate of 207.0 million shares of our Class B common stock (collectively, the “Founder Grants”), the substantial majority of which remain subject to vesting, exercise, and/or settlement upon the future satisfaction of service conditions and certain other conditions. These awards are expected to contribute to the Founders’ ability to meet the Ownership Threshold on the applicable record date at least until the sale of such shares by Mr. Karp and Mr. Cohen.
Shares of our common stock designated by one or more of our Founders pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be voted or not voted by such Founders or their affiliates in their discretion and will reduce the voting power exercised in accordance with the decision of a majority in number of the Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement.
Mr. Thiel has identified a portion of the shares of Class B common stock and Class A common stock beneficially owned by him and his affiliates as Designated Founders’ Excluded Shares, which will not be subject to the Founder Voting Agreement. Such Designated Founders’ Excluded Shares would reduce the total voting power that will be exercised in accordance with the decision of a majority in number of the Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement. Mr. Thiel or his affiliates would vote or not vote such Designated Founders’ Excluded Shares in their discretion, which may include in a manner different than the voting power exercised in accordance with the decision of a majority in number of the Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement. Depending on certain circumstances, including the extent to which other holders of Class B common stock convert or sell such shares of Class B common stock, such Designated Founders’ Excluded Shares may have significant voting power and increase Mr. Thiel or his affiliates’ relative voting power compared to the other Founders. The shares identified by Mr. Thiel as Designated Founders’ Excluded Shares represented less than 5% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock as of October 28, 2024. In the future, Mr. Thiel or our other Founders could designate additional shares as Designated Founders’ Excluded Shares.
The Ownership Threshold that must be met on any applicable record date is a small minority of our outstanding Corporation Equity Securities, and future issuances of Corporation Equity Securities may decrease this percentage.
The Ownership Threshold that must be met on any applicable record date is currently 100,000,000 Corporation Equity Securities, which is a small minority of our outstanding Corporation Equity Securities. While the number of outstanding Corporation Equity Securities may exceed the number of shares of our outstanding capital stock, as a comparison, there were 2,269,808,627 shares of our common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2024. Except for certain equitable adjustments as provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, future issuances of Corporation Equity Securities by us will not increase the Ownership Threshold that must be met on any applicable record date and, accordingly, will decrease the percentage of outstanding Corporation Equity Securities represented by the Ownership Threshold.
Upon the withdrawal, or removal, of one or more of our Founders from the Founder Voting Agreement (including as a result of death or disability), the Ownership Threshold that must be met on the applicable record date will be reduced on a pro rata basis
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based on the ownership of Corporation Equity Securities of the Founders and certain of their affiliates as of August 10, 2020. We expect that the Ownership Threshold will be reduced by approximately 57 million Corporation Equity Securities upon the withdrawal or removal from the Founder Voting Agreement of Alexander Karp, approximately 12 million Corporation Equity Securities upon the withdrawal or removal of Stephen Cohen, and approximately 31 million Corporation Equity Securities upon the withdrawal or removal of Peter Thiel if such withdrawals or removals were to happen.
In addition, in the future we could create a new class of equity securities with different economic or voting rights than existing classes. If we were to create a new class of equity security, because of the broad definition of “Corporation Equity Securities,” such security could qualify as Corporation Equity Securities and therefore count towards the Ownership Threshold if held by our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement or certain of their affiliates. If such security has lesser or no economic rights, it could have the effect of further increasing the divergence between the economic interests of our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement and their affiliates, on the one hand, and the voting power of such Founders and their affiliates, on the other. Further, Corporation Equity Securities includes, among other things, any warrants, calls, options or other right, whether vested or unvested, to acquire from the Company certain voting or equity securities from the Company. Accordingly, the Board of Directors could issue additional equity securities, or additional options, RSUs, warrants or other rights to acquire equity securities (whether vested or unvested), to our Founders or certain of their affiliates, which would increase the number of Corporation Equity Securities they hold and enable them to meet the Ownership Threshold notwithstanding sales of Corporation Equity Securities that they currently hold. As a result, any Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement or certain of their affiliates could hold a nominal equity interest with little to no voting rights but meet the Ownership Threshold and therefore have voting power that provides effective control of our company.
The multiple class structure of our common stock features certain provisions that are novel or otherwise not common among other corporations with multiple class structures.
A number of provisions relating to the multiple class structure of our common stock are novel or otherwise not common among other corporations with multiple class structures. For instance, our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement are free to transfer or otherwise dispose of their shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock without diminishing their voting control so long as our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement and certain of their affiliates meet the Ownership Threshold on the applicable record date. Shares of our Class B common stock, which have ten (10) votes per share, may remain outstanding in perpetuity. Additionally, shares of our Class B common stock may be transferred (without converting into shares of Class A common stock) to, among others, our Founders or their affiliates, which could result in our Founders and their affiliates or other stockholders obtaining additional voting control.
Additionally, certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation related to the calculation of the voting power of the Class F common stock may have an adverse effect on our stockholders other than our Founders. Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our Founders have the right to challenge the calculation of the voting power of the Class F common stock. Such a challenge may cause delays in the certification of any vote of our stockholders or in the effectiveness of any action of our stockholders.
The multi-class structure of our common stock, the Founder Voting Trust Agreement and the Founder Voting Agreement by which our Founders exercise effective control over all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders will exist for the foreseeable future.
Shares of our Class F common stock will convert automatically into shares of our Class B common stock only if the Founder Voting Trust Agreement or the Founder Voting Agreement is terminated. Each of these agreements could remain in place until the death of our last living Founder. As of September 30, 2024, our Founders were 56, 56, and 42 years old. Further, upon a discretionary or compulsory withdrawal of a Founder as a beneficiary of the Founder Voting Trust Agreement, the Trustee will instruct our transfer agent and us to convert the withdrawing Founder’s pro rata portion of the shares of Class F common stock held in the Founder Voting Trust at the time of the withdrawal into shares of Class B common stock in accordance with our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Because of the ten-to-one voting ratio between our Class B and Class A common stock, even if the Class F common stock converts to Class B common stock, our Founders will collectively control a significant portion of the voting power of our capital stock based on their current ownership. Future transfers by holders of shares of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting to Class A common stock, subject to limited exceptions, such as certain transfers effected for estate planning purposes and transfers between related entities. The conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those individual holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares in the long term. If our Founders and their affiliates, individually or collectively, retain a significant portion of their holdings of Class B common stock for an extended period of time, they could, in the future, individually or collectively, continue to control a significant portion of the combined voting power of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock, even without the use of the Class F common stock, and such voting power could enable
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holders of Class B common stock to effectively control all matters subject to the stockholder approval. Shares of our Class B common stock may remain outstanding in perpetuity.
Further, if all, or a large portion, of the Founder Grants should be exercised or vest and settle, our Founders will increase their voting power of our Class B common stock. Although the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation only provide for a separate vote of the holders of our Class B common stock on limited matters, under Delaware law, certain actions may require the approval of the holders of the Class B common stock voting as a separate class. For example, if we amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to adversely affect the special rights, powers, or preferences of our Class B common stock in a manner that does not so affect the Class A common stock or Class F common stock, Delaware law could require approval of the holders of our Class B common stock voting separately as single class. For any vote of the Class B common stock voting as a separate class, our Founders will significantly influence such vote if all, or a large portion, of the Founder Grants should vest and settle and the Founders retain such shares.
Our governance structure may negatively affect the decision by certain institutional investors to purchase or hold shares of our Class A common stock.
The holding of low-voting stock, such as our Class A common stock, may not be permitted by the investment policies of certain institutional investors or may be less attractive to the portfolio managers of certain institutional investors. In addition, our multi-class governance structure may make us ineligible for inclusion in certain indices, and as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track such indices would not invest in our stock. For example, S&P did not allow most newly public companies utilizing dual- or multi-class capital structures to be included in their indices from 2017 until a change in their eligibility requirements for such companies in 2023. Following this change, we joined the S&P 500 index in September 2024. Any such existing or new policies may depress our valuation compared to those of other similar companies that do not have multi-class governance structures.
Future issuances of our Class A common stock will dilute the voting power of our Class A common stockholders but may not result in further dilution of the voting power of our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement.
Future issuances of our Class A common stock will dilute the voting power of our Class A common stockholders, and future issuances to stockholders other than our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement will dilute the economic interests of our Founders and their affiliates. However, because of the voting rights of the shares of Class F common stock, in the event that our Founders and their affiliates have less than 49.999999% of the Voting Power prior to giving effect to the voting power of the Class F common stock, future issuances of Class A common stock to stockholders other than our Founders and their affiliates will generally not result in dilution of the voting power of our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement or their affiliates, but rather, will correspondingly increase the voting power of the Class F common stock. Any future issuances of additional shares of Class A common stock will not be subject to approval by our stockholders except as required by the listing standards of the NYSE.
General Risk Factors
Adverse economic conditions or reduced technology spending may adversely impact our business.
Our business depends on the economic health of our current and prospective customers and overall demand for technology. In addition, the purchase of our platforms and services is often discretionary and typically involves a significant commitment of capital and other resources. Over the past two years, the United States, the EU, and the U.K. have experienced historically high levels of inflation. In response to high levels of inflation and recession fears, the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England have raised interest rates and implemented fiscal policy interventions in recent periods. These interventions may lower inflation, however, they may also reduce economic growth rates, create a recession, and have other similar effects. A further downturn in macroeconomic conditions, including heightened interest rates; supply chain disruptions; global political and economic uncertainty; geopolitical tensions, such as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict; a lack of availability of credit; a reduction in business confidence and activity; the curtailment of government or corporate spending; public health concerns or emergencies; financial market volatility; and other factors have in the past, and may in the future, negatively affect the industries to which we sell our platforms and services. Our customers may suffer from reduced operating budgets, which could cause them to defer, reduce, or forego purchases of our platforms or services. Moreover, competitors may respond to market conditions by lowering prices and attempting to lure away our customers, and the increased pace of consolidation in certain industries may result in reduced overall spending on our offerings. Uncertainty about global and regional economic conditions, a downturn in the technology sector or any sectors in which our customers operate, or a reduction in information technology spending even if economic conditions are stable, could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations in a number of ways, including longer sales cycles, extended or alternative payment terms or delayed payments from our customers, lower prices for our platforms and services, material default rates among our customers, contract terminations or renegotiations by our customers, reduced sales of our platforms or services, difficulty attracting new customers or retaining and expanding relationships with existing customers, and lower or no growth.
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For example, some of our early-stage Investee customers filed for bankruptcy or terminated their contracts with us and we may not realize the full value of our commercial contracts with such customers as a result.
We cannot predict the timing, strength, or duration of any crises, economic slowdown or any subsequent recovery generally, or for any industry in particular. Although certain aspects of the effects of a crisis or an economic slowdown may provide potential new opportunities for our business, we cannot guarantee that the net impact of any such events will not be materially negative. Accordingly, if the conditions in the general economy and the markets in which we operate worsen from present levels, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Moreover, to the extent challenging macroeconomic conditions adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations, these events, alone or in combination, may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, including but not limited to, those related to maintaining company culture, our ability to increase sales to existing and new customers, continue to perform on existing contracts, develop and deploy new technologies, expand our marketing capabilities and sales organization, and generate sufficient cash flow to service our indebtedness, volatility in the trading price of our Class A common stock, and our ability to comply with the covenants in the agreements that govern our indebtedness.
We may face exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.
Our results of operations and cash flows are subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates, particularly changes in the Euro, JPY, and GBP. We expect our non-U.S. operations to continue to grow in the near term and we are continually monitoring our foreign currency exposure to determine if we should consider a hedging program. Today, our non-U.S. contracts are denominated in either U.S. dollars or local currency, while our non-U.S. operating expenses are often denominated in local currencies. However, as we expand our non-U.S. operations, a larger portion of our operating expenses may be denominated in local currencies and we may also hold monetary assets and liabilities in currencies other than the respective subsidiaries’ functional currency. Volatility in exchange rates and global financial markets is expected to continue due to political and economic uncertainty globally.
In prior years, the U.S. dollar strengthened compared to other currencies, which increased and has the potential to increase in the future the real cost of our platforms to our customers outside of the United States, which could reduce demand for our platforms and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Continued increases in the value of the U.S. dollar and decreases in the value of foreign currencies could result in the dollar equivalent of our revenues being lower, result in increased expenses for our non-U.S. operations, or otherwise impact our financial condition and results of operations.
Natural disasters, including climate change, and other catastrophic events beyond our control could harm our business.
Natural disasters, including climate change, or other catastrophic events may cause damage or disruption to our operations, non-U.S. commerce and the global economy, and thus could have a negative effect on us. Our business operations have been, and could in the future be, subject to interruption by natural disasters, earthquakes, flooding, fire, power shortages, pandemics (such as COVID-19), terrorism, such as Hamas’ attack against Israel, political unrest, cyberattacks including as may be exacerbated by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, geopolitical tensions including those related to the invasion of Ukraine, the effects of climate change such as drought, wildfires, increased storm severity, and sea level rise, telecommunications failure, vandalism, and other events beyond our control. Although we maintain crisis management and disaster response plans, such events could make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver our services to our customers, could decrease demand for our services, could make existing customers unable or unwilling to fulfill their contractual requirements to us, including their payment obligations, and could cause us to incur substantial expense, including expenses or liabilities arising from potential litigation. Our insurance may not be sufficient to cover losses or additional expense that we may sustain. Customer data could be lost, significant recovery time could be required to resume operations and our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected in the event of a major natural disaster or catastrophic event.
In addition, the impacts of climate change on the global economy and our industry are rapidly evolving. We have been, and may continue to be, subject to increased regulations, reporting requirements, standards or expectations regarding the environmental impacts of our business. While we seek to mitigate our business risks associated with climate change, there are inherent climate-related risks wherever business is conducted. Any of our primary locations may be vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. For example, our Colorado headquarters have experienced and may continue to experience, climate-related events and at an increasing frequency, including drought, water scarcity, heat waves, wildfires and resultant air quality impacts and power shutoffs associated with the wildfires. Additionally, while some employees have returned to our offices, it will remain difficult to mitigate the impact of these events on our employees continuing to work remotely. Changing market dynamics, global policy developments and increasing frequency and impact of extreme weather events on critical infrastructure in the United States and elsewhere have the potential to disrupt our business, the business of our partners, suppliers, and customers, and may cause us to experience higher attrition, losses and additional costs to maintain or resume operations.
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If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.
We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the rules and regulations of the listing standards of the NYSE. The requirements of these rules and regulations may continue to increase our legal, accounting, and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming, and costly, and place significant strain on our personnel, systems, and resources.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. We have developed and refined our financial reporting and other disclosure controls and procedures, and will continue to do so. Our controls are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we will file with the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms and that information required to be disclosed in reports under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our principal executive and financial officers. We are also continuing to improve our internal control over financial reporting as our business continues to grow in size and complexity. We expect to continue to hire and integrate additional accounting and financial staff with appropriate company experience and technical accounting knowledge, as well as implement and integrate new technological systems. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our financial statement and disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we have expended, and anticipate that we will continue to expend, significant resources, including accounting-related costs and significant management oversight.
Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. Further, we have identified in the past, and may identify in the future, deficiencies in our controls. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our results of operations or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our financial statements for prior periods. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting also could adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations and annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, if we are unable to continue to meet these requirements, we may not be able to remain listed on the NYSE. We are required to annually comply with the SEC rules that implement Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and are therefore required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for that purpose.
Our independent registered public accounting firm must also formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting annually. Any failure to maintain effective disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and could cause a decline in the market price of our Class A common stock.
We have incurred and will continue to incur increased costs and demands upon management as a result of complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
As a public company, we have incurred and will continue to incur greater legal, accounting, finance, and other expenses than we incurred as a private company. We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, and the rules and regulations of the NYSE. These requirements have increased and will continue to increase our legal, accounting, and financial compliance costs and have made, and will continue to make, some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, the Exchange Act requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly, and current reports with respect to our business and results of operations. As a result of the complexity involved in complying with the rules and regulations applicable to public companies, our management’s attention may be diverted from the day-to-day management of our business, which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Although we have already hired additional employees to assist us in complying with these requirements, we may need to hire more employees in the future or engage outside consultants, which will increase our operating expenses. Additionally, as a public company subject to additional rules and regulations and oversight, we may not have the same flexibility we had as a private company.
In addition, changing laws, regulations, and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance costs, and making some activities more time-consuming. These laws, regulations, and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by
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ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We have and intend to continue to invest substantial resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations, and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management’s time and attention from business operations to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations, and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to their application and practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be harmed.
We also expect these rules and regulations to make it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to maintain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our Board of Directors or as our executive officers.
As a result of disclosure of information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and other filings required of a public company, our business and financial condition has become more visible, which may result in an increased risk of threatened or actual litigation, including by competitors and other third parties. If such claims are successful, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be harmed, and even if the claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor, these claims, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them, could divert the resources of our management and harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS
The following table summarizes stock repurchases during the three months ended September 30, 2024 (in thousands, except share and per share amounts):
| Period | Total Number of Shares Purchased | Average Price Paid per Share(1) | Total Number of Shares Purchased under Share Repurchase Program | Approximate Dollar Amount Available for Future Purchases under Share Repurchase Program | |||||||||||||||||||
| July 1, 2024 - July 31, 2024 | 239,655 | $ | 27.54 | 239,655 | $ | 966,702 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 1, 2024 - August 31, 2024 | 213,344 | 29.53 | 213,344 | 960,402 | |||||||||||||||||||
| September 1, 2024 - September 30, 2024 | 172,459 | $ | 34.79 | 172,459 | $ | 954,402 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total | 625,458 | 625,458 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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(1) Includes related commissions.
(2) In August 2023, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $1.0 billion of the Company’s outstanding shares of Class A common stock. Our stock repurchase authorization does not have an expiration date and the pace of our repurchase activity will depend on factors such as business and market conditions, corporate and regulatory requirements, and other considerations. Our stock repurchase may be effected from time to time through open market purchases or pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Our stock repurchase program may be accelerated, suspended, delayed, or discontinued at any time.
ITEM 3. DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES
Not applicable.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
ITEM 5. OTHER INFORMATION
Rule 10b5-1 Trading Arrangements
During the quarter ended September 30, 2024, the following directors and officers, as defined in Rule 16a-1(f), adopted or terminated a “Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement” as defined in Regulation S-K Item 408, as follows:
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On August 22, 2024 , Alexandra Schiff , a member of our Board of Directors , adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement providing for the potential sales of shares of our Class A common stock through various transactions upon the occurrence and satisfaction of certain price and/or other conditions, with 14,776 shares being the total of the maximum number of all shares subject to any condition when summed across all possible conditions. The trading arrangement is intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c). The duration of the trading arrangement is until July 7, 2025 , or earlier, upon the completion or expiration of all transactions subject to the trading arrangement.
On August 28, 2024 , Shyam Sankar , our Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President , terminated a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement, which was previously adopted on August 31, 2023 and intended to satisfy the affirmative defense of Rule 10b5-1(c). For additional details about the material terms of this arrangement, refer to the description under the heading “Rule 10b5-1 Trading Arrangements” contained in Part II, Item 5. Other Information of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, which is incorporated herein by reference.
On August 29, 2024 , Mr. Sankar adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement providing for the potential sales of shares of our Class A common stock through various transactions upon the occurrence and satisfaction of certain price and/or other conditions, with 7,305,000 shares being the total of the maximum number of all shares subject to any condition when summed across all possible conditions, less any shares to be withheld and/or sold to satisfy applicable tax withholdings. The trading arrangement is intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c). The duration of the trading arrangement is until March 6, 2026 , or earlier, upon the completion or expiration of all transactions subject to the trading arrangement.
On September 5, 2024 , Ryan Taylor , our Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Legal Officer , adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement providing for the potential sales of shares of our Class A common stock through various transactions upon the occurrence and satisfaction of certain price and/or other conditions, with 867,164 shares being the total of the maximum number of all shares subject to any condition when summed across all possible conditions. The trading arrangement is intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c). The duration of the trading arrangement is until June 30, 2025 , or earlier, upon the completion or expiration of all transactions subject to the trading arrangement.
On September 10, 2024 , David Glazer , our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer , terminated a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement, previously adopted on December 12, 2023, and a later-commencing (after the completion or expiration of the earlier-commencing arrangement described) Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement, previously adopted on June 12, 2024, each intended to satisfy the affirmative defense of Rule 10b5-1(c). For additional details about the material terms of these arrangements, refer to the descriptions contained in Part II, Item 9B. Other Information of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and Part II, Item 5. Other Information of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, respectively, which are incorporated herein by reference.
On September 11, 2024 , Stephen Cohen , our President, Secretary, and a member of our Board of Directors , adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement providing for the potential sales of shares of our Class A common stock through various transactions upon the occurrence and satisfaction of certain price and/or other conditions, with 2,339,862 shares being the total of the maximum number of all shares subject to any condition when summed across all possible conditions, less any shares to be withheld and/or sold to satisfy applicable tax withholdings. The trading arrangement is intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c). The duration of the trading arrangement is until December 31, 2025 , or earlier, upon the completion or expiration of all transactions subject to the trading arrangement.
On September 12, 2024 , Mr. Glazer adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement providing for the potential sales of shares of our Class A common stock through various transactions upon the occurrence and satisfaction of certain price and/or other conditions, with 945,442 shares being the total of the maximum number of all shares subject to any condition when summed across all possible conditions. The trading arrangement is intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c). The duration of the trading arrangement is until June 30, 2025 , or earlier, upon the completion or expiration of all transactions subject to the trading arrangement.
On September 12, 2024 , Lauren Stat , a member of our Board of Directors , adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement providing for the potential sales of shares of our Class A common stock through various transactions upon the occurrence and satisfaction of certain price and/or other conditions, with 3,200 shares being the total of the maximum number of all shares subject to any condition when summed across all possible conditions. The trading arrangement is intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c). The duration of the trading arrangement is until December 31, 2025 , or earlier, upon the completion or expiration of all transactions subject to the trading arrangement.
During the quarter ended September 30, 2024, no other directors or officers, as defined in Rule 16a-1(f), adopted terminated
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ITEM 6. EXHIBITS
| Incorporated by Reference | |||||||||||||||||
| Exhibit Number | Description | Form | File No. | Exhibit | Filing Date | ||||||||||||
| 101.INS* | Inline XBRL Instance Document. | ||||||||||||||||
| 101.SCH* | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document. | ||||||||||||||||
| 101.CAL* | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document. | ||||||||||||||||
| 101.DEF* | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document. | ||||||||||||||||
| 101.LAB* | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document. | ||||||||||||||||
| 101.PRE* | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document. | ||||||||||||||||
| 104.1* | Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101) | ||||||||||||||||
* Filed Herewith
+ Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement
† The certifications attached as Exhibit 32.1 that accompany this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are not deemed filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of the Registrant under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, whether made before or after the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, irrespective of any general incorporation language contained in such filing.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC. | |||||||||||
Date: November 4, 2024 | By: | /s/ Alexander C. Karp | |||||||||
Alexander C. Karp | |||||||||||
Chief Executive Officer | |||||||||||
(Principal Executive Officer) | |||||||||||
Date: November 4, 2024 | By: | /s/ David Glazer | |||||||||
David Glazer | |||||||||||
Chief Financial Officer | |||||||||||
(Principal Financial Officer) | |||||||||||
Date: November 4, 2024 | By: | /s/ Heather Planishek | |||||||||
Heather Planishek | |||||||||||
Chief Accounting Officer | |||||||||||
(Principal Accounting Officer) | |||||||||||
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Exhibit 10.1
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.
2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
(Adopted on September 7, 2020; Effective as of September 21, 2020)
1.Purposes of the Plan; Award Types.
(a)Purposes of the Plan. The purposes of this Plan are to attract and retain personnel for positions with the Company Group, to provide additional incentive to Employees, Directors, and Consultants (collectively, “Service Providers”), and to promote the success of the Company’s business.
(b)Award Types. The Plan permits the grant of Incentive Stock Options to any ISO Employee and the grant of Nonstatutory Stock Options, Stock Appreciation Rights, Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Units, and Performance Awards to any Service Provider.
2.Definitions. The following definitions are used in this Plan:
(a)“Administrator” means Administrator as defined in Section 4(a).
(b)“Applicable Laws” means the legal and regulatory requirements relating to the administration of equity-based awards, including but not limited to the related issuance of Shares under U.S. federal and state corporate laws, U.S. federal and state securities laws, the Code, any stock exchange or quotation system on which the Common Stock is listed or quoted and, only to the extent applicable with respect to an Award or Awards, the tax, securities, exchange control, and other laws of any jurisdictions other than the United States where Awards are, or will be, granted under the Plan. Reference to a section of an Applicable Law or regulation related to that section shall include such section or regulation, any valid regulation issued under such section, and any comparable provision of any future legislation or regulation amending, supplementing or superseding such section or regulation.
(c)“Award” means, individually or collectively, a grant under the Plan of Options, Stock Appreciation Rights, Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Units, or Performance Awards.
(d)“Award Agreement” means the written or electronic agreement setting forth the terms applicable to an Award granted under the Plan. The Award Agreement is subject to the terms of the Plan.
(e)“Board” means the Board of Directors of the Company.
(f)“Change in Control” means the occurrence of any of the following events, unless specifically provided otherwise under the applicable Award Agreement or other written agreement between the Participant and the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or Parents, as applicable:
(i)A change in the ownership of the Company which occurs on the date that any one person, or more than one person acting as a group (“Person”), acquires ownership of the stock of the Company that, together with the stock held by such Person, constitutes more than 50% of the total voting power of the stock of the Company; provided, that for this subsection, the acquisition of additional stock by any one Person, who prior to such acquisition is considered to own more than 50% of the total voting power of the stock of the Company will not be considered a Change in Control and provided, further, that any change in the ownership of the stock of the Company as a result of a private financing of the Company that is approved by the Board also will not be considered a Change in Control. Further, if the stockholders of the Company immediately before such change in ownership continue to retain immediately after the change in ownership, in substantially the same proportions as their ownership of shares of the Company’s voting stock immediately prior to the change in ownership, direct or indirect beneficial ownership of 50% or more of the total voting power of the stock of the Company or of the ultimate parent entity of the Company, such event shall not be considered a Change in Control under this Section 2(f)(i). For this purpose, indirect beneficial ownership shall include, without limitation, an interest resulting from ownership of the voting securities of one or more corporations or other business entities which own the Company, as the case may be, either directly or through one or more subsidiary corporations or other business entities. Further, for purposes of this subsection 2(f)(i), the following will not be considered a Change in Control: (A) the acquisition of additional securities of the Company or voting power with respect to the stock of the Company by any or some combination of the Specified Stockholders (as defined below); (B) the entry into, amendment, termination or operation of the “Voting Agreement” (as defined in the Company’s certificate of incorporation, as it may be amended from time to time) or any other voting arrangement or agreement or proxy (in each case with respect to the stock of the Company) by any or some combination of the Specified Stockholders together with one or more other stockholders, if any, provided that the Board has approved or ratified, for purposes of this subsection, the inclusion or addition of such other stockholders; (C) any change in the Specified Stockholders’ ownership of the stock of the Company resulting from a repurchase, redemption, retirement or other similar acquisition of stock of the Company by the Company or (D) any change in the Specified Stockholders’ voting power of the stock of the Company resulting from a conversion of shares of stock of the Company reducing the number of shares or votes outstanding. For the avoidance of doubt, no acquisition or disposition of Class F Common Stock by the Specified Stockholders or change in the total voting power of the stock of the Company as a result of (i) the conversion of any shares of stock of the Company into shares of Class F Common Stock, (ii) the conversion of any shares of Class F Common Stock into shares of any other class of stock of the Company, or (iii) any change in the voting power of the Class F Common Stock will constitute a Change in Control. Further, for purposes of this Section 2(f)(i), if any Person is considered to be in effective control of the Company, the acquisition of additional control of the Company by the same Person will not be considered a Change in Control; or
(ii)A change in the effective control of the Company which occurs on the date a majority of members of the Board is replaced during any 12-month period by Directors whose appointment or election is not endorsed by a majority of the members of the Board prior to the appointment or election; provided that if any Person or any or some combination of the Specified Stockholders exercises more than 50% of the total voting power of the stock of the Company, the election of Directors by such party or parties will not be considered a Change in Control. Further, for
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purposes of this Section 2(f)(ii), if any Person is considered to be in effective control of the Company, the acquisition of additional control of the Company by the same Person will not be considered a Change in Control; or
(iii)A change in the ownership of a substantial portion of the Company’s assets which occurs on the date that any Person acquires (or has acquired during the 12-month period ending on the date of the most recent acquisition by such Person or Persons) assets from the Company that have a total gross fair market value equal to or more than 50% of the total gross fair market value of all of the assets of the Company immediately prior to such acquisition or acquisitions; provided, that for this Section 2(f)(iii), the following will not constitute a change in the ownership of a substantial portion of the Company’s assets:
(1)a transfer to an entity controlled by the Company’s stockholders immediately after the transfer, or
(2)a transfer of assets by the Company to:
(A)a stockholder of the Company (immediately before the asset transfer) in exchange for or with respect to the Company’s stock,
(B)an entity, 50% or more of the total value or voting power of which is owned, directly or indirectly, by the Company,
(C)a Person, that owns, directly or indirectly, 50% or more of the total value or voting power of all the outstanding stock of the Company, or
(D)an entity, at least 50% of the total value or voting power of which is owned, directly or indirectly, by a Person described in Section 2(f)(iii)(2)(A) to Section 2(f)(iii)(2)(C).
For this definition, gross fair market value means the value of the assets of the Company, or the value of the assets being disposed of, determined without regard to any liabilities associated with such assets.
(iv)For purposes of this Section 2(f) definition of “Change in Control”:
“Specified Stockholder” shall mean, individually or collectively (in any combination thereof), Alexander Karp, Stephen Cohen or Peter Thiel, or a Permitted Entity of any such individuals.
“Permitted Entity” shall mean: (i) a Permitted Trust of such Specified Stockholder; (ii) any general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, corporation, charitable organization or other entity exclusively owned, whether directly or indirectly, by such Specified Stockholder; or (iii) an Individual Retirement Account, pension, profit sharing, stock bonus or other type of plan or trust of which such Specified Stockholder is a participant or beneficiary and which satisfies the requirements for qualification under Section 401 or 408 of the Code; provided in each case that such Specified Stockholder (A) has sole dispositive power and
3
exclusive Voting Control with respect to the shares of Company stock held in such account, plan or trust; (B) shares dispositive power and Voting Control with respect to the shares of Company stock held in such account, plan or trust with persons constituting a Family Member of such Specified Stockholder or a professional that provides trustee services, including, without limitation, attorneys, private professional fiduciaries, trust companies and bank trust departments; or (C) shares Voting Control with respect to the shares of Company stock held in such account, plan or trust with another Specified Stockholder.
“Permitted Trust” shall mean with respect to a Specified Stockholder (i) a bona fide trust primarily for the benefit of such Specified Stockholder, such Specified Stockholder’s Family Member and/or a charitable organization, foundation or similar entity or (ii) a trust under the terms of which such Specified Stockholder has retained a “qualified interest” within the meaning of §2702(b)(1) of the Code or a reversionary interest, but in the case of both (i) and (ii) only so long as such Specified Stockholder (A) has sole dispositive power and exclusive Voting Control with respect to the shares of stock of the Company held in such trust; (B) shares dispositive power and Voting Control with respect to the shares of stock of the Company held in such trust with such Specified Stockholder’s Family Member or a professional that provides trustee services, including, without limitation, attorneys, private professional fiduciaries, trust companies and bank trust departments; or (C) shares Voting Control with respect to the shares of Company stock held in such trust with another Specified Stockholder.
“Family Member” means, with respect to a Specified Stockholder, whether related by blood or marriage, (i) such Specified Stockholder’s spouse, ex-spouse or domestic partner; (ii) such Specified Stockholder’s parents and grandparents; (iii) such Specified Stockholder’s siblings; (iv) such Specified Stockholder’s children and other lineal descendants; and (v) the lineal descendants of such Specified Stockholder’s siblings. Lineal descendants shall include adopted persons, but only if they are adopted during minority, and step-children.
“Voting Control” shall mean, with respect to a share of stock, the power to vote or direct the voting of such share by proxy, voting agreement or otherwise.
For purposes of this Section 2(f), persons will be considered to be acting as a group if they are owners of a corporation that enters into a merger, consolidation, purchase or acquisition of stock, or similar business transaction with the Company. For the avoidance of doubt, wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company shall not be considered “Persons” for purposes of this Section 2(f).
Notwithstanding the foregoing, a transaction will not be a Change in Control unless the transaction qualifies as a change in control event within the meaning of Code Section 409A.
Further and for the avoidance of doubt, a transaction will not constitute a Change in Control if: (i) its primary purpose is to change the jurisdiction of the Company’s incorporation, or (ii) its primary purpose is to create a holding company that will be owned in substantially the same proportions by the persons who held the Company’s securities immediately before such transaction.
(g)“Class A Common Stock” means the Class A Common Stock of the Company, par value $0.001 per share.
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(h)“Class B Common Stock” means the Class B Common Stock of the Company, par value $0.001 per share.
(i)“Class F Common Stock” means the Class F Common Stock of the Company, par value $0.001 per share.
(j)“Code” means the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Reference to a section of the Code or regulation related to that section shall include such section or regulation, any valid regulation issued or other official applicable guidance of general or direct applicability promulgated under such section or regulation, and any comparable provision of any future legislation, regulation or official guidance of general or direct applicability amending, supplementing or superseding such section or regulation.
(k)“Committee” means a committee of Directors or of other individuals satisfying Applicable Laws appointed by the Board.
(l)“Common Stock” means shares of the Class A Common Stock, the Class B Common Stock or the Class F Common Stock, as applicable.
(m)“Company” means Palantir Technologies Inc., a Delaware corporation, or any of its successors.
(n)“Company Group” means the Company, any Parent or Subsidiary, and any entity that, from time to time and at the time of any determination, directly or indirectly, is in control of, is controlled by or is under common control with the Company.
(o)“Consultant” means any natural person engaged by a member of the Company Group to render bona fide services to such entity, provided the services (i) are not in connection with the offer or sale of securities in a capital raising transaction, and (ii) do not directly promote or maintain a market for the Company’s securities. A Consultant must be a person to whom the issuance of Shares registered on Form S-8 under the Securities Act is permitted.
(p)“Director” means a member of the Board.
(q)“Disability” means total and permanent disability as defined in Section 22(e)(3) of the Code, provided that in the case of Awards other than Incentive Stock Options, the Administrator in its discretion may determine whether a permanent and total disability exists in accordance with uniform and non-discriminatory standards adopted by the Administrator from time to time.
(r)“Employee” means any person, including Officers and Directors, providing services as an employee to the Company or any member of the Company Group. However, with respect to Incentive Stock Options, an Employee must be employed by the Company or any Parent or Subsidiary of the Company (such an Employee, an “ISO Employee”). Notwithstanding, Options awarded to individuals not providing services to the Company or a Subsidiary of the Company should be carefully structured to comply with the payment timing rule of Code Section 409A.
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Neither service as a Director nor payment of a director’s fee by the Company will constitute “employment” by the Company.
(s)“Exchange Act” means the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
(t)“Exchange Program” means a program under which (i) outstanding Awards are surrendered or cancelled in exchange for awards of the same type (which may have higher or lower Exercise Prices and different terms), awards of a different type, and/or cash, (ii) Participants would have the opportunity to transfer any outstanding Awards to a financial institution or other person or entity selected by the Administrator, and/or (iii) the Exercise Price of an outstanding Award is increased or reduced. The Administrator will determine the terms and conditions of any Exchange Program in its sole discretion.
(u)“Exercise Price” means the price payable per share to exercise an Award.
(v)“Expiration Date” means the last possible day on which an Option or Stock Appreciation Right may be exercised. Any exercise must be completed before midnight U.S. Pacific Time between the Expiration Date and the following date; provided, however, that any broker-assisted cashless exercise of an Option granted hereunder must be completed by the close of market trading on the Expiration Date.
(w)“Fair Market Value” means, as of any date, the value of a Share, determined as follows:
(i)If the Common Stock is listed on any established stock exchange or a national market system, including without limitation the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ Global Select Market, the NASDAQ Global Market or the NASDAQ Capital Market of The NASDAQ Stock Market, the Fair Market Value will be the closing sales price for a Share (or the closing bid, if no sales were reported) as quoted on such exchange or system on the day of determination, as reported by such source as the Administrator determines to be reliable. If the determination date for the Fair Market Value occurs on a non-Trading Day (i.e., a weekend or holiday), the Fair Market Value will be such price on the immediately preceding Trading Day, unless otherwise determined by the Administrator;
(ii)If the Common Stock is regularly quoted by a recognized securities dealer but selling prices are not reported, the Fair Market Value of a Share will be the mean between the high bid and low asked prices for the Common Stock on the day of determination (or, if no bids and asks were reported on that date on the last Trading Day such bids and asks were reported), as reported by such source as the Administrator determines to be reliable;
(iii)For any Awards granted on the Listing Date, the Fair Market Value will be the closing sales price for Common Stock on the Listing Date as quoted on any established stock exchange or national market system (including without limitation the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ Global Select Market, the NASDAQ Global Market or the NASDAQ Capital Market of The NASDAQ Stock Market) on which the Common Stock is listed on the Listing Date
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(or the closing bid, if no sales were reported), as reported in The Wall Street Journal or such other source as the Administrator deems reliable; or
(iv)Absent an established market for the Common Stock, the Fair Market Value will be determined in good faith by the Administrator.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the determination date for the Fair Market Value occurs on a weekend, holiday or other day other than a Trading Day, the Fair Market Value will be the price as determined under subsections (w)(i) or (w)(ii) above on the immediately preceding Trading Day, unless otherwise determined by the Administrator. In addition, for purposes of determining the fair market value of shares for any reason other than the determination of the Exercise Price of Options or Stock Appreciation Rights, fair market value will be determined by the Administrator in a manner compliant with Applicable Laws and applied consistently for such purpose. Note that the determination of fair market value for purposes of tax withholding may be made in the Administrator’s sole discretion subject to Applicable Laws and is not required to be consistent with the determination of Fair Market Value for other purposes.
(x)“Fiscal Year” means a fiscal year of the Company.
(y)“Grant Date” means Grant Date as defined in Section 4(c).
(z)“Incentive Stock Option” means an Option that is intended to qualify and does qualify as an incentive stock option within the meaning of Code Section 422.
(aa)“Listing Date” means the date that the Class A Common Stock is first traded on any established stock exchange or national market system (including without limitation the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ Global Select Market, the NASDAQ Global Market or the NASDAQ Capital Market of The NASDAQ Stock Market).
(ab)“Nonstatutory Stock Option” means an Option that by its terms does not qualify or is not intended to qualify as an Incentive Stock Option.
(ac)“Officer” means a person who is an officer of the Company within the meaning of Section 16 of the Exchange Act.
(ad)“Option” means a stock option to acquire Shares granted under Section 6.
(ae)“Outside Director” means a Director who is not an Employee.
(af)“Parent” means a “parent corporation,” whether now or hereafter existing, as defined in Code Section 424(e).
(ag)“Participant” means the holder of an outstanding Award.
(ah)“Performance Awards” means an Award which may be earned in whole or in part upon attainment of performance goals or other vesting criteria as the Administrator may
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determine and which may be cash- or stock-denominated and may be settled for cash, Shares or other securities or a combination of the foregoing under Section 10.
(ai)“Performance Period” means Performance Period as defined in Section 10(a)
(aj)“Period of Restriction” means the period during which the transfer of Shares of Restricted Stock is subject to restrictions and therefore, the Shares are subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture. Such restrictions may be based on the passage of time, the achievement of target levels of performance, or the occurrence of other events as determined by the Administrator.
(ak)“Plan” means this 2020 Equity Incentive Plan.
(al)“Registration Date” means the effective date of the Registration Statement.
(am)“Registration Statement” means the registration statement on Form S-1 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the direct listing of the Class A Common Stock.
(an)“Restricted Stock” means Shares issued under an Award granted under Section 8 or issued as a result of the early exercise of an Option.
(ao)“Restricted Stock Unit” means a bookkeeping entry representing an amount equal to the Fair Market Value, granted under Section 9. Each Restricted Stock Unit represents an unfunded and unsecured obligation of the Company.
(ap)“Securities Act” means U.S. Securities Act of 1933.
(aq)“Service Provider” means an Employee, Director or Consultant.
(ar)“Share” means a share of the Class A Common Stock as adjusted in accordance with Section 13 of the Plan.
(as)“Stock Appreciation Right” means an Award granted under Section 7.
(at)“Subsidiary” means a “subsidiary corporation” as defined in Code Section 424(f), in relation to the Company.
(au)“Tax Withholdings” means tax, social insurance and social security liability or premium obligations in connection with the Awards, including, without limitation, (i) all federal, state, and local income, employment and any other taxes (including the Participant’s U.S. Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) obligation) that are required to be withheld by the Company or a member of the Company Group, (ii) the Participant’s and, to the extent required by the Company, the fringe benefit tax liability of the Company or a member of the Company Group, if any, associated with the grant, vesting, or exercise of an Award or sale of Shares issued under the Award, and (iii) any other taxes or social insurance or social security liabilities or premium the responsibility for which the Participant has, or has agreed to bear, with respect to such Award, the Shares subject to, or other amounts or property payable under, an Award, or otherwise associated with or related to
8
participation in the Plan and with respect to which the Company or the applicable member of the Company Group has either agreed to withhold or has an obligation to withhold.
(av)“Ten Percent Owner” means Ten Percent Owner as defined in Section 6(b)(i).
(aw)“Trading Day” means a day on which the primary stock exchange or national market system (or other trading platform, as applicable) on which the Class A Common Stock trades is open for trading.
(ax)“Transaction” means Transaction as defined in Section 14(a).
3.Shares Subject to the Plan.
(a)Allocation of Shares to Plan. The maximum aggregate number of Shares that may be issued under the Plan is:
(i)150,000,000 Shares, plus
(ii)The number of Shares equal to the number of shares of Class A Common Stock or Class B Common Stock subject to awards granted under the Company’s Amended 2010 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, and the Company’s 2020 Executive Equity Incentive Plan, that, on or after the Registration Date, expire or otherwise terminate without having been exercised in full, are tendered to or withheld by the Company for payment of an exercise price or for tax withholding obligations, or are forfeited to or repurchased by the Company due to failure to vest, with the maximum number of Shares to be added to the Plan under this clause (ii) equal to 800,000,000 Shares, plus
(iii) any additional Shares that become available for issuance under the Plan under Sections 3(b) and 3(c).
The Shares may be authorized but unissued Common Stock or Common Stock issued and then reacquired by the Company.
(b)Automatic Share Reserve Increase. The number of Shares available for issuance under the Plan will be increased on the first day of each Fiscal Year beginning with the 2022 Fiscal Year, in an amount equal to the least of:
(i)250,000,000 Shares,
(ii)5% of the total number of shares of Common Stock of the Company outstanding on the last day of the immediately preceding Fiscal Year, and
(iii)a lesser number of Shares determined by the Administrator.
(c)Share Reserve Return.
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(i)Options and Stock Appreciation Rights. If an Option or Stock Appreciation Right expires or becomes unexercisable without having been exercised in full or is surrendered under an Exchange Program, the unissued Shares subject to the Option or Stock Appreciation Right will become available for future issuance under the Plan.
(ii)Stock Appreciation Rights. Only Shares actually issued pursuant to a Stock Appreciation Right (i.e., the net Shares issued) will cease to be available under the Plan; all remaining Shares originally subject to the Stock Appreciation Right will remain available for future issuance under the Plan.
(iii)Full-Value Awards. Shares issued pursuant to Awards of Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Units, or stock-settled Performance Awards, that are reacquired by the Company due to failure to vest or are forfeited to the Company, or that are surrendered under an Exchange Program, will become available for future issuance under the Plan.
(iv)Withheld Shares. Shares subject to an Award used to pay the Exercise Price of such Award or to satisfy Tax Withholdings related to such Award will become available for future issuance under the Plan.
(v)Cash-Settled Awards. If any portion of an Award under the Plan is paid to a Participant in cash rather than Shares, that cash payment will not reduce the number of Shares available for issuance under the Plan.
(d)Incentive Stock Options. The maximum number of Shares that may be issued upon the exercise of Incentive Stock Options will equal 200% of the aggregate Share number stated in Section 3(a) plus, to the extent allowable under Code Section 422, any Shares that become available for issuance under the Plan under Sections 3(b) and 3(c).
(e)Adjustment. The numbers provided in Sections 3(a), 3(b), and 3(d) will be adjusted as a result of changes in capitalization and any other adjustments under Section 13.
(f)Substitute Awards. If the Committee grants Awards in substitution for equity compensation awards outstanding under a plan maintained by an entity acquired by or becomes a part of any member of the Company group, the grant of those substitute Awards will not decrease the number of Shares available for issuance under the Plan.
(g)Share Reserve. The Company, during the term of this Plan, will at all times reserve and keep available such number of Shares as will be sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Plan.
4.Administration of the Plan.
(a)Procedure.
(i)The Plan will be administered by the Board or a Committee (the “Administrator”). Different Administrators may administer the Plan with respect to different groups
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of Service Providers. The Board may retain the authority to concurrently administer the Plan with a Committee and may revoke the delegation of some or all authority previously delegated.
(ii)To the extent permitted by Applicable Laws, the Board or a Committee may delegate to one or more subcommittees of the Board or a Committee or officers the authority to grant Awards to Employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, provided that the delegation must comply with any limitations on the authority required by Applicable Laws, including the total number of Shares that may be subject to the Awards granted by such officer(s). This delegation may be revoked at any time by the Board or Committee.
(b)Powers of the Administrator. Subject to the terms of the Plan, any limitations on delegations specified by the Board, and any requirements imposed by Applicable Laws, the Administrator will have the authority, in its sole discretion, to make any determinations and perform any actions deemed necessary or advisable to administer the Plan including:
(i)to determine the Fair Market Value;
(ii)to approve forms of Award Agreements for use under the Plan;
(iii)to select the Service Providers to whom Awards may be granted and grant Awards to such Service Providers;
(iv)to determine the number of Shares to be covered by each Award granted;
(v)to determine the terms and conditions, consistent with the Plan, of any Award granted. Such terms and conditions may include, but are not limited to, the Exercise Price, the time(s) when Awards may be exercised (which may be based on performance criteria), any vesting acceleration or waiver of forfeiture restrictions, and any restriction or limitation regarding any Award or the Shares relating to an Award;
(vi)to institute and determine the terms and conditions of an Exchange Program;
(vii)to construe interpret the Plan and make any decisions necessary to administer the Plan, including but not limited to determining whether and when a Change in Control has occurred;
(viii)to establish, amend and rescind rules and regulations and adopt sub-plans relating to the Plan, including rules, regulations and sub-plans for the purposes of facilitating compliance with foreign laws, easing the administration of the Plan and/or obtaining tax-favorable treatment for Awards granted to Service Providers located outside the U.S., in each case as the Administrator may deem necessary or advisable;
(ix)to interpret, modify or amend each Award (subject to Section 18), including extending the Expiration Date and the post-termination exercisability period of such modified or amended Awards;
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(x)to allow Participants to satisfy tax withholding obligations in any manner permitted by Section 15;
(xi)to delegate ministerial duties to any of the Company’s employees;
(xii)to authorize any person to take any steps and execute, on behalf of the Company, any documents required for an Award previously granted by the Administrator to be effective;
(xiii)to temporarily suspend the exercisability of an Award if the Administrator deems such suspension to be necessary or appropriate for administrative purposes, provided that, unless prohibited by Applicable Laws, such suspension shall be lifted in all cases not less than 10 Trading Days before the last date that the Award may be exercised;
(xiv)to allow Participants to defer the receipt of the payment of cash or the delivery of Shares otherwise due to any such Participants under an Award; and
(xv)to make any determinations necessary or appropriate under Section 13.
(c)Grant Date. The grant date of an Award (“Grant Date”) will be the date that the Administrator makes the determination granting such Award or may be a later date if such later date is designated by the Administrator on the date of the determination or under an automatic grant policy. Notice of the determination will be provided to each Participant within a reasonable time after the Grant Date.
(d)Waiver. The Administrator may waive any terms, conditions or restrictions.
(e)Fractional Shares. Except as otherwise provided by the Administrator, any fractional Shares that result from the adjustment of Awards will be canceled. Any fractional Shares that result from vesting percentages will be accumulated and vested on the date that an accumulated full Share is vested.
(f)Electronic Delivery. The Company may deliver by e-mail or other electronic means (including posting on a website maintained by the Company or by a third party under contract with the Company or another member of the Company Group) all documents relating to the Plan or any Award and all other documents that the Company is required to deliver to its security holders (including prospectuses, annual reports and proxy statements).
(g)Choice of Law; Choice of Forum. The Plan, all Awards and all determinations made and actions taken under the Plan, to the extent not otherwise governed by the laws of the United States, will be governed by the laws of the State of Delaware without giving effect to principles of conflicts of law. For purposes of litigating any dispute that arises under this Plan, a Participant’s acceptance of an Award is his or her consent to the jurisdiction of the State of Delaware, and agreement that any such litigation will be conducted in Delaware Court of Chancery, or the federal courts for the United States for the District of Delaware, and no other courts, regardless of where a Participant’s services are performed.
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(h)Effect of Administrator’s Decision. The Administrator’s decisions, determinations and interpretations will be final and binding on all Participants and any other holders of Awards.
5.Eligibility. Nonstatutory Stock Options, Stock Appreciation Rights, Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Units and Performance Awards may be granted to Service Providers. Incentive Stock Options may be granted only to Employees.
6.Stock Options.
(a)Stock Option Award Agreement. Each Option will be evidenced by an Award Agreement that will specify the number of Shares subject to the Option, per share Exercise Price, its Expiration Date, and such other terms and conditions as the Administrator determines. Each Option will be designated in the Award Agreement as either an Incentive Stock Option or a Nonstatutory Stock Option. An Option not designated as an Incentive Stock Option is a Nonstatutory Stock Option.
(b)Exercise Price. The Exercise Price for the Shares to be issued upon exercise of an Option will be determined by the Administrator and stated in the Award Agreement, subject to the following:
(i)In the case of an Incentive Stock Option:
(1)granted to an ISO Employee who, at the time the Incentive Stock Option is granted, owns stock representing more than 10% of the voting power of all classes of stock of the Company or any Parent or Subsidiary (a “Ten Percent Owner”), the Exercise Price for the Shares to be issued will be no less than 110% of the Fair Market Value per Share on the date of grant; and
(2)granted to any ISO Employee other than a Ten Percent Owner, the Exercise Price for the Shares to be issued will be no less than 100% of the Fair Market Value per Share on the date of grant.
(ii)In the case of a Nonstatutory Stock Option, the Exercise Price for the Shares to be issued will be no less than 100% of the Fair Market Value per Share on the date of grant.
(iii)Notwithstanding the foregoing, Options may be granted with an Exercise Price of less than 100% of the Fair Market Value per Share on the date of grant (i) pursuant to a transaction described in, and in a manner consistent with, Section 424(a) of the Code or (ii) to a Service Provider that is not a U.S. taxpayer.
(c)Form of Consideration. The Administrator will determine the acceptable form(s) of consideration for exercising an Option. Unless the Administrator determines otherwise, the consideration may consist of any one or more or combination of the following, to the extent permitted by Applicable Laws:
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(i)cash;
(ii)check or wire transfer;
(iii)promissory note, if and to the extent approved by the Company;
(iv)other Shares that have a fair market value on the date of surrender equal to the aggregate Exercise Price of the Shares as to which such Option will be exercised. To the extent not prohibited by the Administrator, this shall include the ability to tender Shares to exercise the Option and then use the Shares received on exercise to exercise the Option with respect to additional Shares;
(v)consideration received by the Company under a cashless exercise arrangement (whether through a broker or otherwise) implemented by the Company for the exercise of Options that has been approved by the Administrator, if and to the extent permitted by the Company with respect to a particular Award;
(vi)consideration received by the Company under a net exercise program under which Shares are withheld from otherwise deliverable Shares that has been approved by the Administrator, if and to the extent permitted by the Company with respect to a particular Award; and
(vii)any other consideration or method of payment to issue Shares (provided that other forms of considerations may only be approved by the Administrator).
The Administrator has the power to remove or limit any of the above forms of consideration for exercising an Option except for the payment of cash at any time in its sole discretion.
(d)Term of Option. The term of each Option will be determined by the Administrator and stated in the Award Agreement, provided that, in the case of an Incentive Stock Option: (a) granted to a Ten Percent Owner, the Option may not be exercisable after the expiration of 5 years from the date such Option is granted, or such shorter term as may be provided in the Award Agreement; and (b) granted to an ISO Employee other than a Ten Percent Owner, the Option may not be exercisable after the expiration of 10 years from the date such Option is granted term, or such shorter term as may be provided in the Award Agreement.
(e)Incentive Stock Option Limitations.
(i)To the extent that the aggregate fair market value of the shares with respect to which incentive stock options under Code Section 422(b) are exercisable for the first time by a Participant during any calendar year (under all plans and agreements of the Company Group) exceeds $100,000, the incentive stock options whose value exceeds $100,000 will be treated as nonstatutory stock options. Incentive stock options will be considered in the order in which they were granted. For this purpose, the fair market value of the shares subject to an option will be determined as of the grant date of each option.
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(ii)If an Option is designated in the Administrator action that granted it as an Incentive Stock Option but the terms of the Option do not comply with Sections 6(b) and 6(d), then the Option will not qualify as an Incentive Stock Option.
(f)Exercise of Option. An Option is exercised when the Company receives: (i) a notice of exercise (in such form as the Administrator may specify from time to time) from the person entitled to exercise the Option and (ii) full payment for the Shares with respect to which the Option is exercised (together with applicable tax withholdings). Shares issued upon exercise of an Option will be issued in the name of the Participant. Until the Shares are issued (as evidenced by the entry on the books of the Company or of a duly authorized transfer agent of the Company), no right to vote or receive dividends or any other rights as a stockholder will exist with respect to the Shares subject to an Option, despite the exercise of the Option. The Company will issue (or cause to be issued) such Shares promptly after the Option is exercised. An Option may not be exercised for a fraction of a Share. Exercising an Option in any manner will decrease the number of Shares thereafter available, both for purposes of the Plan (except as provided in Section 3(c) and for purchase under the Option, by the number of Shares as to which the Option is exercised.
(i)Termination of Relationship as a Service Provider. If a Participant ceases to be a Service Provider, other than upon the Participant’s termination as the result of the Participant’s death or Disability, the Participant may exercise his or her Option within thirty (30) days of termination, or such longer period of time as is specified in the Award Agreement or in writing by the Administrator (but in no event later than the expiration of the term of such Option as set forth in the Award Agreement) to the extent that the Option is vested on the date of termination. Unless otherwise provided by the Administrator, if on the date of termination the Participant is not vested as to his or her entire Option, the Shares covered by the unvested portion of the Option will revert to the Plan. If after termination the Participant does not exercise his or her Option within the time specified by the Administrator, the Option will terminate, and the Shares covered by such Option will revert to the Plan.
(ii)Disability of Participant. If a Participant ceases to be a Service Provider as a result of the Participant’s Disability, the Participant may exercise his or her Option within six (6) months of termination, or such longer period of time as is specified in the Award Agreement (but in no event later than the expiration of the term of such Option as set forth in the Award Agreement) to the extent the Option is vested on the date of termination. Unless otherwise provided by the Administrator, if on the date of termination the Participant is not vested as to his or her entire Option, the Shares covered by the unvested portion of the Option will revert to the Plan. If after termination the Participant does not exercise his or her Option within the time specified herein, the Option will terminate, and the Shares covered by such Option will revert to the Plan.
(iii)Death of Participant. If a Participant dies while a Service Provider, the Option may be exercised within six (6) months following the Participant’s death, or within such longer period of time as is specified in the Award Agreement (but in no event later than the expiration of the term of such Option as set forth in the Award Agreement) to the extent that the Option is vested on the date of death, by the Participant’s designated beneficiary, provided the Administrator has permitted the designation of a beneficiary and provided such beneficiary has been
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designated prior to the Participant’s death in a form (if any) acceptable to the Administrator. If the Administrator has not permitted the designation of the beneficiary or if no such beneficiary has been designated by the Participant, then such Option may be exercised by the personal representative of the Participant’s estate or by the person(s) to whom the Option is transferred pursuant to the Participant’s will or in accordance with the laws of descent and distribution. If the Option is exercised pursuant to this Section 6(f)(iii), Participant’s designated beneficiary or personal representative shall be subject to the terms of this Plan and the Award Agreement, including but not limited to the restrictions on transferability and forfeitability applicable to the Service Provider. Unless otherwise provided by the Administrator, if at the time of death Participant is not vested as to his or her entire Option, the Shares covered by the unvested portion of the Option will immediately revert to the Plan. If the Option is not so exercised within the time specified herein, the Option will terminate, and the Shares covered by such Option will revert to the Plan.
(g)Expiration of Options. Subject to Section 6(d), an Option’s Expiration Date will be set forth in the Award Agreement. An Option may expire before its expiration date under the Plan (including pursuant to Sections 6(f), 13, 14, or 16(d)) or under the Award Agreement.
(h)Tolling of Expiration. If exercising an Option prior to its expiration is not permitted because of Applicable Laws, other than the rules of any stock exchange or quotation system on which the Class A Common Stock is listed or quoted, the Option will remain exercisable until 30 days after the first date on which exercise no longer would be prevented by such provisions; provided, however, that this tolling of expiration shall not apply if and to the extent the holder of such Option is a United States taxpayer and the tolling would result in a violation of Section 409A such that the Option would be subject to additional taxation or interest under Section 409A. If this would result in the Option remaining exercisable past its Expiration Date, then unless earlier terminated pursuant to Section 14, the Option will remain exercisable only until the end of the later of (x) the first day on which its exercise would not be prevented by Section 19(a) and (y) its Expiration Date.
7.Stock Appreciation Rights.
(a)Stock Appreciation Right Award Agreement. Each Stock Appreciation Right grant will be evidenced by an Award Agreement that will specify the number of Shares subject to the Stock Appreciation Right, its per share Exercise Price, its Expiration Date, and such other terms and conditions as the Administrator determines.
(b)Exercise Price. The Exercise Price of a Stock Appreciation Right will be determined by the Administrator, provided that in the case of a Stock Appreciation Right granted to a U.S. taxpayer, the Exercise Price will be no less than 100% of the Fair Market Value of a Share on the date of grant.
(c)Payment of Stock Appreciation Right Amount. Payment upon Stock Appreciation Right exercise may be made in cash, in Shares (which, on the date of exercise, have an aggregate Fair Market Value equal to the amount of payment to be made under the Award), or any combination of cash and Shares, with the determination of form of payment made by the
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Administrator. When a Participant exercises a Stock Appreciation Right, he or she will be entitled to receive a payment from the Company equal to:
(i)the excess, if any, between the fair market value on the date of exercise over the Exercise Price multiplied by
(ii)the number of Shares with respect to which the Stock Appreciation Right is exercised.
(d)Exercise of Stock Appreciation Right. A Stock Appreciation Right is exercised when the Company receives a notice of exercise (in such form as the Administrator may specify from time to time) from the person entitled to exercise the Stock Appreciation Right. Shares issued upon exercise of a Stock Appreciation Right will be issued in the name of the Participant. Until the Shares are issued (as evidenced by the entry on the books of the Company or of a duly authorized transfer agent of the Company), no right to vote or receive dividends or any other rights as a stockholder will exist with respect to the Shares subject to a Stock Appreciation Right, despite the exercise of the Stock Appreciation Right. The Company will issue (or cause to be issued) such Shares promptly after the Stock Appreciation Right is exercised. A Stock Appreciation Right may not be exercised for a fraction of a Share. Exercising a Stock Appreciation Right in any manner will decrease (x) the number of Shares thereafter available under the Stock Appreciation Right by the number of Shares as to which the Stock Appreciation Right is exercised and (y) the number of Shares thereafter available under the Plan by the number of Shares issued upon such exercise.
(e)Expiration of Stock Appreciation Rights. A Stock Appreciation Right’s Expiration Date will be set forth in the Award Agreement. A Stock Appreciation Right may expire before its expiration date under the Plan (including pursuant to Sections 13, 14, or 16(c)) or under the Award Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the rules of Section 6(d) relating to the maximum term and Section 6(f) relating to exercise also will apply to Stock Appreciation Rights.
(f)Tolling of Expiration. If exercising a Stock Appreciation Right prior to its expiration is not permitted because of Applicable Laws, other than the rules of any stock exchange or quotation system on which the Class A Common Stock is listed or quoted, the Stock Appreciation Right will remain exercisable until 30 days after the first date on which exercise no longer would be prevented by such provisions; provided, however, that this tolling of expiration shall not apply if and to the extent the holder of such Stock Appreciation Right is a United States taxpayer and the tolling would result in a violation of Section 409A such that the Stock Appreciation Right would be subject to additional taxation or interest under Section 409A. If this would result in the Stock Appreciation Right remaining exercisable past its Expiration Date, then unless earlier terminated pursuant to Section 14, the Stock Appreciation Right will remain exercisable only until the end of the later of (x) the first day on which its exercise would not be prevented by Section 19(a) and (y) its Expiration Date.
8.Restricted Stock.
(a)Restricted Stock Award Agreement. Each Award of Restricted Stock will be evidenced by an Award Agreement that will specify the number of Shares subject to the Award of
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Restricted Stock and such other terms and conditions as the Administrator determines. For the avoidance of doubt, Restricted Stock may be granted without any Period of Restriction (e.g., vested stock bonuses). Unless the Administrator determines otherwise, Shares of Restricted Stock will be held in escrow while unvested.
(b)Restrictions.
(i)Except as provided in this Section 8(b) or the Award Agreement, while unvested, Shares of Restricted Stock may not be sold, transferred, pledged, assigned, or otherwise alienated.
(ii)While unvested, Service Providers holding Shares of Restricted Stock may exercise full voting rights with respect to those Shares, unless the Administrator determines otherwise.
(iii)Service Providers holding a Share covered by an Award of Restricted Stock will not be entitled to receive dividends and other distributions paid with respect to such Shares while such Shares are unvested, unless the Administrator provides otherwise. If the Administrator provides that dividends and distributions will be received and any such dividends or distributions are paid in cash they will be subject to the same provisions regarding forfeitability as the Shares with respect to which they were paid and if such dividend or distributions are paid in Shares, the Shares will be subject to the same restrictions on transferability and forfeitability as the Shares with respect to which they were paid and, unless the Administrator determines otherwise, the Company will hold such dividends until the restrictions on the Shares with respect to which they were paid have lapsed.
(iv)Except as otherwise provided in this Section 8(b) or an Award Agreement, a Share covered by each Award of Restricted Stock made under the Plan will be released from escrow when practicable after the last day of the applicable Period of Restriction.
(v)The Administrator may impose, prior to grant, or remove any restrictions on Shares covered by an Award of Restricted Stock.
9.Restricted Stock Units.
(a)Restricted Stock Unit Award Agreement. Each Award of Restricted Stock Units will be evidenced by an Award Agreement that will specify the number of Restricted Stock Units subject to the Award of Restricted Stock Units and such other terms and conditions as the Administrator determines.
(b)Vesting Criteria and Other Terms. The Administrator will set vesting criteria, if any, that, depending on the extent to which the criteria are met, will determine the number of Restricted Stock Units paid out to the Participant. The Administrator may set vesting criteria based upon the achievement of Company-wide, divisional, business unit, or individual goals (that may include continued employment or service) or any other basis determined by the Administrator in its sole discretion.
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(c)Earning Restricted Stock Units. Upon meeting any applicable vesting criteria, the Participant will have earned the Restricted Stock Units and will be paid as determined in Section 9(d). The Administrator may reduce or waive any criteria that must be met to earn the Restricted Stock Units.
(d)Form and Timing of Payment. Payment of earned Restricted Stock Units will be made at the time(s) set forth in the Award Agreement and determined by the Administrator. Unless otherwise provided in the Award Agreement, the Administrator may settle earned Restricted Stock Units in cash, Shares, or a combination of both.
10.Performance Awards.
(a)Award Agreement. Each Performance Award will be evidenced by an Award Agreement that will specify the specify any time period during which any performance objectives or other vesting provisions, if any, will be measured (“Performance Period”), and such other terms and conditions as the Administrator determines.
(b)Objectives or Vesting Provisions and Other Terms. The Administrator will set objectives or vesting provisions that, depending on the extent to which the objectives or vesting provisions are met, will determine the value of the payout for the Performance Awards. The Administrator may set vesting criteria based upon the achievement of Company-wide, divisional, business unit, or individual goals (that may include continued employment or service) or any other basis determined by the Administrator in its sole discretion.
(c)Form and Timing of Payment. Payment of earned Performance Awards will be made at the time(s) specified in the Award Agreement. Payment with respect to earned Performance Awards will be made in cash, in Shares of equivalent value, or any combination of cash and Shares, with the determination of form of payment made by the Administrator at the time of payment or, in the discretion of the Administrator, at the time of grant.
(d)Value of Performance Awards. Each Performance Award’s threshold, target, and maximum payout values will be established by the Administrator on or before the Grant Date.
(e)Earning Performance Awards. After an applicable Performance Period has ended, the holder of a Performance Award will be entitled to receive a payout for the Performance Award earned by the Participant over the Performance Period. The Administrator may reduce or waive any performance objectives or other vesting provisions for such Performance Award.
11.Leaves of Absence/ Reduced or Part-time Work Schedule/Transfer Between Locations/Change of Status.
(a)Leaves of Absence/ Reduced or Part-time Work Schedule/Transfer Between Locations. Unless the Administrator provides otherwise or as otherwise required by Applicable Laws, vesting of Awards granted hereunder will be adjusted or suspended during any unpaid leave of absence in accordance with the Company’s leave of absence policy in effect at the time of such leave. A Participant will not cease to be an Employee in the case of (i) any leave of absence
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approved by the Company or (ii) transfers between locations of the Company or within the Company Group. In addition, unless the Administrator provides otherwise or as otherwise required by Applicable Laws, if, after the date of grant of a Participant’s Award, the Participant commences working on a part-time or reduced work schedule basis, the vesting of such Award will be adjusted in accordance with the Company’s reduced work schedule/ part-time policy then in effect. Adjustments or suspensions of vesting pursuant to this Section shall be accomplished in a manner that is exempt from or complies with the requirements of Code Section 409A and the regulations and guidance thereunder.
(b)Employment Status. A Participant will not cease to be a Service Provider in the case of (i) any leave of absence approved by the Company or (ii) transfers between locations of the Company (or member of the Company Group) or between the Company or any member of the Company Group.
(c)Incentive Stock Options. With respect to Incentive Stock Options, no such leave may exceed three (3) months, unless reemployment upon expiration of such leave is guaranteed by statute or contract. If reemployment upon expiration of a leave of absence approved by the Company is not so guaranteed, then six (6) months following the first (1st) day of such leave any Incentive Stock Option held by a Participant will cease to be treated as an Incentive Stock Option and will be treated for tax purposes as a Nonstatutory Stock Option.
12.Transferability of Awards. Unless determined otherwise by the Administrator, or otherwise required by Applicable Laws, an Award may not be sold, pledged, assigned, hypothecated, transferred, or disposed of in any manner other than by will or by the laws of descent or distribution and may be exercised, during the lifetime of the Participant, only by the Participant. If the Administrator makes an Award transferable, the Award will be limited by any additional terms and conditions imposed by the Administrator. Any unauthorized transfer of an Award will be void.
13.Adjustments; Dissolution or Liquidation.
(a)Adjustments. If any extraordinary dividend or other extraordinary distribution (whether in cash, Shares, other securities, or other property), recapitalization, stock split, reverse stock split, reorganization, merger, consolidation, split-up, spin-off, combination, reclassification, repurchase, or exchange of Shares or other securities of the Company, other change in the corporate structure of the Company affecting the Shares, or any similar equity restructuring transaction, as that term is used in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 718 (or any of its successors) affecting the Shares occurs (including a Change in Control), the Administrator, to prevent diminution or enlargement of the benefits or potential benefits intended to be provided under the Plan, will adjust the number and class of shares that may be delivered under the Plan and/or the number, class, and price of shares covered by each outstanding Award, and the numerical Share limits in Section 3. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the conversion of any convertible securities of the Company and ordinary course repurchases of Shares or other securities of the Company will not be treated as an event that will require adjustment.
(b)Dissolution or Liquidation. In the event of the proposed dissolution or liquidation of the Company, the Administrator will notify each Participant, at such time prior to the
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effective date of such proposed transaction as the Administrator determines. To the extent it has not been previously exercised, an Award will terminate immediately prior to the consummation of such proposed action.
14.Change in Control or Merger.
(a)Administrator Discretion. If a Change in Control or a merger of the Company with or into another corporation or other entity occurs (each, a “Transaction”), each outstanding Award will be treated as the Administrator determines (subject to the provisions of this Section), without a Participant’s consent, including that such Award be continued by the successor corporation or a Parent or Subsidiary of the successor corporation (or an affiliate thereof) or that the vesting of any such Awards may accelerate automatically upon consummation of a Transaction.
(b)Identical Treatment Not Required. The Administrator need not take the same action or actions with respect to all Awards or portions thereof or with respect to all Participants. The Administrator may take different actions with respect to the vested and unvested portions of an Award. The Administrator will not be required to treat all Awards similarly in the Transaction.
(c)Continuation. An Award will be considered continued if, following the Change in Control or merger:
(i)the Award confers the right to purchase or receive, for each Share subject to the Award immediately prior to the Transaction, the consideration (whether stock, cash, or other securities or property) received in the Transaction by holders of Shares for each Share held on the effective date of the Transaction (and if holders were offered a choice of consideration, the type of consideration received by the holders of a majority of the outstanding Shares) and the Award otherwise is continued in accordance with its terms (including vesting criteria, subject to Section 14(c)(iii) below and Section 13(a); provided that if the consideration received in the Transaction is not solely common stock of the successor corporation or its Parent, the Administrator may, with the consent of the successor corporation, provide for the consideration to be received upon exercising an Option or Stock Appreciation Right or upon the payout of a Restricted Stock Unit, or Performance Award, for each Share subject to such Award, to be solely common stock of the successor corporation or its Parent equal in fair market value to the per share consideration received by holders of Class A Common Stock in the Transaction; or
(ii)the Award is terminated in exchange for an amount of cash and/or property, if any, equal to the amount that would have been attained upon the exercise of such Award or realization of the Participant’s rights as of the date of the occurrence of the Transaction. Any such cash or property may be subjected to any escrow applicable to holders of Class A Common Stock in the Change in Control. If as of the date of the occurrence of the Transaction the Administrator determines that no amount would have been attained upon the exercise of such Award or realization of the Participant’s rights, then such Award may be terminated by the Company without payment. The amount of cash or property can be subjected to vesting and paid to the Participant over the original vesting schedule of the Award.
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(iii)Notwithstanding anything in this Section 14(c) to the contrary, an Award that vests, is earned or paid-out upon the satisfaction of one or more performance goals will not be considered assumed if the Company or its successor modifies any of such performance goals without the Participant’s consent, in all cases, unless specifically provided otherwise under the applicable Award Agreement or other written agreement authorized by the Administrator between the Participant and the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or Parents, as applicable; provided, however, a modification to such performance goals only to reflect the successor corporation’s post-Transaction corporate structure will not invalidate an otherwise valid Award assumption.
(d)Modification. The Administrator will have authority to modify Awards in connection with a Change in Control or merger:
(i)in a manner that causes the Awards to lose their tax-preferred status,
(ii)to terminate any right a Participant has to exercise an Option prior to vesting in the Shares subject to the Option (i.e., “early exercise”), so that following the closing of the Transaction the Option may only be exercised only to the extent it is vested;
(iii)to reduce the Exercise Price subject to the Award in a manner that is disproportionate to the increase in the number of Shares subject to the Award, as long as the amount that would be received upon exercise of the Award immediately before and immediately following the closing of the Transaction is equivalent and the adjustment complies with U.S. Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-1(b)(v)(D); and
(iv)to suspend a Participant’s right to exercise an Option during a limited period of time preceding and or following the closing of the Transaction without Participant consent if such suspension is administratively necessary or advisable to permit the closing of the Transaction.
(e)Non-Continuation. If the successor corporation does not continue an Award (or some portion such Award), the Participant will fully vest in (and have the right to exercise) 100% of the then-unvested Shares subject to his or her outstanding, non-continued Options and Stock Appreciation Rights (or non-continued portionss thereof), all restrictions on 100% of the Participant’s outstanding, non-continued Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Units (or non-continued portion thereof) will lapse, and, regarding 100% of Participant’s outstanding, non-continued Awards with performance-based vesting, all performance goals or other vesting criteria with respect to the non-continued portions will be treated as achieved at 100% of target levels and all other terms and conditions met, in all cases, unless specifically provided otherwise under the applicable Award Agreement or other written agreement authorized by the Administrator between the Participant and the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or Parents, as applicable, as applicable. In no event will vesting of an Award accelerate as to more than 100% of the Award. Unless specifically provided otherwise under the applicable Award Agreement or other written agreement authorized by the Administrator between the Participant and the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or Parents, as applicable, if Options or Stock Appreciation Rights are not continued when a Change in Control or a merger of the Company with or into another corporation or other entity occurs, the Administrator will notify the Participant in writing or electronically that the Participant’s vested Options or Stock Appreciation Rights (after considering the foregoing vesting acceleration, if any) will be exercisable
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for a period of time determined by the Administrator in its sole discretion and such non-continued Options or Stock Appreciation Rights (or non-continued portions thereof) will terminate upon the expiration of such period (whether vested or unvested).
(f)Outside Director Grants. With respect to Awards granted to an Outside Director, in the event of a Change in Control, the Participant will fully vest in and have the right to exercise outstanding Options and/or Stock Appreciation Rights as to all of the Shares underlying such Award, including those Shares which otherwise would not be vested or exercisable, all restrictions on other outstanding Awards will lapse, and, with respect to Awards with performance-based vesting, all performance goals or other vesting criteria will be deemed achieved at 100% of target levels and all other terms and conditions met, unless specifically provided otherwise under the applicable Award Agreement, a Company policy related to Director compensation, or other written agreement authorized by the Administrator between the Participant and the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or Parents, as applicable, that specifically references this default rule.
15.Tax Matters.
(a)Withholding Requirements. Prior to the delivery of any Shares or cash under an Award (or exercise thereof) or such earlier time as any Tax Withholding are due, the Company may deduct or withhold, or require a Participant to remit to the Company, an amount sufficient to satisfy any Tax Withholding with respect to such Award or Shares subject to an Award (including upon exercise of an Award).
(b)Withholding Arrangements. The Administrator, in its sole discretion and under such procedures as it may specify from time to time, may elect to satisfy such Tax Withholding, in whole or in part (including in combination) by (without limitation) (i) requiring the Participant to pay cash, (ii) withholding otherwise deliverable cash (including cash from the sale of Shares issued to the Participant) or Shares having a fair market value equal to the amount required to be withheld or such greater amount (including up to a maximum statutory amount) as the Administrator may determine or permit if such amount does not result in unfavorable financial accounting treatment, as the Administrator determines in its sole discretion, (iii) forcing the sale of Shares issued pursuant to an Award (or exercise thereof) having a fair market value equal to the minimum statutory amount applicable in a Participant’s jurisdiction or a greater amount as the Administrator may determine or permit if such greater amount would not result in unfavorable financial accounting treatment, as the Administrator determines in its sole discretion, (iv) requiring the Participant to deliver to the Company already-owned Shares having a fair market value equal to the minimum statutory amount required to be withheld or a greater amount as the Administrator may determine or permit if such greater amount would not result in unfavorable financial accounting treatment, as the Administrator determines in its sole discretion, (v) requiring the Participant to engage in a cashless exercise transaction (whether through a broker or otherwise) implemented by the Company in connection with the Plan, (vi) having the Company or a Parent or Subsidiary withhold from wages or any other cash amount due or to become due to the Participant and payable by the Company or any Parent or Subsidiary, or (vii) such other consideration and method of payment for the meeting of Tax Withholding as the Administrator may determine to the extent permitted by Applicable Laws, provided that, in all instances, the satisfaction of the Tax
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Withholding will not result in any adverse accounting consequence to the Company, as the Administrator may determine in its sole discretion. The fair market value of the Shares to be withheld or delivered will be determined as of the date the amount of tax to be withheld is calculated or such other date as Administrator determines is applicable or appropriate with respect to the Tax Withholding calculation.
(c)Compliance With Code Section 409A. Unless the Administrator determines that compliance with Code Section 409A is not necessary, it is intended that Awards will be designed and operated so that they are either exempt or excepted from the application of Code Section 409A or comply with any requirements necessary to avoid the imposition of additional tax under Code Section 409A(a)(1)(B) so that the grant, payment, settlement or deferral will not be subject to the additional tax or interest applicable under Code Section 409A and the Plan and each Award Agreement will be interpreted consistent with this intent. This Section 15(c) is not a guarantee to any Participant of the consequences of his or her Awards. In no event will the Company have any responsibility, liability or obligation to reimburse, indemnify or hold harmless Participant for any taxes that may be imposed or other costs that may be incurred, as a result of Section 409A.
16.Other Terms.
(a)No Effect on Employment or Service. Neither the Plan nor any Award will confer upon a Participant any right regarding continuing the Participant’s relationship as a Service Provider with the Company or member of the Company Group, nor will they interfere with the Participant’s right, or the Participant’s employer’s right, to terminate such relationship with or without cause, to the extent permitted by Applicable Laws.
(b)Interpretation and Rules of Construction. The words “include,” “includes” and “including” when used herein shall be deemed in each case to be followed by the words “without limitation.”
(c)Plan Governs. In the event of a conflict between the terms and conditions of the Plan and the terms and conditions of any Grant Agreement, the terms and conditions of the Plan will prevail.
(d)Forfeiture Events.
(i)All Awards granted under the Plan will be subject to recoupment under any clawback policy that the Company is required to adopt pursuant to the listing standards of any national securities exchange or association on which the Company’s securities are listed or as is otherwise required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act or other Applicable Laws. In addition, the Administrator may impose such other clawback, recovery or recoupment provisions in an Award Agreement as the Administrator determines necessary or appropriate, including to a reacquisition right regarding previously acquired Shares or other cash or property. Unless this Section 16(d)(i) is specifically mentioned and waived in an Award Agreement or other document, no recovery of compensation under a clawback policy or otherwise will be an event that triggers or contributes to any right of a Participant to resign for “good reason” or
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“constructive termination” (or similar term) under any agreement with the Company or a member of the Company Group.
(ii)The Administrator may specify in an Award Agreement that the Participant’s rights, payments, and benefits with respect to an Award will be subject to reduction, cancellation, forfeiture, or recoupment upon the occurrence of specified events, in addition to any otherwise applicable vesting or performance conditions of an Award. Such events may include, but will not be limited to, termination of such Participant’s status as Service Provider for cause or any specified action or inaction by a Participant that would constitute cause for termination of such Participant’s status as a Service Provider.
17.Term of Plan. Subject to Section 20, the Plan will become effective upon the business day immediately prior to the Registration Date. It will continue in effect for a term of ten (10) years from the date adopted by the Board, unless terminated earlier under Section 18 of the Plan.
18.Amendment and Termination of the Plan.
(a)Amendment and Termination. The Administrator may amend, alter, suspend or terminate the Plan.
(b)Stockholder Approval. The Company will obtain stockholder approval of any Plan amendment to the extent necessary or desirable to comply with Applicable Laws.
(c)Consent of Participants Generally Required. Subject to Section 18(d) below, no amendment, alteration, suspension or termination of the Plan or an Award under it will materially impair the rights of any Participant without a signed, written agreement authorized by the Administrator between the Participant and the Company. Termination of the Plan will not affect the Administrator’s ability to exercise the powers granted to it regarding Awards granted under the Plan prior to such termination.
(d)Exceptions to Consent Requirement.
(i)A Participant’s rights will not be deemed to have been impaired by any amendment, alteration, suspension or termination if the Administrator, in its sole discretion, determines that the amendment, alteration, suspension or termination taken as a whole, does not materially impair the Participant’s rights; and
(ii)Subject to any limitations of Applicable Laws, the Administrator may amend the terms of any one or more Awards without the affected Participant’s consent even if it does materially impair the Participant’s right if such amendment is done
(i)in a manner specified by the Plan,
(ii)to maintain the qualified status of the Award as an Incentive Stock Option under Code Section 422,
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(iii)to change the terms of an Incentive Stock Option, if such change results in impairment of the Award only because it impairs the qualified status of the Award as an Incentive Stock Option under Code Section 422,
(iv)to clarify the manner of exemption from Code Section 409A or compliance with any requirements necessary to avoid the imposition of additional tax or interest under Code Section 409A(a)(1)(B), or
(v)to comply with other Applicable Laws.
19.Conditions Upon Issuance of Shares.
(a)Legal Compliance. The Company will make good faith efforts to comply with all Applicable Laws related to the issuance of Shares. Shares will not be issued pursuant to an Award, including without limitation upon exercise or vesting thereof, as applicable, unless the issuance and delivery of such Shares and exercise or vesting of the Award, as applicable, will comply with Applicable Laws. If required by the Administrator, issuance will be further subject to the approval of counsel for the Company with respect to such compliance. If the Company determines it to be impossible or impractical to obtain authority from any regulatory body having jurisdiction or to complete or comply with the requirements of any Applicable Laws, registration or other qualification of the Shares under any state, federal or foreign law or under the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the stock exchange on which Shares of the same class are then listed, or any other governmental or regulatory body, which authority, registration, qualification or rule compliance is deemed by the Company’s counsel to be necessary or advisable for the issuance and sale of any Shares hereunder, the Company will be relieved of any liability regarding the failure to issue or sell such Shares as to which such authority, registration, qualification or rule compliance was not obtained and the Administrator reserves the authority, without the consent of a Participant, to terminate or cancel Awards with or without consideration in such a situation.
(b)Investment Representations. As a condition to the exercise or vesting of an Award, the Company may require the person exercising such Award to represent and warrant during any such exercise or vesting that the Shares are being purchased only for investment and with no present intention to sell or distribute such Shares if, in the opinion of counsel for the Company, such a representation is required.
(c)Failure to Accept Award. If a Participant has not accepted an Award to the extent such acceptance has been requested or required by the Company or has not taken all administrative and other steps (e.g., setting up an account with a broker designated by the Company) necessary for the Company to issue Shares upon the vesting, exercise, or settlement of the Award prior to the first date the Shares subject to such Award are scheduled to vest, then the portion of the Award scheduled to vest on such date will be cancelled on such date and such Shares subject to the Award immediately will revert to the Plan for no additional consideration unless otherwise provided by the Administrator.
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20.Stockholder Approval. The Plan will be subject to approval by the stockholders of the Company within 12 months after the date the Plan is adopted by the Board. Such stockholder approval will be obtained in the manner and to the degree required under Applicable Laws.
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PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.
2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
GLOBAL NOTICE OF STOCK OPTION GRANT AND STOCK OPTION AGREEMENT
Capitalized terms that are not defined in this Notice of Stock Option Grant and Global Stock Option Agreement (the “Notice of Grant”), the Terms and Conditions of Global Stock Option Grant, the Non-U.S. Appendix attached here as Exhibit B and all other exhibits to these documents (all together, the “Agreement”) have the meanings given to them in the Palantir Technologies Inc. 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”).
The Participant has been granted an Option according to the terms below and subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan and this Agreement:
Participant :
Grant Number :
Grant Date:
Vesting Commencement Date:
Number of Shares Granted:
Exercise Price per Share:
Total Exercise Price:
Type of Option:
Expiration Date:
[(For the avoidance of doubt, the description above is an auto-generated narrative summary and is not intended to reflect the complete vesting schedule. In the case of an Option that has been split into two related grants because it exceeds the ISO (as defined in Section 1 of this Agreement) limit, the summary above applies to both related grants on a combined basis (see Section 1 of this Agreement). This summary is qualified in its entirety by the “Vesting Schedule” section below and the other terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement.)]
Vesting Schedule:
Subject to the conditions set forth in this Agreement, this Option shall be exercisable, in whole or in part, according to the following vesting schedule (as such vesting schedule may be amended or modified from time to time in accordance with this Agreement and the Plan):
[Insert Vesting Schedule]
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For the avoidance of doubt, in the event of any conflict, discrepancy, or inconsistency between the vesting schedule set forth above and the document or action of the Board or its authorized committee approving this Option pursuant to the Plan (the “Approval”), the Approval shall govern the initial vesting terms. Any portion of this Option that shall vest on a monthly basis per such vesting schedule shall vest on the same day of the applicable vesting month as the Vesting Commencement Date set forth above (and if there is no corresponding day, on the last day of such month), subject to Participant continuing to be a Service Provider through each such date.
In addition to the vesting terms set forth above for this award, this Option’s vesting will be accelerated in accordance with any vesting acceleration provisions approved by the Administrator. If the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider for any or no reason before he or she fully vests in this Option, the unvested portion of this Option will terminate according to the terms of Section 4 of this Agreement.
Adjustments to Vesting Schedule:
Notwithstanding the aforementioned vesting schedule, in accordance with Section 11 of the Plan, unless the Administrator provides otherwise or as otherwise required by Applicable Laws, (a) the vesting schedule of this Option will be adjusted or suspended during any leave of absence in accordance with the Company’s leave of absence and/or reduced work schedule and/or part-time policy in effect at the time of such leave and (b) if, after the Grant Date of this Option, Participant commences working on a part-time or reduced work schedule basis, the vesting schedule will be adjusted in accordance with the Company’s reduced work schedule/ part-time policy then in effect.
Exercise of Option:
(a)If the Participant dies or his or her status as a Service Provider is terminated due to his or her Disability, the vested portion of this Option will remain exercisable for [XXXXX] after the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider. For any other termination of status as a Service Provider, the vested portion of this Option will remain exercisable for [XXXXX] after the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider.
(b)If a Transaction occurs, Section 14 of the Plan may further limit this Option’s exercisability.
(c)This Option will not be exercisable after the Expiration Date, except as may be permitted in accordance with Section 6(h) of the Plan (which tolls expiration in very limited cases when there are legal restrictions on exercise).
In receiving the grant of this Option, Participant is hereby notified that the following constitute certain of the terms, conditions, and obligations of receiving, holding, and exercising the Option referenced in this Agreement:
(i)This Option is granted under and governed by the terms and conditions of the Plan and this Agreement, including their exhibits and appendices.
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(ii)Participant understands that the Company is not providing any tax, legal, or financial advice and is not making any recommendations regarding his or her participation in the Plan or his or her acquisition or sale of Shares.
(iii)Participant has reviewed the Plan and this Agreement, has had an opportunity to obtain the advice of personal tax, legal, and financial advisors, and fully understands all provisions of the Plan and Agreement. Participant will consult with his or her own personal tax, legal, and financial advisors before taking any action related to the Plan.
(iv)Participant has read and agrees to each provision of Section 10 of this Agreement.
(v)Participant accepts as binding, conclusive and final all decisions or interpretations of the Administrator upon any questions relating to the Plan and this Agreement.
(vi)Participant will notify the Company of any change to his or her contact address.
(vii)Unless otherwise required to comply with Applicable Laws, this Option will be subject to recoupment under any clawback policy that the Company adopts pursuant to Section 16(d) of the Plan.
(viii)Prior to exercise of this Option, the Company may require Participant to sign a written confirmation and acceptance that he or she has complied with all terms of this Agreement and that he or she accepts and agrees to all of its terms.
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EXHIBIT A
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF STOCK OPTION GRANT
1.Grant. The Company grants the Participant an Option to purchase Shares of Common Stock as described in the Notice of Grant. If there is a conflict between the Plan, this Agreement, or any other agreement with the Participant governing this Option, those documents will take precedence and prevail in the following order: (a) the Plan, (b) the Agreement, and (c) any other agreement between the Company and the Participant governing this Option.
If the Notice of Grant designates this Option as an Incentive Stock Option (“ISO”), this Option is intended to qualify as an ISO under Code Section 422. Even if this Option is designated an ISO, to the extent it first become exercisable as to more than $100,000 in any calendar year, the portion in excess of $100,000 is not an ISO under Code Section 422(d) and that portion will be a Nonstatutory Stock Option (“NSO”). In addition, if the Participant exercises this Option after 3 months have passed since he or she ceased to be an employee of the Company or a Parent or Subsidiary of the Company , it generally will no longer be an ISO (however, different rules apply to cessation of employee status due to death or Disability). If there is any other reason this Option (or a portion of it) will not qualify as an ISO, to the extent of such nonqualification, this Option will be an NSO. The Participant understands that he or she will have no recourse against the Administrator, any member of the Company Group, or any officer or director of a member of the Company Group if any portion of this Option is not an ISO.
2.Vesting. This Option will only be exercisable (also referred to as vested) under the Vesting Schedule in the Notice of Grant, Section 3 of this Agreement, or Section 14 of the Plan. Shares scheduled to vest on a certain date or upon the occurrence of a certain condition will not vest unless the Participant continues to be a Service Provider until the time such vesting is scheduled to occur.
3.Administrator Discretion. The Administrator has the discretion to accelerate the vesting of any portion of this Option. In that case, this Option will be vested as of the date and to the extent specified by the Administrator.
4.Forfeiture upon Cessation of Status as a Service Provider. Upon the Participant’s termination as a Service Provider for any reason, this Option will immediately stop vesting and any portion of this Option that has not yet vested will be immediately forfeited for no consideration upon the date that Participant ceases to be a Service Provider for any reason, in all cases, subject to Applicable Laws. For the avoidance of doubt, service during any portion of the vesting period shall not entitle the Participant to vest in a pro rata portion of this Option.
5.Death of Participant. Any distribution or delivery to be made to the Participant under this Agreement will, if he or she is then deceased, be made to the administrator or executor of his or her estate or, if the Administrator permits, his or her designated beneficiary, unless otherwise required to comply with Applicable Laws. Any such transferee must furnish the Company with (a) written notice of his or her status as transferee, and (b) evidence satisfactory to the Company to establish the validity of the transfer and compliance with any laws or regulations that apply to the transfer.
6.Exercise of Option.
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(a)Right to Exercise. This Option may be exercised only before its Expiration Date and only under the Plan and this Agreement.
(b)Method of Exercise. To exercise this Option, the Participant must deliver and the Administrator must receive an exercise notice according to procedures determined by the Administrator. The exercise notice must:
(i)state the number of Shares as to which this Option is being exercised (“Exercised Shares”),
(ii)make any representations or agreements required by the Company,
(iii)be accompanied by a payment of the total exercise price for all Exercised Shares, and
(iv)be accompanied by a payment of all required Tax Withholdings for all Exercised Shares.
This Option is exercised when both the exercise notice and payments due under Sections 6(b)(iii) and 6(b)(iv) have been received by the Company for all Exercised Shares. The Administrator may designate a particular exercise notice to be used, but until a designation is made, the exercise notice attached to this Agreement as Exhibit C may be used.
7.Method of Payment. The Participant may pay the total exercise price for Exercised Shares by any of the following methods or a combination of methods:
(a)cash;
(b)check;
(c)wire transfer;
(d)consideration received by the Company under a formal cashless exercise program adopted by the Company; or
(e)surrender of other Shares, as long as the Company determines that accepting such Shares does not result in any adverse accounting consequences to the Company. If Shares are surrendered, the value of those Shares will be the fair market value for those Shares on the date they are surrendered.
A non-U.S. resident’s methods of exercise may be restricted by the terms and condition of any appendix to this Agreement for the Participant’s country (the “Appendix”).
8.Tax Obligations.
(a)Tax Withholding.
(i)No Shares will be issued to the Participant until he or she makes satisfactory arrangements (as determined by the Administrator) for the payment of Tax Withholdings. If the Participant is a non-U.S. employee, the method of payment of Tax
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Withholdings may be restricted by any Appendix. If the Participant fails to make satisfactory arrangements for the payment of any Tax Withholdings under this Agreement at the time of an attempted Option exercise, the Company may refuse to honor the exercise and refuse to deliver the Shares, to the extent permitted by Applicable Laws.
(ii)The Company has the right (but not the obligation) to satisfy any Tax Withholdings by withholding from proceeds of a sale of Shares acquired upon the exercise of this Option arranged by the Company (on the Participant’s behalf pursuant to this authorization without further consent).
(iii)The Company has the right (but not the obligation) to satisfy any Tax Withholdings by (a) reducing the number of Shares otherwise deliverable to the Participant), (b) by requiring payment by cash or check made payable to the Company and/or any member of the Company Group for whom the Participant is performing services (each, a “Service Recipient”) with respect to which the withholding obligation arises; (c) by deduction of such amount from salary, wages or other compensation payable to the Participant; or (d) in any combination of the foregoing, or any other method determined by the Administrator to be in compliance with Applicable Laws.
(iv)The Company may withhold or account for Tax Withholdings by considering statutory or other withholding rates, including minimum or maximum rates applicable in the Participant’s jurisdiction(s). In the event of over-withholding, the Participant may receive a refund of any over-withheld amount in cash (with no entitlement to the equivalent in Common Stock), or if not refunded, the Participant may seek a refund from the local tax authorities. In the event of under-withholding, the Participant may be required to pay additional Tax Withholdings directly to the applicable tax authority or to the Company and/or the Service Recipient(s). If the obligation for Tax Withholdings is satisfied by withholding in Shares, for tax purposes, the Participant will be deemed to have been issued the full number of Shares upon exercise, notwithstanding that a number of Shares is held back solely for the purpose of paying Tax Withholdings.
(v)Further, if the Participant is subject to taxation in more than one jurisdiction between the Grant Date and the date of any relevant taxable or tax withholding event, the Company and/or the Service Recipient(s) or former Service Recipient(s) may withhold or account for tax in more than one jurisdiction.
(vi)Regardless of any action of the Company or the Service Recipient(s), the Participant acknowledges that the ultimate liability for all Tax Withholdings and any and all additional taxes related to the Award, the Shares or other amounts or property delivered under the Award and the Participant’s participation in the Plan is and remains his or her responsibility and may exceed the amount actually withheld by the Company or the Service Recipient(s). The Participant further acknowledges that the Company and the Service Recipient(s) (1) make no representations or undertakings regarding the treatment of any Tax Withholdings in connection with any aspect of this Option; and (2) do not commit to and are under no obligation to structure the terms of the grant or any aspect of this Option to reduce or eliminate his or her liability for Tax Withholdings or achieve any particular tax result.
(vii)For U.S. taxpayers, under Code Section 409A, a stock right (such as this Option) that vests after December 31, 2004 (or that vested on or prior to such date but which was materially modified after October 3, 2004) that was granted with a per share exercise price that
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is determined by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) to be less than the fair market value of an underlying share on the date of grant (a “discount option”) may be considered “deferred compensation.” A stock right that is a “discount option” may result in (1) income recognition by the recipient of the stock right prior to the exercise of the stock right, (2) an additional 20% U.S. federal income tax, and (3) potential penalty and interest charges. The “discount option” may also result in additional U.S. state income, penalty and interest tax to the recipient of the stock right. Participant is hereby notified that the Company cannot and has not guaranteed that the IRS will agree that the per Share exercise price of this Option equals or exceeds the fair market value of a Share on the Grant Date in a later examination. Participant is hereby notified that if the IRS determines that this Option was granted with a per Share exercise price that was less than the fair market value of a Share on the Grant Date, Participant shall be solely responsible for Participant’s costs related to such a determination.
(b)Tax Reporting. This Section 8(b) applies if the Participant is a U.S. income taxpayer. If this Option is partially or wholly an ISO, and if the Participant sells or otherwise disposes of any the Shares acquired by exercising the ISO portion on or before the later of (i) the date 2 years after the Grant Date, or (ii) the date 1 year after the date of exercise, he or she may be subject to withholding of Tax Withholdings by the Company on the compensation income recognized by him or her and must immediately notify the Company in writing of the disposition.
9.Rights as Stockholder. The Participant’s or any other person’s rights as a stockholder of the Company (including the right to vote and to receive dividends and distributions) will not begin until Shares have been issued and recorded on the records of the Company or its transfer agents or registrars.
10.Acknowledgments and Agreements. Participant acknowledges, accepts, understands, and agrees with the following, which are conditions of this Option:
(a)THE VESTING OF THIS OPTION IS EARNED ONLY BY CONTINUING AS A SERVICE PROVIDER AND BEING HIRED, GRANTED THIS OPTION, AND EXERCISING THIS OPTION WILL NOT RESULT IN VESTING.
(b)THIS OPTION AND AGREEMENT DO NOT CREATE AN EXPRESS OR IMPLIED PROMISE OF CONTINUED ENGAGEMENT AS A SERVICE PROVIDER FOR THE VESTING PERIOD, FOR ANY PERIOD, OR AT ALL, AND WILL NOT INTERFERE IN ANY WAY WITH HIS OR HER RIGHT OR THE RIGHT OF THE EMPLOYER(S) TO TERMINATE HIS OR HER RELATIONSHIP AS A SERVICE PROVIDER AT ANY TIME, WITH OR WITHOUT CAUSE, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE LAWS.
(c)The Participant agrees that this Agreement and its incorporated documents reflect all agreements on its subject matters and that he or she is not accepting this Agreement based on any promises, representations, or inducements other than those reflected in the Agreement.
(d)The Participant understands that exercise of this Option is governed strictly by Sections 6, 7, and 8 of this Agreement and that failure to comply with those Sections could result in the expiration of this Option, even if an attempt was made to exercise.
(e)The Participant agrees that the Company’s delivery of any documents related to the Plan or this Option (including the Plan, the Agreement, the Plan’s prospectus and any reports
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of the Company provided generally to the Company’s stockholders) to him or her may be made by electronic delivery, which may include but does not necessarily include the delivery of a link to a Company intranet or the Internet site of a third party involved in administering the Plan, the delivery of the document via e-mail, or any other means of electronic delivery specified by the Company. If the attempted electronic delivery of such documents fails, the Participant will be provided with a paper copy of the documents. The Participant acknowledges that he or she may receive from the Company a paper copy of any documents that were delivered electronically at no cost to him or her by contacting the Company by telephone or in writing. The Participant may revoke his or her consent to the electronic delivery of documents or may change the electronic mail address to which such documents are to be delivered (if the Participant has provided an electronic mail address) at any time by notifying the Company of such revoked consent or revised e‑mail address by telephone, postal service or electronic mail. Finally, the Participant understands that he or she is not required to consent to electronic delivery of documents.
(f)The Participant may deliver any documents related to the Plan or this Option to the Company by e-mail or any other means of electronic delivery approved by the Administrator, but he or she must provide the Company or any designated third party administrator with a paper copy of any documents if his or her attempted electronic delivery of such documents fails.
(g)The Participant accepts that all good faith decisions or interpretations of the Administrator regarding the Plan and Awards under the Plan are binding, conclusive, and final. No member of the Administrator will be personally liable for any such decisions or interpretations.
(h)The Participant agrees that the Plan is established voluntarily by the Company, is discretionary in nature, and may be amended, suspended, or terminated by the Company at any time, to the extent permitted by the Plan.
(i)The Participant agrees that the grant of this Option is exceptional, voluntary and occasional and does not create any contractual or other right to receive future grants of options, or benefits in lieu of options, even if options have been granted in the past.
(j)The Participant agrees that any decisions regarding future Awards will be in the Company’s sole discretion.
(k)The Participant agrees that he or she is voluntarily participating in the Plan.
(l)The Participant agrees that this Option and any Shares acquired under the Plan, and the income from and value of same, are not intended to replace any pension rights or compensation.
(m)The Participant agrees that this Option, any Shares acquired under the Plan, and the income from and value of same are not part of normal or expected compensation for the purpose of, including, but not limited to, calculating any severance, resignation, termination, redundancy, dismissal, end-of-service payments, bonuses, holiday pay, long-service awards, pension or retirement or welfare benefits, or similar payments.
(n)The Participant agrees that the future value of the Shares underlying this Option is unknown, indeterminable, and cannot be predicted with certainty.
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(o)The Participant understands that if the underlying Shares do not increase in value, this Option will have no intrinsic monetary value.
(p)The Participant understands that if this Option is exercised, the value of each Share received on exercise may increase or decrease, even below the Exercise Price.
(q)The Participant agrees that, for purposes of this Option, his or her engagement as a Service Provider is terminated as of the date Participant ceases to be a Service Provider (regardless of the reason for such termination and whether or not the termination is later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where he or she is a Service Provider or the terms of his or her service agreement, if any), unless otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement or determined by the Administrator.
(r)The Participant agrees that the period during which the Participant may exercise the vested portion of this Option after a termination of his or her status as a Service Provider (if any) will start as of the date Participant ceases to be a Service Provider (regardless of the reason for such termination and whether or not the termination is later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where he or she is a Service Provider or the terms of his or her service agreement, if any), unless otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement or determined by the Administrator.
(s)The Participant agrees that the Company has the exclusive discretion to determine when he or she is no longer providing services for purposes of this Option (including whether he or she is still considered to be providing services while on a leave of absence).
(t)The Participant agrees that no member of the Company Group is liable for any foreign exchange rate fluctuation between the Participant’s local currency and the United States Dollar that may affect the value of this Option or of any amounts due to him or her from the exercise of this Option or the subsequent sale of any Shares acquired upon exercise.
(u)The Participant has read and agrees to the Data Privacy provisions described in Section 11 of this Agreement.
(v)Unless otherwise provided in the Plan or by the Administrator in its discretion, this Option and the benefits evidenced in this Agreement do not create any entitlement to have this Option or any such benefits transferred to, or assumed by, another company, nor to be exchanged, cashed out or substituted for, in connection with any corporate transaction affecting the Shares.
(w)The Participant agrees that he or she has no claim or entitlement to compensation or damages from any forfeiture of this Option resulting from the termination of his or her status as a Service Provider (for any reason whatsoever, whether or not later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where he or she is a Service Provider or the terms of his or her service agreement, if any).
11.Data Privacy. The Company’s Privacy and Security Statement (the “External Privacy Notice”) is available online at: https://www.palantir.com/privacy-and-security. The information in this Section is provided to the Participant by the Company for the purpose of processing Personal Data (as such term is used in the External Privacy Notice) in the context of implementing,
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administering and managing the Plan. For the purposes of this Section, the Company is the controller. Where local data protection laws require the appointment of a local representative, such representative will be the Company’s Data Protection Officer. A glossary of terms used in this Section is provided below.
This Section applies in addition to the Company’s Employee Privacy and Security Statement, as applicable. The Participant is responsible for (i) providing the Company with accurate and up-to-date Personal Data; and (ii) updating those Personal Data in the event of any material changes. For any questions related to this Section or relating to the Company’s processing of Personal Data, please contact the Data Protection Officer at privacy@palantir.com.
For purposes of this Section:
“controller” means the entity that decides how and why Personal Data are processed.
“process”, “processing” or “processed” means anything that is done with Personal Data, including collecting, storing, accessing, using, editing, disclosing or deleting those data.
Participant authorizes and consents to the collection, maintenance, and international transfer of Personal Data related to him/her (under transfer mechanisms required by applicable law, and in accordance with the External Privacy Notice) by Company or its representatives for purposes including: administration of the Plan; compliance with applicable law; to fulfill and safeguard the rights and interests of Participant, Company, and other participants under the Plan; to fulfill the legitimate interests of Company in connection with management, operation, and promotion of its business; and related purposes. Such Personal Data may include, but not be limited to, data relating to Participant’s identity, contact details, employment data, nationality, immigration status, and Participant’s present or historical equity holdings relating to Company. Participant authorizes the Company and Company’s representatives to discuss with and disclose such Personal Data relating to Participant’s participation in this plan with their respective advisors and corporate affiliates as necessary to maintain, administer, and operate the plan in accordance with applicable law.
12.Insider Trading Restrictions/Market Abuse Laws. The Participant acknowledges that he or she may be subject to insider trading restrictions and/or market abuse laws in applicable jurisdictions including, but not limited to, the United States and the Participant’s country of residence, which may affect the Participant’s ability to acquire or sell Shares or rights to Shares (e.g., Options) under the Plan during such times as the Participant is considered to have “inside information” regarding the Company (as defined by the laws in the applicable jurisdictions). Local insider trading laws and regulations may prohibit the cancellation or amendment of orders the Participant placed before the Participant possessed inside information. Furthermore, the Participant could be prohibited from (i) disclosing the inside information to any third party and (ii) “tipping” third parties or causing them otherwise to buy or sell securities. The Participant should keep in mind third parties includes fellow employees. Any restrictions under these laws or regulations are separate from and in addition to any restrictions that may be imposed under any applicable insider trading policy of the Company. The Participant is responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable restrictions and should consult with his or her personal legal advisor on this matter.
13.Foreign Asset/Account Reporting Requirements. Depending on the Participant’s country, the Participant may be subject to foreign asset/account, exchange control and/or tax reporting requirements as a result of the vesting or exercise of this Option, the acquisition, holding
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and/or transfer of Shares or cash resulting from participation in the Plan and/or the opening and maintaining of a brokerage or bank account in connection with the Plan. The Participant may be required to report such assets, accounts, account balances and values, and/or related transactions to the applicable authorities in his or her country. The Participant may also be required to repatriate sale proceeds or other funds received as a result of his or her participation in the Plan to his or her country through a designated bank or broker and/or within a certain time after receipt. The Participant acknowledges that he or she is responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable foreign asset/account, exchange control and tax reporting and other requirements. The Participant further understands that he or she should consult the Participant's personal tax and legal advisors, as applicable on these matters.
14.Miscellaneous.
(a)Address for Notices. Any notice to be given to the Company under the terms of this Agreement must be addressed to the Company at Palantir Technologies Inc., 1200 17th Street, Floor 15, Denver, Colorado 80202, USA until the Company designates another address in writing.
(b)Non-Transferability of Option. This Option may not be transferred other than by will or the applicable laws of descent or distribution and may be exercised during the lifetime of the Participant only by him or her or his or her representative following a Disability.
(c)Binding Agreement. If this Option is transferred, this Agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the heirs, legatees, legal representatives, successors, and assigns of the parties to this Agreement.
(d)Additional Conditions to Issuance of Stock. If the Company determines that the listing, registration, qualification, or rule compliance of the Common Stock on any securities exchange or under any U.S. or non-U.S. federal, state or local law, the tax Code and related regulations or the consent or approval of any governmental regulatory authority is necessary or desirable as a condition to the issuance of Shares to the Participant (or his or her estate), the Company will try to meet the requirements of any such state, federal, or foreign law or securities exchange and to obtain any such consent or approval of any such governmental authority or securities exchange, but the Shares will not be issued until such conditions have been met in a manner acceptable to the Company.
(e)Captions. Captions provided in this Agreement are for convenience only and are not to serve as a basis for interpretation or construction of this Agreement.
(f)Agreement Severable. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be severed from the remaining provisions of this Agreement and the invalidity or unenforceability will have no effect on the remainder of the Agreement.
(g)Non-U.S. Appendix. This Option is subject to any special terms and conditions set forth in any Appendix. If the Participant relocates to a country included in the Appendix, the special terms and conditions for that country will apply to him or her to the extent the Company determines that applying such terms and conditions is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons.
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(h)Imposition of Other Requirements. The Company reserves the right to impose other requirements on the Participant’s participation in the Plan, on this Option and on any Shares acquired under the Plan, to the extent the Company determines it is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons, and to require the Participant to sign any additional agreements or undertakings that may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing; provided, however, that no such imposition of other requirements shall occur or be effective unless such imposition would result in this Option remaining exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A, or otherwise complying with Code Section 409A, in each case such that none of this Agreement, the Option provided under this Agreement, or Shares, cash or other property issuable hereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A.
(i)Choice of Law; Choice of Forum. The Plan, this Agreement, this Option, and all determinations made and actions taken under the Plan, to the extent not otherwise governed by the laws of the United States, will be governed by the laws of the State of Delaware without giving effect to principles of conflicts of law. For purposes of litigating any dispute that arises under the Plan, the Participant's acceptance of this Option is his or her consent to the jurisdiction of the State of Delaware and his or her agreement that any such litigation will be conducted in the Delaware Court of Chancery or the federal courts for the United States for the District of Delaware and no other courts, regardless of where he or she is performing services.
(j)Modifications to the Agreement. The Plan and this Agreement constitute the entire understanding of the parties on the subjects covered. The Participant expressly warrants that he or she is not accepting this Agreement in reliance on any promises, representations, or inducements other than those contained herein. Modifications to this Agreement or the Plan can be made only in an express written contract executed by a duly authorized officer of the Company. The Company reserves the right to revise the Agreement as it deems necessary or advisable, in its sole discretion and without the consent of the Participant, to comply with Code Section 409A, to otherwise avoid imposition of any additional tax or income recognition under Code Section 409A in connection with this Option, or to comply with other Applicable Laws.
(k)Waiver. The Participant acknowledges that a waiver by the Company of a breach of any provision of this Agreement will not operate or be construed as a waiver of any other provision of this Agreement or of any subsequent breach of this Agreement by him or her.
(l)Language. The Participant acknowledges that the Participant is sufficiently proficient in English, or has consulted with an advisor who is sufficiently proficient in English, so as to allow the Participant to understand the terms of this Agreement. If Participant has received this Agreement, or any other document related to this Option and/or the Plan translated into a language other than English and if the meaning of the translated version is different than the English version, the English version will control.
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EXHIBIT B
APPENDIX TO STOCK OPTION AGREEMENT
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EXHIBIT C
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.
2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
EXERCISE NOTICE
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PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.
2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
NOTICE OF STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT GRANT AND
GLOBAL STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT AGREEMENT
Capitalized terms that are not defined in this Notice of Stock Appreciation Right Grant and Global Stock Appreciation Right Agreement (the “Notice of Grant”), the Terms and Conditions of Global Stock Appreciation Right Grant, the Non-U.S. Appendix attached hereto as Exhibit B and all other exhibits to these documents (all together, the “Agreement”) have the meanings given to them in the Palantir Technologies Inc. 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”).
The Participant has been granted a Stock Appreciation Right according to the terms below and subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan and this Agreement:
Participant:
Grant Number:
Grant Date:
Number of Shares Granted: *
Exercise Price Per Share: *
Total Exercise Price: *
Value Cap Per Share: *
Maximum Appreciation Value Per Share: *
Expiration Date:
* For purposes of clarity: the Number of Shares Granted (which, for clarity, refers to the number of Shares that are subject to this Stock Appreciation Right), the Exercise Price per Share and, as a result, the Total Exercise Price each are subject to adjustments pursuant to Sections 13 or 14 of the Plan, and the Value Cap Per Share and the Maximum Appreciation Value Per Share each are subject to adjustments pursuant to the Section of this Notice of Grant entitled “Certain Adjustments”; however, for avoidance of doubt, the “Maximum Total Appreciation Value” shall mean (and shall in no event ever exceed) the product obtained by multiplying the Maximum Appreciation Value Per Share by the Number of Shares Granted.
Vesting Schedule:
This Stock Appreciation Right, to the extent outstanding and unvested, will fully vest on the first day after the Grant Date that is an “Above Price Day” (as defined below). For the avoidance of doubt, this Stock Appreciation Right remains eligible to vest if the first Above Price Day after the Grant Date occurs following the termination of the Participant’s status as a Service Provider but prior to
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the expiration of the applicable Post-Termination Period (as defined below), subject to the terms of the Plan and this Agreement.
For purposes of this Agreement, “Above Price Day” means any day for which the Closing Price (as defined below) on the Trading Day immediately preceding such day (i.e., the Trading Day that most recently occurred prior to such day) is greater than the Exercise Price Per Share; provided, however, that no day on or before the Grant Date will be an Above Price Day.
For purposes of this Agreement, “Closing Price” means, for a given Trading Day, the closing sales price of a Share during regular trading hours on the Primary Exchange (as defined below) on such Trading Day, as reported on the Primary Exchange or such other source as the Administrator determines to be reliable.
For purposes of this Agreement, “Primary Exchange” means The New York Stock Exchange or, if Shares are not traded on The New York Stock Exchange, such other established securities exchange, national market system, or other trading platform, on which Shares primarily are listed and regularly trade.
If the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider for any or no reason before he or she vests in this Stock Appreciation Right, this Stock Appreciation Right will terminate immediately following the expiration of the applicable Post-Termination Period according to the terms of Section 4 of this Agreement.
Change in Control:
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Plan (including but not limited to Section 14 of the Plan) or this Agreement, unless the Administrator determines otherwise, in the event of a Change in Control or merger in which this Stock Appreciation Right is not assumed or substituted for by the successor or acquiror, any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right that has either not vested or has vested but not been exercised will be immediately forfeited for no consideration immediately prior to the closing of the Change in Control or merger, subject to Applicable Laws.
Certain Adjustments:
If any extraordinary dividend or other extraordinary distribution (whether in cash, Shares, other securities, or other property), recapitalization, stock split, reverse stock split, reorganization, merger, consolidation, split-up, spin-off, combination, reclassification, repurchase, or exchange of Shares or other securities of the Company, other change in the corporate structure of the Company affecting the Shares, or any similar equity restructuring transaction, as that term is used in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 718 (or any of its successors) affecting the Shares occurs (including a Change in Control), the Administrator, in order to prevent diminution or enlargement of the benefits or potential benefits intended to be made available under this Stock Appreciation Right, will, in addition to any adjustments made pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Plan, adjust the Value Cap Per Share and the Maximum Appreciation Value Per Share. For avoidance of doubt, the Maximum Total Appreciation Value will equal the Value Cap Per Share multiplied by the Number of Shares Granted, provided that the Maximum Total Appreciation Value may never exceed the amount indicated above. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the conversion of any convertible securities of the Company and ordinary course repurchases of shares or other
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securities of the Company will not be treated as an event that will require adjustment under this Section. Determinations by the Administrator will be final and binding on Participant and will be given the maximum deference permitted under Applicable Laws.
Exercisability of Stock Appreciation Right:
(a)Subject to the limitations described in this Section and further subject to the discretion of the Administrator to permit the exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right at such other times as it determines, and notwithstanding any other provisions to the contrary in the Plan, including Section 14 of the Plan, or this Agreement that otherwise could be read to permit broader exercisability, this Stock Appreciation Right may only be exercised, to the extent vested and outstanding, on a given date if the exercise is occurring on an Above Price Day.
(b)If the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider due to Participant’s death, this Stock Appreciation Right will remain, if vested, outstanding and exercisable or eligible to become exercisable, as applicable, or, if unvested, outstanding and eligible to vest and become exercisable upon the occurrence of the first Above Price Day after the Grant Date, in either event for [XXXXX] after the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider. For any other termination of status as a Service Provider, this Stock Appreciation Right will remain, if vested, outstanding and exercisable or eligible to become exercisable, as applicable, or, if unvested, outstanding and eligible to vest and become exercisable upon the occurrence of the first Above Price Day after the Grant Date, in either event, for [XXXXX] after the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider. Each such period referred to in this subsection (b) constitutes a “Post-Termination Period.”
(c)The Administrator may determine in its sole discretion that this Stock Appreciation Right may not be exercised while Participant is on a leave of absence (for all, any, or no portion of such leave of absence, as determined by the Administrator) that, under the “Global LOA Policy for Equity While on Leave” then in effect or such other Company leave of absence policy impacting equity awards that is then in place in replacement of such “Global LOA Policy for Equity While on Leave” (collectively, the “LOA Policy”), would have an impact on the vesting, exercisability or forfeitability of any equity award (including a stock option or award of restricted stock units) if such an award were held by the Participant (even if, for the sake of clarification, Participant does not actually hold any stock option, award of restricted stock units, or any other such equity award, as applicable).
(d)If a Transaction occurs, Section 14 of the Plan may further limit this Stock Appreciation Right’s exercisability.
(e)Notwithstanding anything in the Plan or this Agreement to the contrary, this Stock Appreciation Right will not be exercisable after the Expiration Date, except as may be permitted in accordance with Section 7(f) of the Plan (which tolls expiration in very limited cases when there are legal restrictions on exercise).
In receiving the grant of this Stock Appreciation Right, Participant is hereby notified that the following constitute certain of the terms, conditions, and obligations of receiving, holding, and exercising this Stock Appreciation Right referenced in this Agreement:
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(i)This Stock Appreciation Right is granted under and governed by the terms and conditions of the Plan and this Agreement, including their exhibits and appendices.
(ii)Participant understands that the Company is not providing any tax, legal, or financial advice and is not making any recommendations regarding his or her participation in the Plan or his or her acquisition or sale of Shares.
(iii)Participant has reviewed the Plan and this Agreement, has had an opportunity to obtain the advice of personal tax, legal, and financial advisors, and fully understands all provisions of the Plan and Agreement. Participant will consult with his or her own personal tax, legal, and financial advisors before taking any action related to the Plan.
(iv)Participant has read and agrees to each provision of Section 9 of this Agreement.
(v)Participant has read and agrees to the restrictions on exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right and trading of Shares as set forth in Section 11 of this Agreement, including restrictions pursuant to the Company’s Insider Trading Policy, as it may be amended from time to time. Participant has received, read, and understands the Company’s Insider Trading Policy, as further described in Section 11 of this Agreement.
(vi)Participant accepts as binding, conclusive and final all decisions or interpretations of the Administrator upon any questions relating to the Plan and this Agreement.
(vii)Participant will notify the Company of any change to his or her contact address.
(viii)Unless otherwise required to comply with Applicable Laws, this Stock Appreciation Right will be subject to recoupment under any clawback policy in place on the Grant Date or that is adopted to comply with Applicable Laws.
(ix)This Stock Appreciation Right is not subject to the LOA Policy, except with respect to (a) the provisions related to the LOA Policy set forth above in the section entitled “Exercisability of Stock Appreciation Right” and (ii) if, after the Grant Date, from time to time, the Company adopts an amended or new LOA Policy that explicitly applies to stock appreciation rights, such amended or new LOA Policy will apply to this Stock Appreciation Right.
(x)Prior to exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right, the Company may require Participant to sign a written confirmation and acceptance that he or she has complied with all terms of this Agreement and that he or she accepts and agrees to all of its terms.
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EXHIBIT A
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT GRANT
1.Grant. The Company grants the Participant a Stock Appreciation Right payable in Shares of Common Stock as described in this Agreement. Alternatively, the Company reserves the right, to be exercised in the sole discretion of the Administrator, to pay such Stock Appreciation Right in an amount in cash as described in this Agreement. If there is a conflict between the Plan, this Agreement, or any other agreement with the Participant governing this Stock Appreciation Right, those documents will take precedence and prevail in the following order: (a) the Plan, (b) the Agreement, and (c) any other agreement between the Company and the Participant governing this Stock Appreciation Right.
2.Exercisability. This Stock Appreciation Right will only be exercisable in accordance with the “Exercisability of Stock Appreciation Right” section in the Notice of Grant, Section 3 of this Agreement, or Section 14 of the Plan (to the extent not overridden or modified by this Agreement).
3.Administrator Discretion. The Administrator has the discretion to accelerate the exercisability of any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right. In that case, this Stock Appreciation Right will be exercisable as of the date and to the extent specified by the Administrator.
4.Forfeiture upon Cessation of Status as a Service Provider. Upon the Participant’s termination as a Service Provider for any reason, any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right that has not yet vested will remain outstanding and eligible to vest through the applicable Post-Termination Period (subject to the terms of the Plan and this Agreement). Any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right that has either not vested or has vested but not been exercised will be immediately forfeited for no consideration immediately following the applicable Post-Termination Period, in all cases, subject to Applicable Laws. For the avoidance of doubt, service during any portion of the vesting period shall not entitle the Participant to vest in a pro rata portion of this Stock Appreciation Right.
5.Death of Participant. Any distribution or delivery to be made to the Participant under this Agreement will, if he or she is then deceased, be made to the administrator or executor of his or her estate or, if the Administrator permits, his or her designated beneficiary, unless otherwise required to comply with Applicable Laws. Any such transferee must furnish the Company with (a) written notice of his or her status as transferee, and (b) evidence satisfactory to the Company to establish the validity of the transfer and compliance with any laws or regulations that apply to the transfer.
6.Exercise of Stock Appreciation Right.
(a)Right to Exercise. This Stock Appreciation Right may be exercised only before its Expiration Date and only under the terms of the Plan and this Agreement.
(b)Method of Exercise. This Stock Appreciation Right shall be exercisable by delivery of an exercise notice in the form attached as Exhibit C or such other notice, paperwork, or process as may be applicable using the Company’s stock administration platform at the time of such exercise (the “Exercise Notice”) or in a manner and pursuant to such procedures as the Administrator may determine, which shall state the election to exercise this Stock Appreciation Right, the number
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of covered Shares with respect to which this Stock Appreciation Right is being exercised (the “Exercised Shares”), and such other representations and agreements as may be required by the Company. This Stock Appreciation Right shall be deemed to be exercised upon receipt by the Company of such fully executed or electronically signed or accepted Exercise Notice or completion of such exercise procedure, as the Administrator may determine in its sole discretion.
(c)Settlement Upon Exercise. Upon exercise of all or a specified portion of this Stock Appreciation Right as permitted by this Agreement, subject to Section 7 of this Agreement, the Participant shall be entitled to receive from the Company the Settlement Shares (as defined below). Alternatively, in the sole discretion of the Administrator, upon exercise of all or a specified portion of this Stock Appreciation Right as permitted by this Agreement, subject to Section 7 of this Agreement, the Company may elect to deliver to the Participant an amount in cash equal to the Appreciation Value (as defined below). In the case of settlement, whether in Shares or cash, the rounding mechanisms and procedures for settlement and/or Tax Withholdings applied or processed via the Company’s stock administration platform in use at the time shall be applicable to all calculations hereunder unless the Administrator determines otherwise. Such settlement shall be made as soon as practicable following the exercise.
For purposes of this Agreement, the “Settlement Shares” shall mean the number of Shares equal to the quotient obtained by dividing the Appreciation Value by the Closing Price as in effect on the Trading Day immediately preceding the date of the applicable exercise, rounded as set forth above.
For purposes of this Agreement, the “Appreciation Value” is equal to the product obtained by multiplying (a) the positive difference (if any) obtained by subtracting (i) the Exercise Price Per Share from (ii) the lesser of (x) the Closing Price on the Trading Day immediately preceding the date of such exercise or (y) the Value Cap Per Share, by (b) the number of Exercised Shares. For the avoidance of doubt, the Appreciation Value of each Exercised Share may not be greater than the Maximum Appreciation Value Per Share as may be adjusted in accordance with the Notice of Grant, and further, the Maximum Total Appreciation Value that may be realized upon exercise of all Shares subject to this Stock Appreciation Right may in no event exceed the Maximum Total Appreciation Value set forth in the Notice of Grant. For the avoidance of doubt, the Appreciation Value cannot be less than zero.
7.Tax Obligations.
(a)Tax Withholding.
(i)If the Participant fails to make satisfactory arrangements for the payment of any Tax Withholdings under this Agreement (as determined by the Administrator) at the time of an attempted Stock Appreciation Right exercise, the Company may refuse to honor the exercise and refuse to settle the purported exercise, to the extent permitted by Applicable Laws.
(ii)In addition, the Company has the right (but not the obligation) to satisfy any Tax Withholdings by (a) reducing the number of Settlement Shares otherwise deliverable to the Participant (such method for satisfying Tax Withholdings, “Net Share Withholding”), and, subject to Applicable Laws, this will be the method by which such Tax Withholding obligations are satisfied until the Company determines otherwise, (b) withholding from proceeds of a sale of Shares acquired upon the exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right arranged by the Company (on the
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Participant’s behalf pursuant to this authorization without further consent), (c) requiring payment by cash or check made payable to the Company and/or any member of the Company Group for whom the Participant is performing services (each, a “Service Recipient”) with respect to which the withholding obligation arises; (d) by deduction of such amount from salary, wages or other compensation payable to the Participant; or (e) by utilizing any combination of the foregoing, or any other method determined by the Administrator to be in compliance with Applicable Laws.
(iii)The Company may withhold or account for Tax Withholdings by considering statutory or other withholding rates, including minimum or maximum rates applicable in the Participant’s jurisdiction(s). In the event of over-withholding, the Participant may receive a refund of any over-withheld amount in cash (with no entitlement to the equivalent in Common Stock), or if not refunded, the Participant may seek a refund from the local tax authorities. In the event of under-withholding, the Participant may be required to pay additional Tax Withholdings directly to the applicable tax authority or to the Company and/or the Service Recipient(s). If the obligation for Tax Withholdings is satisfied by Net Share Withholding, for tax purposes, the Participant will be deemed to have been issued the full number of Settlement Shares upon exercise, notwithstanding that a number of Shares is held back solely for the purpose of paying Tax Withholdings.
(iv)Further, if the Participant is subject to taxation in more than one jurisdiction between the Grant Date and the date of any relevant taxable or tax withholding event, the Company and/or the Service Recipient(s) or former Service Recipient(s) may withhold or account for tax in more than one jurisdiction.
(v)Regardless of any action of the Company or the Service Recipient(s), the Participant acknowledges that the ultimate liability for all Tax Withholdings and any and all additional taxes related to the Award, the Shares or other amounts or property delivered under the Award and the Participant’s participation in the Plan is and remains his or her responsibility and may exceed the amount actually withheld by the Company or the Service Recipient(s). The Participant further acknowledges that the Company and the Service Recipient(s) (1) make no representations or undertakings regarding the treatment of any Tax Withholdings in connection with any aspect of this Stock Appreciation Right; and (2) do not commit to and are under no obligation to structure the terms of the grant or any aspect of this Stock Appreciation Right to reduce or eliminate his or her liability for Tax Withholdings or achieve any particular tax result.
(vi)For U.S. taxpayers, under Code Section 409A, a stock right (such as this Stock Appreciation Right) that vests after December 31, 2004 (or that vested on or prior to such date but which was materially modified after October 3, 2004) that was granted with a per share exercise price that is determined by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) to be less than the fair market value of an underlying share on the date of grant (a “discount stock appreciation right”) may be considered “deferred compensation.” A stock right that is a “discount stock appreciation right” may result in (1) income recognition by the recipient of the stock right prior to the exercise of the stock right, (2) an additional 20% U.S. federal income tax, and (3) potential penalty and interest charges. The “discount stock appreciation right” may also result in additional U.S. state income, penalty and interest tax to the recipient of the stock right. Participant is hereby notified that the Company cannot and has not guaranteed that the IRS will agree that the per Share exercise price of this Stock Appreciation Right equals or exceeds the fair market value of a Share on the Grant Date in a later examination. Participant is hereby notified that if the IRS determines that this Stock
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Appreciation Right was granted with a per Share exercise price that was less than the fair market value of a Share on the Grant Date, Participant shall be solely responsible for Participant’s costs related to such a determination.
8.Rights as Stockholder. The Participant shall not have any rights as a stockholder of the Company (including the right to vote and to receive dividends and distributions) with respect to this Stock Appreciation Right unless and until Settlement Shares have been recorded on the records of the Company or its transfer agents or registrars as set forth herein.
9.Acknowledgments and Agreements. Participant acknowledges, accepts, understands, and agrees with the following, which are conditions of this Stock Appreciation Right:
(a)THE VESTING OF THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT IS EARNED ONLY BY THE SATISFACTION OF THE APPLICABLE VESTING CONDITION OF THIS AGREEMENT, AND NEITHER BEING HIRED NOR GRANTED THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT WILL RESULT IN VESTING. FURTHER, EXERCISABILITY OF THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT IS PERMITTED ONLY PURSUANT TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, AND BEING HIRED OR GRANTED THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT WILL NOT RESULT IN EXERCISABILITY, AND VESTING MAY NOT RESULT IN CONTINUED EXERCISABILITY OF THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT.
(b)THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT AND AGREEMENT DO NOT CREATE AN EXPRESS OR IMPLIED PROMISE OF CONTINUED ENGAGEMENT AS A SERVICE PROVIDER FOR THE VESTING PERIOD, ANY EXERCISABILITY PERIOD, FOR ANY PERIOD, OR AT ALL, AND WILL NOT INTERFERE IN ANY WAY WITH HIS OR HER RIGHT OR THE RIGHT OF THE EMPLOYER(S) TO TERMINATE HIS OR HER RELATIONSHIP AS A SERVICE PROVIDER AT ANY TIME, WITH OR WITHOUT CAUSE, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE LAWS.
(c)The Participant agrees that this Agreement and its incorporated documents reflect all agreements on its subject matters and that he or she is not accepting this Agreement based on any promises, representations, or inducements other than those reflected in the Agreement.
(d)The Participant understands that exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right is governed strictly by the Notice of Grant and Sections 6 and 7 of this Agreement and that failure to comply with the Notice of Grant or those Sections could result in the expiration of this Stock Appreciation Right, even if an attempt was made to exercise.
(e)The Participant agrees that the Company’s delivery of any documents related to the Plan or this Stock Appreciation Right (including the Plan, the Agreement, the Plan’s prospectus and any reports of the Company provided generally to the Company’s stockholders) to him or her may be made by electronic delivery, which may include but does not necessarily include the delivery of a link to a Company intranet or the Internet site of a third party involved in administering the Plan, the delivery of the document via e-mail, or any other means of electronic delivery specified by the Company. If the attempted electronic delivery of such documents fails, the Participant will be provided with a paper copy of the documents. The Participant acknowledges that he or she may receive from the Company a paper copy of any documents that were delivered electronically at no cost to him or her by contacting the Company by telephone or in writing. The Participant may revoke his or her consent to the electronic delivery of documents or may change the
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electronic mail address to which such documents are to be delivered (if the Participant has provided an electronic mail address) at any time by notifying the Company of such revoked consent or revised e‑mail address by telephone, postal service or electronic mail. Finally, the Participant understands that he or she is not required to consent to electronic delivery of documents.
(f)The Participant agrees that determinations regarding the date and time of any exercises under this Agreement and any other determinations based on a given time or date will be determined using time zones as determined under the Company’s then-current equity administration platform, unless determined otherwise by the Administrator.
(g)The Participant accepts that all good faith decisions or interpretations of the Administrator regarding the Plan and Awards under the Plan are binding, conclusive, and final. No member of the Administrator will be personally liable for any such decisions or interpretations.
(h)The Participant agrees that the Plan is established voluntarily by the Company, is discretionary in nature, and may be amended, suspended, or terminated by the Company at any time, to the extent permitted by the Plan.
(i)The Participant agrees that the grant of this Stock Appreciation Right is exceptional, voluntary and occasional and does not create any contractual or other right to receive future grants of stock appreciation rights, or benefits in lieu of stock appreciation rights, even if stock appreciation rights have been granted in the past.
(j)The Participant agrees that any decisions regarding future Awards will be in the Company’s sole discretion.
(k)The Participant agrees that he or she is voluntarily participating in the Plan.
(l)The Participant agrees that this Stock Appreciation Right and any Shares acquired under the Plan, and the income from and value of same, are not intended to replace any pension rights or compensation.
(m)The Participant agrees that this Stock Appreciation Right, any Shares acquired under the Plan, and the income from and value of same are not part of normal or expected compensation for the purpose of, including, but not limited to, calculating any severance, resignation, termination, redundancy, dismissal, end-of-service payments, bonuses, holiday pay, long-service awards, pension or retirement or welfare benefits, or similar payments.
(n)The Participant agrees that the future value of this Stock Appreciation Right and Shares underlying this Stock Appreciation Right is unknown, indeterminable, and cannot be predicted with certainty.
(o)The Participant understands that if the underlying Shares do not increase in value above the Exercise Price Per Share, this Stock Appreciation Right will have no intrinsic monetary value.
(p)The Participant understands that if this Stock Appreciation Right is exercised, the value of each Share received on exercise may increase or decrease, even below the Exercise Price.
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(q)The Participant agrees that, for purposes of this Stock Appreciation Right, his or her engagement as a Service Provider is terminated as of the date Participant ceases to be a Service Provider (regardless of the reason for such termination and whether or not the termination is later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where he or she is a Service Provider or the terms of his or her service agreement, if any), unless otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement or determined by the Administrator.
(r)The Participant agrees that the applicable Post-Termination Period will start as of the date Participant ceases to be a Service Provider (regardless of the reason for such termination and whether or not the termination is later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where he or she is a Service Provider or the terms of his or her service agreement, if any), unless otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement or determined by the Administrator.
(s)The Participant agrees that the Company has the exclusive discretion to determine when he or she is no longer providing services for purposes of this Stock Appreciation Right (including whether he or she is still considered to be providing services while on a leave of absence).
(t)The Participant agrees that no member of the Company Group is liable for any foreign exchange rate fluctuation between the Participant’s local currency and the United States Dollar that may affect the value of this Stock Appreciation Right or of any amounts due to him or her from the exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right or the subsequent sale of any Shares acquired upon exercise.
(u)The Participant has read and agrees to the Data Privacy provisions described in Section 10 of this Agreement.
(v)Unless otherwise provided in the Plan or by the Administrator in its discretion, this Stock Appreciation Right and the benefits evidenced in this Agreement do not create any entitlement to have this Stock Appreciation Right or any such benefits transferred to, or assumed by, another company, nor to be exchanged, cashed out or substituted for, in connection with any corporate transaction affecting the Shares.
(w)The Participant agrees that he or she has no claim or entitlement to compensation or damages from any forfeiture of this Stock Appreciation Right resulting from the termination of his or her status as a Service Provider (for any reason whatsoever, whether or not later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where he or she is a Service Provider or the terms of his or her service agreement, if any).
10.Data Privacy. The Company’s Privacy and Security Statement (the “External Privacy Notice”) is available online at: https://www.palantir.com/privacy-and-security. The information in this Section is provided to the Participant by the Company for the purpose of processing Personal Data (as such term is used in the External Privacy Notice) in the context of implementing, administering and managing the Plan. For the purposes of this Section, the Company is the controller. Where local data protection laws require the appointment of a local representative, such representative will be the Company’s Data Protection Officer. A glossary of terms used in this Section is provided below.
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This Section applies in addition to the Company’s Employee Privacy and Security Statement, as applicable. The Participant is responsible for (i) providing the Company with accurate and up-to-date Personal Data; and (ii) updating those Personal Data in the event of any material changes. For any questions related to this Section or relating to the Company’s processing of Personal Data, please contact the Data Protection Officer at privacy@palantir.com.
For purposes of this Section:
“controller” means the entity that decides how and why Personal Data are processed.
“process”, “processing” or “processed” means anything that is done with Personal Data, including collecting, storing, accessing, using, editing, disclosing or deleting those data.
Participant authorizes and consents to the collection, maintenance, and international transfer of Personal Data related to him/her (under transfer mechanisms required by applicable law, and in accordance with the External Privacy Notice) by Company or its representatives for purposes including: administration of the Plan; compliance with applicable law; to fulfill and safeguard the rights and interests of Participant, Company, and other participants under the Plan; to fulfill the legitimate interests of Company in connection with management, operation, and promotion of its business; and related purposes. Such Personal Data may include, but not be limited to, data relating to Participant’s identity, contact details, employment data, nationality, immigration status, and Participant’s present or historical equity holdings relating to Company. Participant authorizes the Company and Company’s representatives to discuss with and disclose such Personal Data relating to Participant’s participation in this plan with their respective advisors and corporate affiliates as necessary to maintain, administer, and operate the plan in accordance with applicable law.
11.Insider Trading Restrictions/Market Abuse Laws. The Participant acknowledges that he or she may be subject to insider trading restrictions and/or market abuse laws in applicable jurisdictions including, but not limited to, the United States and the Participant’s country of residence, which may affect the Participant’s ability to acquire or sell Shares or rights to Shares (e.g., Stock Appreciation Rights) under the Plan during such times as the Participant is considered to have “inside information” regarding the Company (as defined by the laws in the applicable jurisdictions) and, further, Participant acknowledges that the exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right and the sale or transfer of any Settlement Shares are subject to the Company’s Insider Trading Policy, as it may be amended from time to time, including any restrictions on the ability to exercise stock appreciation rights pursuant to such policy. The Participant acknowledges and understands that the Company’s Insider Trading Policy, as in effect on the date hereof, only permits exercises of this Stock Appreciation Right during open windows (as described in such policy) or as otherwise set forth under the heading “When may I trade in Palantir’s common stock?” in such policy. Local insider trading laws and regulations may prohibit the cancellation or amendment of orders the Participant placed before the Participant possessed inside information. Furthermore, the Participant could be prohibited from (i) disclosing the inside information to any third party and (ii) “tipping” third parties or causing them otherwise to buy or sell securities. The Participant should keep in mind third parties includes fellow employees. Any restrictions under these laws or regulations are separate from and in addition to any restrictions that may be imposed under any applicable insider trading policy of the Company. The Participant is responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable restrictions and should consult with his or her personal legal advisor on this matter. Nothing in this Section 11 or
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anywhere else in this Agreement shall obligate the Company to settle any or all of this Stock Appreciation Right in cash.
12.Foreign Asset/Account Reporting Requirements. Depending on the Participant’s country, the Participant may be subject to foreign asset/account, exchange control and/or tax reporting requirements as a result of the vesting or exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right, the acquisition, holding and/or transfer of Shares or cash resulting from participation in the Plan and/or the opening and maintaining of a brokerage or bank account in connection with the Plan. The Participant may be required to report such assets, accounts, account balances and values, and/or related transactions to the applicable authorities in his or her country. The Participant may also be required to repatriate sale proceeds or other funds received as a result of his or her participation in the Plan to his or her country through a designated bank or broker and/or within a certain time after receipt. The Participant acknowledges that he or she is responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable foreign asset/account, exchange control and tax reporting and other requirements. The Participant further understands that he or she should consult the Participant's personal tax and legal advisors, as applicable on these matters.
13.Miscellaneous.
(a)Address for Notices. Any notice to be given to the Company under the terms of this Agreement must be addressed to the Company at Palantir Technologies Inc., 1200 17th Street, Floor 15, Denver, Colorado 80202, USA until the Company designates another address in writing.
(b)Non-Transferability of Stock Appreciation Right. This Stock Appreciation Right may not be transferred other than by will or the applicable laws of descent or distribution and may be exercised during the lifetime of the Participant only by him or her or his or her representative following a Disability.
(c)Binding Agreement. If this Stock Appreciation Right is transferred, this Agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the heirs, legatees, legal representatives, successors, and assigns of the parties to this Agreement.
(d)Additional Conditions to Delivery of Stock. If the Company determines that the listing, registration, qualification, or rule compliance of the Common Stock on any securities exchange or under any U.S. or non-U.S. federal, state or local law, the tax Code and related regulations or the consent or approval of any governmental regulatory authority is necessary or desirable as a condition to the delivery of Settlement Shares to the Participant (or his or her estate), the Company will try to meet the requirements of any such state, federal, or foreign law or securities exchange and to obtain any such consent or approval of any such governmental authority or securities exchange, but the Settlement Shares will not be issued or delivered until such conditions have been met in a manner acceptable to the Company. Nothing in this Section 13(d) or anywhere else in this Agreement shall obligate the Company to settle any or all of this Stock Appreciation Right in cash.
(e)Captions. Captions provided in this Agreement are for convenience only and are not to serve as a basis for interpretation or construction of this Agreement.
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(f)Agreement Severable. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be severed from the remaining provisions of this Agreement and the invalidity or unenforceability will have no effect on the remainder of the Agreement.
(g)Non-U.S. Appendix. This Stock Appreciation Right is subject to any special terms and conditions set forth in any appendix to this Agreement for the Participant’s country (the “Appendix”). If the Participant relocates to a country included in the Appendix, the special terms and conditions for that country will apply to him or her to the extent the Company determines that applying such terms and conditions is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons.
(h)Imposition of Other Requirements. The Company reserves the right to impose other requirements on the Participant’s participation in the Plan, on this Stock Appreciation Right and on any Shares acquired under the Plan, to the extent the Company determines it is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons, and to require the Participant to sign any additional agreements or undertakings that may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing; provided, however, that no such imposition of other requirements shall occur or be effective unless such imposition would result in this Stock Appreciation Right remaining exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A, or otherwise complying with Code Section 409A, in each case such that none of this Agreement, this Stock Appreciation Right provided under this Agreement, or Shares, cash or other property issuable hereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A.
(i)Choice of Law; Choice of Forum. The Plan, this Agreement, this Stock Appreciation Right, and all determinations made and actions taken under the Plan, to the extent not otherwise governed by the laws of the United States, will be governed by the laws of the State of Delaware without giving effect to principles of conflicts of law. For purposes of litigating any dispute that arises under the Plan, the Participant's acceptance of this Stock Appreciation Right is his or her consent to the jurisdiction of the State of Delaware and his or her agreement that any such litigation will be conducted in the Delaware Court of Chancery or the federal courts for the United States for the District of Delaware and no other courts, regardless of where he or she is performing services.
(j)Modifications to the Agreement. The Plan and this Agreement constitute the entire understanding of the parties on the subjects covered. The Participant expressly warrants that he or she is not accepting this Agreement in reliance on any promises, representations, or inducements other than those contained herein. Modifications to this Agreement or the Plan can be made only in an express written contract executed by a duly authorized officer of the Company. The Company reserves the right to revise the Agreement as it deems necessary or advisable, in its sole discretion and without the consent of the Participant, to comply with Code Section 409A, to otherwise avoid imposition of any additional tax or income recognition under Code Section 409A in connection with this Stock Appreciation Right, or to comply with other Applicable Laws.
(k)Waiver. The Participant acknowledges that a waiver by the Company of a breach of any provision of this Agreement will not operate or be construed as a waiver of any other provision of this Agreement or of any subsequent breach of this Agreement by him or her.
(l)Language. The Participant acknowledges that the Participant is sufficiently proficient in English, or has consulted with an advisor who is sufficiently proficient in English, so as to allow the Participant to understand the terms of this Agreement. If Participant has received this
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Agreement, or any other document related to this Stock Appreciation Right and/or the Plan translated into a language other than English and if the meaning of the translated version is different than the English version, the English version will control.
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EXHIBIT B
APPENDIX TO NOTICE OF STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT GRANT AND GLOBAL STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT AGREEMENT
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EXHIBIT C
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.
2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
GLOBAL STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT AGREEMENT
EXERCISE NOTICE
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PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.
2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
NOTICE OF STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT GRANT AND
GLOBAL STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT AGREEMENT
Capitalized terms that are not defined in this Notice of Stock Appreciation Right Grant and Global Stock Appreciation Right Agreement (the “Notice of Grant”), the Terms and Conditions of Global Stock Appreciation Right Grant, the Non-U.S. Appendix attached hereto as Exhibit B, the Reduced Hours and Leave of Absence Requirements attached hereto as Exhibit C, and all other exhibits to these documents (all together, the “Agreement”) have the meanings given to them in the Palantir Technologies Inc. 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”).
The Participant has been granted a Stock Appreciation Right according to the terms below and subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan and this Agreement:
Participant:
Grant Number:
Grant Date:
First Service Vesting Date:
Number of Shares Granted*:
Exercise Price Per Share*:
Total Exercise Price*:
Value Cap Per Share*:
Maximum Appreciation Value Per Share*:
First Date of Exercisability:
Last Date of Exercisability:
* For purposes of clarity: The Number of Shares Granted (which, for clarity, refers to the number of Shares that are subject to this Stock Appreciation Right), the Exercise Price Per Share and, as a result, the Total Exercise Price each are subject to adjustments pursuant to Sections 13 or 14 of the Plan, and the Value Cap Per Share and the Maximum Appreciation Value Per Share each are subject to adjustments pursuant to the Section of this Notice of Grant entitled “Certain Adjustments”; however, for avoidance of doubt, the “Maximum Total Appreciation Value” shall mean (and shall in no event ever exceed) the product obtained by multiplying the Maximum Appreciation Value Per Share by the Number of Shares Granted.
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Exercisability:
This Stock Appreciation Right, to the extent outstanding and unexercised, shall be exercisable on, and only on, any Exercisable Day (as defined below) and, on each such Exercisable Day, shall only be exercisable with respect to the number of Shares subject to this Stock Appreciation Right that have satisfied the Service-Based Requirement (as defined below) at such time. For purposes of clarity, each Share subject to this Stock Appreciation Right may never be exercised more than once.
In the event of the termination of the Participant’s status as a Service Provider for any reason:
(a)if and to the extent any of the Shares subject to this Stock Appreciation Right have satisfied the Service-Based Requirement prior to such termination, this Stock Appreciation Right will remain outstanding and eligible to become exercisable upon the occurrence of an Exercisable Day (on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth herein) but only with respect to such Shares (i.e., the Shares that have satisfied the Service-Based Requirement); and
(b)any remainder of this Stock Appreciation Right (i.e., any of the Shares subject to this Stock Appreciation Right that have not satisfied the Service-Based Requirement prior to such termination) will terminate and be forfeited for no consideration according to the terms of Section 4 of this Agreement.
Any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right that remains outstanding and unexercised as of the end of the Exercise Window will be immediately forfeited for no consideration on the day immediately following the Expiration Date (as defined below).
For purposes of this Agreement:
(i)“Closing Price” means, for a given Trading Day, the closing sales price of a Share during regular trading hours on the Primary Exchange (as defined below) on such Trading Day, as reported on the Primary Exchange or such other source as the Administrator determines to be reliable;
(ii)“Exercisable Day” means any day during the Exercise Window for which the Closing Price on the Trading Day immediately preceding such day (i.e., the Trading Day that most recently occurred prior to such day) is greater than the Exercise Price Per Share. For the avoidance of doubt, any day that does not occur during the Exercise Window shall in no event be an Exercisable Day;
(iii)“Exercise Window” means the period of days from (and including) the First Date of Exercisability through (and including) the Last Date of Exercisability;
(iv)“Expiration Date” means the Last Date of Exercisability; and
(v)“Primary Exchange” means the New York Stock Exchange or, if Shares are not traded on the New York Stock Exchange, such other established securities exchange, national market system, or other trading platform, on which Shares primarily are listed and regularly trade.
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Service-Based Requirement (the “Service-Based Requirement”):
###VEST_SCHEDULE_DESCRIPTION###
Change in Control:
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Plan (including but not limited to Section 14 of the Plan) or this Agreement, unless the Administrator determines otherwise to the extent permitted by Section 3 of this Agreement, in the event of a Transaction in which this Stock Appreciation Right is not continued (as such term is used in Section 14(c) of the Plan), any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right that has not been exercised, whether or not such portion was exercisable, will (i) not become exercisable unless there is an Exercisable Day on or prior to the date of the closing of the Transaction, and (ii) be immediately forfeited for no consideration immediately prior to the closing of the Transaction, subject to Applicable Laws; provided that if the day on which the Transaction closes is an Exercisable Day, all then-outstanding Shares subject to this Stock Appreciation Right with respect to which the Service-Based Requirement has been satisfied will automatically be exercised immediately prior to the closing of the Transaction, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Plan and this Agreement. For the avoidance of doubt, the foregoing specifically overrides the acceleration and exercisability provisions of Section 14(e) of the Plan.
Certain Adjustments:
If any extraordinary dividend or other extraordinary distribution (whether in cash, Shares, other securities, or other property), recapitalization, stock split, reverse stock split, reorganization, merger, consolidation, split-up, spin-off, combination, reclassification, repurchase, or exchange of Shares or other securities of the Company, other change in the corporate structure of the Company affecting the Shares, or any similar equity restructuring transaction, as that term is used in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 718 (or any of its successors) affecting the Shares occurs (including a Change in Control), the Administrator, in order to prevent diminution or enlargement of the benefits or potential benefits intended to be made available under this Stock Appreciation Right, will, in addition to any adjustments made pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Plan, adjust the Value Cap Per Share and the Maximum Appreciation Value Per Share. For avoidance of doubt, the Maximum Total Appreciation Value will equal the Value Cap Per Share multiplied by the Number of Shares Granted, provided that the Maximum Total Appreciation Value may never exceed the amount indicated above. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the conversion of any convertible securities of the Company and ordinary course repurchases of shares or other securities of the Company will not be treated as an event that will require adjustment under this Section. Determinations by the Administrator will be final and binding on Participant and will be given the maximum deference permitted under Applicable Laws.
Exercisability of Stock Appreciation Right:
(a)Subject to the limitations described in this Section and further subject to the discretion of the Administrator to permit the exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right at such other times as it determines in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, and notwithstanding any other provisions to the contrary in the Plan, including Section 14 of the Plan, or this Agreement that otherwise could be read to permit broader exercisability, this Stock Appreciation Right may only be exercised, to the extent outstanding, on a given date if the Participant has satisfied the Service-Based
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Requirement with respect to the portion of this Stock Appreciation Right being exercised and the exercise is occurring on an Exercisable Day.
(b)If, on an Exercisable Day, the Closing Price equals or exceeds the Value Cap Per Share, all then-outstanding Shares subject to this Stock Appreciation Right with respect to which the Service-Based Requirement has been satisfied will automatically be exercised on such Exercisable Day, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Plan and this Agreement.
(c)If the last day of the Exercise Window is an Exercisable Day, all then-outstanding Shares subject to this Stock Appreciation Right with respect to which the Service-Based Requirement has been satisfied will automatically be exercised on such date, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Plan and this Agreement.
(d)If a Transaction occurs, Section 14 of the Plan may further limit this Stock Appreciation Right’s exercisability.
(e)Notwithstanding anything in the Plan or this Agreement to the contrary, including Section 7(e) and Section 7(f) of the Plan, Section 6(f) of the Plan relating to exercise will not apply to this Stock Appreciation Right.
In receiving the grant of this Stock Appreciation Right, Participant is hereby notified that the following constitute certain of the terms, conditions, and obligations of receiving, holding, and exercising this Stock Appreciation Right referenced in this Agreement:
(i)This Stock Appreciation Right is granted under and governed by the terms and conditions of the Plan and this Agreement, including their exhibits and appendices.
(ii)Participant understands that the Company is not providing any tax, legal, or financial advice and is not making any recommendations regarding his or her participation in the Plan or his or her acquisition or sale of Shares.
(iii)Participant has reviewed the Plan and this Agreement, has had an opportunity to obtain the advice of personal tax, legal, and financial advisors, and fully understands all provisions of the Plan and Agreement. Participant will consult with his or her own personal tax, legal, and financial advisors before taking any action related to the Plan.
(iv)Participant has read and agrees to each provision of Section 9 of this Agreement.
(v)Participant has read and agrees to the restrictions on exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right by Participant and trading of Shares as set forth in Section 11 of this Agreement, including restrictions pursuant to the Company’s Insider Trading Policy, as it may be amended from time to time. Participant has received, read, and understands the Company’s Insider Trading Policy, as further described in Section 11 of this Agreement.
(vi)Participant accepts as binding, conclusive and final all decisions or interpretations of the Administrator upon any questions relating to the Plan and this Agreement.
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(vii)Participant will notify the Company of any change to his or her contact address.
(viii)Unless otherwise required to comply with Applicable Laws, this Stock Appreciation Right will be subject to recoupment under any clawback policy in place on the Grant Date or that is adopted to comply with Applicable Laws.
(ix)This Stock Appreciation Right is subject to the terms and conditions of the Reduced Hours and Leave of Absence Requirements attached hereto as Exhibit C (the “LOA Requirements”). For the avoidance of doubt, under the terms of the Plan and this Agreement, the LOA Requirements may be amended at any time pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Plan and Section 13(h) and Section 13(j) of this Agreement. At any time, the Company may require Participant to sign a written acknowledgement of the impact of a leave of absence or change in work schedule with respect to this Stock Appreciation Right pursuant to the LOA Requirements. This Stock Appreciation Right is not subject to the “Global LOA Policy for Equity While on Leave” then in effect or such other Company leave of absence policy impacting equity awards that is then in place in replacement of such “Global LOA Policy for Equity While on Leave.”
(x)Prior to exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right (including as a condition to the effectiveness of any automatic exercise hereunder), the Company may require Participant to sign a written confirmation and acceptance that he or she has complied with all terms of this Agreement and that he or she accepts and agrees to all of its terms.
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EXHIBIT A
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT GRANT
1.Grant. The Company grants the Participant a Stock Appreciation Right payable in Shares of Common Stock as described in this Agreement. Alternatively, the Company reserves the right, to be exercised in the sole discretion of the Administrator, to pay such Stock Appreciation Right in an amount in cash as described in this Agreement. If there is a conflict between the Plan, this Agreement, or any other agreement with the Participant governing this Stock Appreciation Right, those documents will take precedence and prevail in the following order: (a) the Plan, (b) the Agreement, and (c) any other agreement between the Company and the Participant governing this Stock Appreciation Right.
2.Exercisability. This Stock Appreciation Right will only be exercisable in accordance with the “Exercisability of Stock Appreciation Right” Section in the Notice of Grant, Section 3 of this Agreement, or Section 14 of the Plan (to the extent not overridden or modified by this Agreement).
3.Administrator Discretion. The Administrator may, in its discretion, unilaterally accelerate, in whole or in part, the satisfaction of the Service-Based Requirement with respect to any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right. In addition, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, the Administrator may, in its discretion, unilaterally accelerate the exercisability of any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right, including (a) to accelerate the First Date of Exercisability, the Last Date of Exercisability and/or otherwise to accelerate the start date and end date of the Exercise Window, provided that (i) the number of days in any revised Exercise Window will not be less than the number of days in the original Exercise Window, (ii) any revised Exercise Window will begin and end within one calendar year and will only occur in the same calendar year as the original Exercise Window or a prior calendar year, and (b) to add an additional exercise window with a related first date of exercisability, last date of exercisability and expiration date immediately after which the outstanding and unexercised portion of this Stock Appreciation Right will be forfeited, provided that any such additional exercise window must begin and end within one calendar year and occur in the same calendar year as the original Exercise Window or a prior calendar year. In that case, this Stock Appreciation Right will be exercisable as of the date and to the extent specified by the Administrator. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no acceleration of the satisfaction of the Service-Based Requirement or of the exercisability or automatic exercise of any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right, including any revision to the Exercise Window or addition of an exercise window shall occur or be effective unless such imposition would result in this Stock Appreciation Right remaining exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A, or otherwise complying with Code Section 409A, in each case such that none of this Agreement, this Stock Appreciation Right provided under this Agreement, or Shares, cash or other property issuable hereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A.
4.Forfeiture upon Cessation of Status as a Service Provider. Upon the Participant’s termination as a Service Provider for any reason, any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right that has not yet satisfied the Service-Based Requirement (i.e., any of the Shares subject to this Stock Appreciation Right that have not satisfied the Service-Based Requirement prior to such termination) will immediately cease to further satisfy the Service-Based Requirement and will be forfeited by the Participant for no consideration upon (i) the [XXXXX] following the date the Participant ceases to
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be a Service Provider (or any earlier date on or following the date the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider determined by the Administrator) if the Participant’s cessation as a Service Provider is due to the Participant’s death, or (ii) the date that the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider for any reason other than the Participant’s death, in all cases, subject to Applicable Laws. For the avoidance of doubt, service during any portion of the Service-Based Requirement, without the satisfaction of the other terms and conditions required for exercisability as set forth herein, shall not entitle the Participant to exercise a pro rata portion (or any other portion) of this Stock Appreciation Right.
5.Death of Participant. Any distribution or delivery to be made to the Participant under this Agreement will, if he or she is then deceased, be made to the administrator or executor of his or her estate or, if the Administrator permits, his or her designated beneficiary, unless otherwise required to comply with Applicable Laws. Any such transferee must furnish the Company with (a) written notice of his or her status as transferee, and (b) evidence satisfactory to the Company to establish the validity of the transfer and compliance with any laws or regulations that apply to the transfer.
6.Exercise of Stock Appreciation Right.
(a)Right to Exercise. This Stock Appreciation Right may be exercised only under the terms of the Plan and this Agreement.
(b)Method of Exercise; Automatic Exercise. This Stock Appreciation Right shall be exercisable by delivery of an exercise notice in the form attached as Exhibit D or such other notice, paperwork, or process as may be applicable using the Company’s stock administration platform at the time of such exercise (the “Exercise Notice”) or in a manner and pursuant to such procedures as the Administrator may determine, which shall state the election to exercise this Stock Appreciation Right, the number of covered Shares with respect to which this Stock Appreciation Right is being exercised (the “Exercised Shares”), and such other representations and agreements as may be required by the Company. This Stock Appreciation Right shall be deemed to be exercised upon receipt by the Company of such fully executed or electronically signed or accepted Exercise Notice or completion of such exercise procedure, as the Administrator may determine in its sole discretion. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Stock Appreciation Right shall be exercised automatically under the circumstances set forth in the Notice of Grant.
(c)Settlement Upon Exercise. Upon exercise of all or a specified portion of this Stock Appreciation Right as permitted by this Agreement, subject to Section 7 of this Agreement, the Participant shall be entitled to receive from the Company the Settlement Shares (as defined below). Alternatively, in the sole discretion of the Administrator, upon exercise of all or a specified portion of this Stock Appreciation Right as permitted by this Agreement, subject to Section 7 of this Agreement, the Company may elect to deliver to the Participant an amount in cash equal to the Appreciation Value (as defined below). In the case of settlement, whether in Shares or cash, the rounding mechanisms and procedures for settlement and/or Tax Withholdings applied or processed via the Company’s stock administration platform in use at the time shall be applicable to all calculations hereunder unless the Administrator determines otherwise. Such settlement shall be made as soon as practicable following the exercise, but in no event later than the earlier of (i) sixty (60) days following the exercise or (ii) December 31 of the calendar year in which the exercise occurs.
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For purposes of this Agreement, the “Settlement Shares” shall mean the number of Shares equal to the quotient obtained by dividing the Appreciation Value by the Closing Price on the Trading Day immediately preceding the date of the applicable exercise, rounded as set forth above.
For purposes of this Agreement, the “Appreciation Value” is equal to the product obtained by multiplying (a) the positive difference (if any) obtained by subtracting (i) the Exercise Price Per Share from (ii) the lesser of (x) the Closing Price on the Trading Day immediately preceding the date of such exercise or (y) the Value Cap Per Share, by (b) the number of Exercised Shares. For the avoidance of doubt, the Appreciation Value of each Exercised Share may not be greater than the Maximum Appreciation Value Per Share as may be adjusted in accordance with the Notice of Grant, and further, the Maximum Total Appreciation Value that may be realized upon exercise of all Shares subject to this Stock Appreciation Right may in no event exceed the Maximum Total Appreciation Value set forth in the Notice of Grant. For the avoidance of doubt, the Appreciation Value cannot be less than zero.
7.Tax Obligations.
(a)Tax Withholding.
(i)If the Participant fails to make satisfactory arrangements for the payment of any Tax Withholdings under this Agreement (as determined by the Administrator) at the time of an attempted Stock Appreciation Right exercise, the Company may refuse to honor the exercise and refuse to settle the purported exercise, to the extent permitted by Applicable Laws.
(ii)In addition, the Company has the right (but not the obligation) to satisfy any Tax Withholdings by (a) reducing the number of Settlement Shares otherwise deliverable to the Participant (such method for satisfying Tax Withholdings, “Net Share Withholding”), and, subject to Applicable Laws, this will be the method by which such Tax Withholding obligations are satisfied until the Company determines otherwise, (b) withholding from proceeds of a sale of Shares acquired upon the exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right arranged by the Company (on the Participant’s behalf pursuant to this authorization without further consent), (c) requiring payment by cash or check made payable to the Company and/or any member of the Company Group for whom the Participant is performing services (each, a “Service Recipient”) with respect to which the withholding obligation arises; (d) by deduction of such amount from salary, wages or other compensation payable to the Participant; or (e) by utilizing any combination of the foregoing, or any other method determined by the Administrator to be in compliance with Applicable Laws.
(iii)The Company may withhold or account for Tax Withholdings by considering statutory or other withholding rates, including minimum or maximum rates applicable in the Participant’s jurisdiction(s). In the event of over-withholding, the Participant may receive a refund of any over-withheld amount in cash (with no entitlement to the equivalent in Common Stock), or if not refunded, the Participant may seek a refund from the local tax authorities. In the event of under-withholding, the Participant may be required to pay additional Tax Withholdings directly to the applicable tax authority or to the Company and/or the Service Recipient(s). If the obligation for Tax Withholdings is satisfied by Net Share Withholding, for tax purposes, the Participant will be deemed to have been issued the full number of Settlement Shares upon exercise, notwithstanding that a number of Shares is held back solely for the purpose of paying Tax Withholdings.
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(iv)Further, if the Participant is subject to taxation in more than one jurisdiction between the Grant Date and the date of any relevant taxable or tax withholding event, the Company and/or the Service Recipient(s) or former Service Recipient(s) may withhold or account for tax in more than one jurisdiction.
(v)Regardless of any action of the Company or the Service Recipient(s), the Participant acknowledges that the ultimate liability for all Tax Withholdings and any and all additional taxes related to the Award, the Shares or other amounts or property delivered under the Award and the Participant’s participation in the Plan is and remains his or her responsibility and may exceed the amount actually withheld by the Company or the Service Recipient(s). The Participant further acknowledges that the Company and the Service Recipient(s) (1) make no representations or undertakings regarding the treatment of any Tax Withholdings in connection with any aspect of this Stock Appreciation Right; and (2) do not commit to and are under no obligation to structure the terms of the grant or any aspect of this Stock Appreciation Right to reduce or eliminate his or her liability for Tax Withholdings or achieve any particular tax result.
(vi)For U.S. taxpayers, under Code Section 409A, a stock right (such as this Stock Appreciation Right) that vests after December 31, 2004 (or that vested on or prior to such date but which was materially modified after October 3, 2004) that was granted with a per share exercise price that is determined by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) to be less than the fair market value of an underlying share on the date of grant (a “discount stock appreciation right”) may be considered “deferred compensation.” A stock right that is a “discount stock appreciation right” and that is not otherwise exempt or excepted from, or in compliance with, Code Section 409A may result in (1) income recognition by the recipient of the stock right prior to the exercise of the stock right, (2) an additional 20% U.S. federal income tax, and (3) potential penalty and interest charges. The “discount stock appreciation right” that is not otherwise exempt or excepted from, or in compliance with, Code Section 409A may also result in additional U.S. state income, penalty and interest tax to the recipient of the stock right. Participant is hereby notified that the Company cannot and has not guaranteed that the IRS will consider this Stock Appreciation Right not to be a “discount stock appreciation right” that is not otherwise exempt or excepted from, or in compliance with, Code Section 409A. Participant is hereby notified that if the IRS determines that this Stock Appreciation Right is a “discount stock appreciation right” that is not otherwise exempt or excepted from, or in compliance with, Code Section 409A, Participant shall be solely responsible for Participant’s costs related to such a determination.
(vii)It is the intent of this Agreement that it and all issuances and benefits to U.S. taxpayers hereunder be exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A pursuant to the “short-term deferral” exception under Code Section 409A, or otherwise be exempted or excepted from, or comply with, Code Section 409A, so that none of this Agreement, the Stock Appreciation Right provided under this Agreement, or Shares issuable thereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A, and any ambiguities or ambiguous terms herein will be interpreted to be so exempt or excepted, or to so comply. Each issuance upon exercise of any portion of this Stock Appreciation Right is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-2(b)(2). In no event will any member of the Company Group have any liability or obligation to reimburse, indemnify, or hold harmless Participant for any taxes that may be imposed, or other costs incurred, on Participant as a result of Code Section 409A.
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8.Rights as Stockholder. The Participant shall not have any rights as a stockholder of the Company (including the right to vote and to receive dividends and distributions) with respect to this Stock Appreciation Right unless and until Settlement Shares have been recorded on the records of the Company or its transfer agents or registrars as set forth herein.
9.Acknowledgments and Agreements. Participant acknowledges, accepts, understands, and agrees with the following, which are conditions of this Stock Appreciation Right:
(a)THE RIGHT TO EXERCISE THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT IS EARNED ONLY BY THE SATISFACTION OF THE APPLICABLE CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT, AND NEITHER BEING HIRED NOR GRANTED THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT WILL RESULT IN VESTING OR SUCH RIGHT TO EXERCISE. FURTHER, EXERCISABILITY OF THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT IS PERMITTED ONLY PURSUANT TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, AND BEING HIRED OR GRANTED THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT WILL NOT RESULT IN EXERCISABILITY, AND SATISFACTION OF THE SERVICE-BASED REQUIREMENT MAY NOT RESULT IN EXERCISABILITY OF THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT.
(b)THIS STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT AND AGREEMENT DO NOT CREATE AN EXPRESS OR IMPLIED PROMISE OF CONTINUED ENGAGEMENT AS A SERVICE PROVIDER FOR THE SERVICE-BASED REQUIREMENT PERIOD, THE EXERCISE WINDOW PERIOD, FOR ANY PERIOD, OR AT ALL, AND WILL NOT INTERFERE IN ANY WAY WITH HIS OR HER RIGHT OR THE RIGHT OF THE EMPLOYER(S) TO TERMINATE HIS OR HER RELATIONSHIP AS A SERVICE PROVIDER AT ANY TIME, WITH OR WITHOUT CAUSE, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE LAWS.
(c)The Participant agrees that this Agreement and its incorporated documents reflect all agreements on its subject matters and that he or she is not accepting this Agreement based on any promises, representations, or inducements other than those reflected in the Agreement.
(d)The Participant understands that exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right is governed strictly by the Notice of Grant and the terms, including Sections 6 and 6(c) of this Agreement and that failure to comply with the Notice of Grant or those Sections could result in the expiration of this Stock Appreciation Right, even if an attempt was made to exercise.
(e)The Participant agrees that the Company’s delivery of any documents related to the Plan or this Stock Appreciation Right (including the Plan, the Agreement, the Plan’s prospectus and any reports of the Company provided generally to the Company’s stockholders) to him or her may be made by electronic delivery, which may include but does not necessarily include the delivery of a link to a Company intranet or the Internet site of a third party involved in administering the Plan, the delivery of the document via e-mail, or any other means of electronic delivery specified by the Company. If the attempted electronic delivery of such documents fails, the Participant will be provided with a paper copy of the documents. The Participant acknowledges that he or she may receive from the Company a paper copy of any documents that were delivered electronically at no cost to him or her by contacting the Company by telephone or in writing. The Participant may revoke his or her consent to the electronic delivery of documents or may change the electronic mail address to which such documents are to be delivered (if the Participant has provided an electronic mail address) at any time by notifying the Company of such revoked consent or revised
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e‑mail address by telephone, postal service or electronic mail. Finally, the Participant understands that he or she is not required to consent to electronic delivery of documents.
(f)The Participant agrees that determinations regarding the date and time of any exercises under this Agreement and any other determinations based on a given time or date will be determined using time zones as determined under the Company’s then-current equity administration platform, unless determined otherwise by the Administrator.
(g)The Participant accepts that all good faith decisions or interpretations of the Administrator regarding the Plan and Awards under the Plan are binding, conclusive, and final. No member of the Administrator will be personally liable for any such decisions or interpretations.
(h)The Participant agrees that the Plan is established voluntarily by the Company, is discretionary in nature, and may be amended, suspended, or terminated by the Company at any time, to the extent permitted by the Plan.
(i)The Participant agrees that the grant of this Stock Appreciation Right is exceptional, voluntary and occasional and does not create any contractual or other right to receive future grants of stock appreciation rights, or benefits in lieu of stock appreciation rights, even if stock appreciation rights have been granted in the past.
(j)The Participant agrees that any decisions regarding future Awards will be in the Company’s sole discretion.
(k)The Participant agrees that he or she is voluntarily participating in the Plan.
(l)The Participant agrees that this Stock Appreciation Right and any Shares acquired under the Plan, and the income from and value of same, are not intended to replace any pension rights or compensation.
(m)The Participant agrees that this Stock Appreciation Right, any Shares acquired under the Plan, and the income from and value of same are not part of normal or expected compensation for the purpose of, including, but not limited to, calculating any severance, resignation, termination, redundancy, dismissal, end-of-service payments, bonuses, holiday pay, long-service awards, pension or retirement or welfare benefits, or similar payments.
(n)The Participant agrees that the future value of this Stock Appreciation Right and Shares underlying this Stock Appreciation Right is unknown, indeterminable, and cannot be predicted with certainty.
(o)The Participant understands that if the underlying Shares do not increase in value above the Exercise Price Per Share, this Stock Appreciation Right will have no intrinsic monetary value.
(p)The Participant understands that if this Stock Appreciation Right is exercised, the value of each Share received on exercise may increase or decrease, even below the Exercise Price.
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(q)The Participant agrees that, for purposes of this Stock Appreciation Right, his or her engagement as a Service Provider is terminated as of the date Participant ceases to be a Service Provider (regardless of the reason for such termination and whether or not the termination is later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where he or she is a Service Provider or the terms of his or her service agreement, if any), unless otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement or determined by the Administrator.
(r)The Participant agrees that the Company has the exclusive discretion to determine when he or she is no longer providing services for purposes of this Stock Appreciation Right (including whether he or she is still considered to be providing services while on a leave of absence).
(s)The Participant agrees that no member of the Company Group is liable for any foreign exchange rate fluctuation between the Participant’s local currency and the United States Dollar that may affect the value of this Stock Appreciation Right or of any amounts due to him or her from the exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right or the subsequent sale of any Shares acquired upon exercise.
(t)The Participant has read and agrees to the Data Privacy provisions described in Section 10 of this Agreement.
(u)Unless otherwise provided in the Plan or by the Administrator in its discretion, this Stock Appreciation Right and the benefits evidenced in this Agreement do not create any entitlement to have this Stock Appreciation Right or any such benefits transferred to, or assumed by, another company, nor to be exchanged, cashed out, continued or substituted for, in connection with any corporate transaction affecting the Shares.
(v)The Participant agrees that he or she has no claim or entitlement to compensation or damages from any forfeiture of this Stock Appreciation Right resulting from the termination of his or her status as a Service Provider (for any reason whatsoever, whether or not later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where he or she is a Service Provider or the terms of his or her service agreement, if any).
10.Data Privacy. The Company’s Privacy and Security Statement (the “External Privacy Notice”) is available online at: https://www.palantir.com/privacy-and-security. The information in this Section is provided to the Participant by the Company for the purpose of processing Personal Data (as such term is used in the External Privacy Notice) in the context of implementing, administering and managing the Plan. For the purposes of this Section, the Company is the controller. Where local data protection laws require the appointment of a local representative, such representative will be the Company’s Data Protection Officer. A glossary of terms used in this Section is provided below.
This Section applies in addition to the Company’s Employee Privacy and Security Statement, as applicable. The Participant is responsible for (i) providing the Company with accurate and up-to-date Personal Data; and (ii) updating those Personal Data in the event of any material changes. For any questions related to this Section or relating to the Company’s processing of Personal Data, please contact the Data Protection Officer at privacy@palantir.com.
For purposes of this Section:
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“controller” means the entity that decides how and why Personal Data are processed.
“process”, “processing” or “processed” means anything that is done with Personal Data, including collecting, storing, accessing, using, editing, disclosing or deleting those data.
Participant authorizes and consents to the collection, maintenance, and international transfer of Personal Data related to him/her (under transfer mechanisms required by applicable law, and in accordance with the External Privacy Notice) by Company or its representatives for purposes including: administration of the Plan; compliance with applicable law; to fulfill and safeguard the rights and interests of Participant, Company, and other participants under the Plan; to fulfill the legitimate interests of Company in connection with management, operation, and promotion of its business; and related purposes. Such Personal Data may include, but not be limited to, data relating to Participant’s identity, contact details, employment data, nationality, immigration status, and Participant’s present or historical equity holdings relating to Company. Participant authorizes the Company and Company’s representatives to discuss with and disclose such Personal Data relating to Participant’s participation in this plan with their respective advisors and corporate affiliates as necessary to maintain, administer, and operate the plan in accordance with applicable law.
11.Insider Trading Restrictions/Market Abuse Laws. The Participant acknowledges that he or she may be subject to insider trading restrictions and/or market abuse laws in applicable jurisdictions including, but not limited to, the United States and the Participant’s country of residence, which may affect the Participant’s ability to acquire or sell Shares or rights to Shares (e.g., Stock Appreciation Rights) under the Plan during such times as the Participant is considered to have “inside information” regarding the Company (as defined by the laws in the applicable jurisdictions) and, further, Participant acknowledges that the exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right and the sale or transfer of any Settlement Shares are subject to the Company’s Insider Trading Policy, as it may be amended from time to time, including any restrictions on the ability to exercise stock appreciation rights pursuant to such policy. The Participant acknowledges and understands that the Company’s Insider Trading Policy, as in effect on the date hereof, only permits non-automatic exercises of this Stock Appreciation Right during open windows (as described in such policy) or as otherwise set forth under the heading “When may I trade in Palantir’s common stock?” in such policy. However, any automatic exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right under the circumstances set forth in the Notice of Grant will be completed without regard to restrictions on exercise under the Company’s Insider Trading Policy and without regard to whether the trading window is open as described in such policy). Local insider trading laws and regulations may prohibit the cancellation or amendment of orders the Participant placed before the Participant possessed inside information. Furthermore, the Participant could be prohibited from (i) disclosing the inside information to any third party and (ii) “tipping” third parties or causing them otherwise to buy or sell securities. The Participant should keep in mind third parties includes fellow employees. Any restrictions under these laws or regulations are separate from and in addition to any restrictions that may be imposed under any applicable insider trading policy of the Company. The Participant is responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable restrictions and should consult with his or her personal legal advisor on this matter. Nothing in this Section 11 or anywhere else in this Agreement shall obligate the Company to settle any or all of this Stock Appreciation Right in cash.
12.Foreign Asset/Account Reporting Requirements. Depending on the country in which Participant resides or works, the Participant may be subject to foreign asset/account, exchange control and/or tax reporting requirements as a result of the satisfaction of the Service-Based
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Requirement, right to exercise or actual exercise of this Stock Appreciation Right, the acquisition, holding and/or transfer of Shares or cash resulting from participation in the Plan and/or the opening and maintaining of a brokerage or bank account in connection with the Plan. The Participant may be required to report such assets, accounts, account balances and values, and/or related transactions to the applicable authorities in his or her country. The Participant may also be required to repatriate sale proceeds or other funds received as a result of his or her participation in the Plan to his or her country through a designated bank or broker and/or within a certain time after receipt. The Participant acknowledges that he or she is responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable foreign asset/account, exchange control and tax reporting and other requirements. The Participant further understands that he or she should consult the Participant's personal tax and legal advisors, as applicable on these matters.
13.Miscellaneous.
(a)Address for Notices. Any notice to be given to the Company under the terms of this Agreement must be addressed to the Company at Palantir Technologies Inc., 1200 17th Street, Floor 15, Denver, Colorado 80202, USA until the Company designates another address in writing.
(b)Non-Transferability of Stock Appreciation Right. This Stock Appreciation Right may not be transferred other than by will or the applicable laws of descent or distribution and may be exercised during the lifetime of the Participant only by him or her or his or her representative following a Disability. For purposes of clarification, as detailed further in this Section, no offer, sale, transfer, assignment, pledge, hypothecation, encumbrance, or disposition, or entry into any swap, hedging or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership, or solicitation of offers or marketing of any kind for any of the foregoing, whether direct or indirect (including through a broker, finder, intermediary or otherwise), other than a transfer by will or the applicable laws of descent or distribution (collectively, “Selling Arrangements”), of this Stock Appreciation Right or the rights and privileges conferred hereby in any way shall be permitted or effected (whether by operation of law, contract or otherwise), and this Stock Appreciation Right and the rights and privileges conferred hereby will not be subject to sale under execution, attachment or similar process. Upon any attempt to engage in a Selling Arrangement with respect to this Stock Appreciation Right or any right or privilege conferred hereby, or upon any attempted offer or sale under any execution, attachment or similar process, such Selling Arrangement will be void ab initio (void from the moment the attempt began), shall not be recorded on the books of the Company and shall not be recognized or given effect by the Company.
(c)Binding Agreement. If this Stock Appreciation Right is transferred, this Agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the heirs, legatees, legal representatives, successors, and assigns of the parties to this Agreement.
(d)Additional Conditions to Delivery of Stock. If the Company determines that the listing, registration, qualification, or rule compliance of the Common Stock on any securities exchange or under any U.S. or non-U.S. federal, state or local law, the tax Code and related regulations or the consent or approval of any governmental regulatory authority is necessary or desirable as a condition to the delivery of Settlement Shares to the Participant (or his or her estate), the Company will try to meet the requirements of any such state, federal, or foreign law or securities exchange and to obtain any such consent or approval of any such governmental authority or securities exchange, but the Settlement Shares will not be issued or delivered until such conditions
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have been met in a manner acceptable to the Company. Nothing in this Section 13(d) or anywhere else in this Agreement shall obligate the Company to settle any or all of this Stock Appreciation Right in cash.
(e)Captions. Captions provided in this Agreement are for convenience only and are not to serve as a basis for interpretation or construction of this Agreement.
(f)Agreement Severable. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be severed from the remaining provisions of this Agreement and the invalidity or unenforceability will have no effect on the remainder of the Agreement.
(g)Non-U.S. Appendix. This Stock Appreciation Right is subject to any special terms and conditions set forth in any appendix to this Agreement for the Participant’s country (the “Appendix”). If the Participant relocates to a country included in the Appendix, the special terms and conditions for that country will apply to him or her to the extent the Company determines that applying such terms and conditions is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons.
(h)Imposition of Other Requirements. The Company reserves the right to impose other requirements on the Participant’s participation in the Plan, on this Stock Appreciation Right and on any Shares acquired under the Plan, to the extent the Company determines it is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons, and to require the Participant to sign any additional agreements or undertakings that may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing; provided, however, that no such imposition of other requirements shall occur or be effective unless such imposition would result in this Stock Appreciation Right remaining exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A, or otherwise complying with Code Section 409A, in each case such that none of this Agreement, this Stock Appreciation Right provided under this Agreement, or Shares, cash or other property issuable hereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A.
(i)Choice of Law; Choice of Forum. The Plan, this Agreement, this Stock Appreciation Right, and all determinations made and actions taken under the Plan, to the extent not otherwise governed by the laws of the United States, will be governed by the laws of the State of Delaware without giving effect to principles of conflicts of law. For purposes of litigating any dispute that arises under the Plan, the Participant's acceptance of this Stock Appreciation Right is his or her consent to the jurisdiction of the State of Delaware and his or her agreement that any such litigation will be conducted in the Delaware Court of Chancery or the federal courts for the United States for the District of Delaware and no other courts, regardless of where he or she is performing services.
(j)Modifications to the Agreement. The Plan and this Agreement constitute the entire understanding of the parties on the subjects covered. The Participant expressly warrants that he or she is not accepting this Agreement in reliance on any promises, representations, or inducements other than those contained herein. Modifications to this Agreement or the Plan that are adverse to the Participant can be made only in an express written contract executed by a duly authorized officer of the Company. The Company reserves the right to revise the Agreement as it deems necessary or advisable, in its sole discretion and without the consent of the Participant, to comply with Code Section 409A, to otherwise avoid imposition of any additional tax or income recognition under Code Section 409A in connection with this Stock Appreciation Right, or to comply with other Applicable Laws, or to make modifications that are not adverse to the Participant,
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as determined by the Administrator in its sole discretion; provided, however, that no such modifications shall occur or be effective unless such modification would result in this Stock Appreciation Right remaining exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A, or otherwise complying with Code Section 409A, in each case such that none of this Agreement, this Stock Appreciation Right provided under this Agreement, or Shares, cash or other property issuable hereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A.
(k)Waiver. The Participant acknowledges that a waiver by the Company of a breach of any provision of this Agreement will not operate or be construed as a waiver of any other provision of this Agreement or of any subsequent breach of this Agreement by him or her.
(l)Language. The Participant acknowledges that the Participant is sufficiently proficient in English, or has consulted with an advisor who is sufficiently proficient in English, so as to allow the Participant to understand the terms of this Agreement. If Participant has received this Agreement, or any other document related to this Stock Appreciation Right and/or the Plan translated into a language other than English and if the meaning of the translated version is different than the English version, the English version will control.
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EXHIBIT B
APPENDIX TO NOTICE OF STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT GRANT AND GLOBAL STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT AGREEMENT
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EXHIBIT C
REDUCED HOURS AND LEAVE OF ABSENCE REQUIREMENTS TO NOTICE OF STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT GRANT AND GLOBAL STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT AGREEMENT (“LOA REQUIREMENTS”)
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EXHIBIT D
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.
2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
GLOBAL STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHT AGREEMENT
EXERCISE NOTICE
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PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.
2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
NOTICE OF RESTRICTED STOCK UNIT AWARD AND
GLOBAL RESTRICTED STOCK UNIT AGREEMENT
Capitalized terms that are not defined in this Notice of Restricted Stock Unit Award and Global Restricted Stock Unit Agreement (the “Notice of Grant”), the Terms and Conditions of Global Restricted Stock Unit Award, the Non-U.S. Appendix attached hereto as Exhibit C and all other exhibits to these documents (all together, the “Agreement”) have the meanings given to them in the Palantir Technologies Inc. 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”).
The Participant has been granted this Restricted Stock Unit (“RSU”) award according to the terms below and subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan and this Agreement, as follows:
Participant: ____________________________
Grant Number: ____________________________
Grant Date: ____________________________
First Vesting Date: ____________________________
Number of RSUs Granted: ____________________________
Vesting Schedule:
Subject to the terms of the Restricted Stock Units section of the Company’s Reduced Hours and Leave of Absence Policy in effect as of the time this Award was granted as attached hereto as Exhibit B (such section being the “LOA Policy - RSU Section” which, for the avoidance of doubt, shall supersede any prior version of any such policy), and subject to the acceleration of vesting provisions herein, the RSUs subject to this Agreement will vest as follows:
###VEST_SCHEDULE_DESCRIPTION###
If the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider for any or no reason before he or she fully vests in these RSUs, the unvested RSUs will terminate according to the terms of Section 5 of this Agreement.
In receiving this Award, Participant is hereby notified that the following constitute certain of the terms, conditions, and obligations of receiving, holding, and potentially vesting in and settlement of the Restricted Stock Units referenced in this Agreement:
(i)The Award of Restricted Stock Units is granted under and governed by the terms and conditions of the Plan and this Agreement, including their exhibits and appendices.
(ii)Participant understands that the Company is not providing any tax, legal, or financial advice and is not making any recommendations regarding his or her participation in the Plan or his or her acquisition or sale of Shares.
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(iii)Participant has read and agrees to each provision of Section 9 of this Agreement.
(iv)Participant accepts as binding, conclusive and final all decisions or interpretations of the Administrator upon any questions relating to the Plan and this Agreement.
(v)Participant will notify the Company of any change to his or her contact address.
(vi)Unless otherwise required to comply with Applicable Laws, these RSUs will be subject to recoupment under any clawback policy in place on the Grant Date or that is adopted to comply with Applicable Laws.
(vii)Prior to settlement under this Award, the Company may require Participant to sign a written confirmation and acceptance that he or she has complied with all terms of this Agreement and that he or she accepts and agrees to all of its terms.
(viii)Unless otherwise required by Applicable Laws, this Restricted Stock Unit award is subject to the LOA Policy – RSU Section in effect as of the time this award was granted. The LOA Policy – RSU Section in effect as of the time this award was granted is attached hereto as Exhibit B. For the avoidance of doubt, under the terms of the Plan and this Agreement, the LOA Policy – RSU Section pertaining to this award may be amended at any time pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Plan and Section 13(j) of this Agreement. At any time, the Company may require Participant to sign a written acknowledgement of the impact of a leave of absence or change in work schedule with respect to this award pursuant to the LOA Policy – RSU Section.
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EXHIBIT A
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF RESTRICTED STOCK UNIT AWARD
1.Grant. The Company grants the Participant an award of RSUs as described in the Notice of Grant. If there is a conflict between the Plan, this Agreement, or any other agreement with the Participant governing these RSUs, those documents will take precedence and prevail in the following order: (a) the Plan, (b) the Agreement, and (c) any other agreement between the Company and the Participant governing these RSUs.
2.Company’s Obligation to Pay. Each RSU is a right to receive a Share or, in the sole discretion of the Administrator, an amount in cash equal to the Fair Market Value of one Share, on the date it vests. Until an RSU vests, the Participant has no right to payment of the Share. Before a vested RSU is paid, the RSU is an unsecured obligation of the Company, payable (if at all) only from the Company’s general assets. A vested RSU will be paid to the Participant (or in the event of his or her death, to his or her estate or such other person as specified in Section 6 below) in whole Shares or cash. Subject to the provisions of Section 4(b) and notwithstanding anything in the Plan to the contrary, each vested RSU that has met all requirements for settlement under this Agreement (including with respect to RSUs that the Administrator determines will be settled in cash) will be settled no later than the applicable Settlement Deadline. “Settlement Deadline” with respect to a particular vested RSU means March 15 of the calendar year following the calendar year in which occurs the first date on which the applicable RSU is no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture for purposes of Section 409A. If any RSU has not met all the requirements for settlement under this Agreement in a manner that would allow it to be settled by the applicable Settlement Deadline, such RSU will be forfeited as of immediately following the applicable Settlement Deadline. In no event will Participant be permitted, directly or indirectly, to specify the taxable year or date of settlement of any RSUs under this Agreement. For the avoidance of doubt, there may be multiple Settlement Deadlines, with each such Settlement Deadline corresponding to a particular RSU.
3.Vesting. These RSUs will vest only under the Vesting Schedule in the Notice of Grant, Section 4 of this Agreement, or Section 13 of the Plan. RSUs scheduled to vest on a certain date or upon the occurrence of a certain condition will not vest unless the Participant continues to be a Service Provider until the time such vesting is scheduled to occur.
4.Acceleration; Amendment.
(a)Discretionary Acceleration or Amendment. The Administrator may, pursuant to its authority under, and in accordance with, Section 4(b)(v), Section 4(b)(ix), Section 4(b)(xiv) and Section 9(c) of the Plan, in its discretion, unilaterally (x) accelerate, in whole or in part, the vesting of these RSUs, (y) waive or decrease some or all of the requirements required for vesting of unvested RSUs at any time, or (z) waive or decrease some or all of the requirements for settlement of RSUs at any time, in each case, subject to the terms of the Plan but without the need for Participant consent in any instance, and subject to Section 13(j) of this Agreement; provided, however, that no such acceleration, waiver or decrease shall occur or be effective unless such modification would result in this RSU award remaining exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A pursuant to the “short-term deferral” exception or another exception or exemption under Code Section 409A, or otherwise complying with Code Section 409A, in each case such that none of this Agreement, the RSUs provided under this Agreement, or Shares issuable hereunder will be subject
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to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A. If so modified, the vesting date with respect to the applicable RSUs will be deemed for all purposes of this Agreement to be the date specified by the Administrator (provided, that, for purposes of determining the applicable Settlement Deadline under Section 2 of this Agreement with respect to such RSUs, the vesting date will be deemed to be no later than the first date on which the RSUs are no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture for purposes of Code Section 409A). The settlement of RSUs through Shares pursuant to this Section 4(a) shall in all cases be no later than the applicable Settlement Deadline as set forth in Section 2 of this Agreement and at a time or in a manner that is exempt from, or complies with, Code Section 409A. The prior sentence may be superseded in a future agreement or amendment to this Agreement only by direct and specific reference to such sentence.
(b)The Company’s intent is that this RSU award be exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A. However, in an abundance of caution, the Company is including in this subsection, certain Code Section 409A rules that only apply if these RSUs are not exempt or excepted, and then only in certain circumstances. Specifically, Code Section 409A contains rules that must apply to these RSUs if (i) they are not exempt or excepted from Code Section 409A, (ii) the Company has any stock that is publicly traded on an established securities market or otherwise at the time Participant has a “separation from service” (within the meaning of Code Section 409A, as determined by the Company), (iii) Participant receives acceleration of vesting of these RSUs in connection with a termination of service, and (iv) at the time of such termination, Participant is considered a “specified employee” under the Code Section 409A rules. Should these rules ever become applicable to Participant’s RSUs, then notwithstanding anything in the Plan, this Agreement or any other agreement (whether entered into before, on or after the Grant Date) to the contrary, if the vesting of these RSUs is accelerated in connection with Participant’s “separation from service” within the meaning of Code Section 409A, as determined by the Company, other than due to Participant’s death, and if (x) Participant is a U.S. taxpayer and a “specified employee” within the meaning of Code Section 409A at the time of such separation from service and (y) the settlement of such accelerated RSUs will result in the imposition of additional tax under Code Section 409A if such settlement is on or within the six (6) month period following Participant’s separation from service, then the settlement of such accelerated RSUs will not occur until the date six (6) months and one (1) day following the date of Participant’s separation from service, unless the Participant dies following his or her separation from service, in which case, the Shares subject to these RSUs will be settled and issued to the Participant’s administrator or executor of his or her estate as soon as practicable following his or her death (subject to Section 6).
5.Forfeiture upon Cessation of Status as a Service Provider. Upon the Participant’s termination as a Service Provider for any reason, these RSUs will immediately stop vesting and any of these RSUs that have not yet vested will be forfeited by the Participant for no consideration upon (i) the [XXXXX] following the date Participant ceases to be a Service Provider (or any earlier date on or following the date Participant ceases to be a Service Provider determined by the Administrator) if Participant’s cessation as a Service Provider is due to the Participant’s death, or (ii) the date that Participant ceases to be a Service Provider for any reason other than Participant’s death, in all cases, subject to Applicable Laws. For the avoidance of doubt, service during any portion of the vesting period shall not entitle the Participant to vest in a pro rata portion of unvested RSUs. For purposes of the RSUs, the Participant’s status as a Service Provider will be considered to be terminated as of the date the Participant is no longer providing services to the Company, or if different, the member of the Company Group employing the Participant (the “Employer”) or the Subsidiary or Parent to which the Participant is providing services (the Employer, Subsidiary or Parent, as applicable, the
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“Service Recipient”) or other member of the Company Group (regardless of the reason for such termination and whether or not later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where the Participant is a Service Provider or the terms of the Participant’s employment or service agreement, if any). The Company shall have the exclusive discretion to determine when the Participant is no longer providing services for purposes of the RSUs (including whether the Participant may still be considered to be providing services while on a leave of absence).
6.Death of Participant. Any distribution or delivery to be made to the Participant under this Agreement will, if he or she is then deceased, be made to the administrator or executor of his or her estate or, if the Administrator permits, his or her designated beneficiary, unless otherwise required to comply with Applicable Laws. Any such transferee must furnish the Company with (a) written notice of his or her status as transferee, and (b) evidence satisfactory to the Company to establish the validity of the transfer and compliance with any laws or regulations that apply to the transfer.
7.Tax Obligations.
(a)Tax Withholding.
(i)No Shares will be issued to the Participant until he or she makes satisfactory arrangements (as determined by the Administrator) for the payment of Tax Withholdings. If the Participant is a non-U.S. employee, the method of payment of Tax Withholdings may be restricted by any Appendix (as defined below). If the Participant fails to make satisfactory arrangements for the payment of any Tax Withholdings under this Agreement when any of these RSUs otherwise are supposed to vest or Tax Withholdings related to RSUs otherwise are due, he or she will permanently forfeit the applicable RSUs and any right to receive Shares under such RSUs, and such RSUs will be returned to the Company at no cost to the Company, to the extent permitted by Applicable Laws.
(ii)The Company has the right (but not the obligation) to satisfy any Tax Withholdings by withholding from proceeds of a sale of Shares acquired upon payment of these RSUs arranged by the Company (on the Participant’s behalf pursuant to this authorization without further consent), and this will be the method by which such tax withholding obligations are satisfied until the Company determines otherwise, subject to Applicable Laws.
(iii)The Company also has the right (but not the obligation) to satisfy any Tax Withholdings: (a) by reducing the number of Shares otherwise deliverable to the Participant; (b) by requiring payment by cash or check made payable to the Company and/or any Service Recipient with respect to which the withholding obligation arises; (c) by deduction of such amount from salary, wages or other compensation payable to the Participant; or (d) in any combination of the foregoing, or any other method determined by the Administrator to be compliance with Applicable Laws.
(iv)The Company may withhold or account for Tax Withholdings by considering statutory or other withholding rates, including minimum or maximum rates applicable in the Participant’s jurisdiction(s). In the event of over-withholding, the Participant may receive a refund of any over-withheld amount in cash (with no entitlement to the equivalent in Common Stock), or if not refunded, the Participant may seek a refund from the local tax authorities. In the event of under-withholding, the Participant may be required to pay any additional Tax Withholdings
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directly to the applicable tax authority or to the Company and/or the Service Recipient(s). If the obligation for Tax Withholdings is satisfied by withholding in Shares, for tax purposes, the Participant will be deemed to have been issued the full number of Shares subject to the vested RSUs, notwithstanding that a number of the Shares is held back solely for the purpose of paying the Tax Withholdings.
(v)Further, if the Participant is subject to taxation in more than one jurisdiction between the Grant Date and the date of any relevant taxable or tax withholding event, the Company or the Service Recipient(s) or former Service Recipient(s) may withhold or account for tax in more than one jurisdiction.
(vi)Regardless of any action of the Company or the Service Recipient(s), the Participant acknowledges that the ultimate liability for all Tax Withholdings and any and all additional taxes related to the Award, the Shares or other amounts or property delivered under the Award and the Participant’s participation in the Plan is and remains his or her responsibility and may exceed the amount actually withheld by the Company or the Service Recipient(s). The Participant further acknowledges that the Company and the Service Recipient(s) (1) make no representations or undertakings regarding the treatment of any Tax Withholdings in connection with any aspect of these RSUs and (2) do not commit to and are under no obligation to structure the terms of the grant or any aspect of these RSUs to reduce or eliminate his or her liability for Tax Withholdings or achieve any particular tax result.
(b)Code Section 409A. It is the intent of this Agreement that it and all issuances and benefits to U.S. taxpayers hereunder be exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A pursuant to the “short-term deferral” exception under Code Section 409A, or otherwise be exempted or excepted from, or comply with, Code Section 409A, so that none of this Agreement, the RSUs provided under this Agreement, or Shares issuable thereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A, and any ambiguities or ambiguous terms herein will be interpreted to be so exempt or excepted, or to so comply. Each issuance upon settlement of the RSUs under this Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-2(b)(2). In no event will any member of the Company Group have any liability or obligation to reimburse, indemnify, or hold harmless Participant for any taxes that may be imposed, or other costs incurred, on Participant as a result of Code Section 409A.
8.Rights as Stockholder. The Participant’s or any other person’s rights as a stockholder of the Company (including the right to vote and to receive dividends and distributions) will not begin until Shares have been issued and recorded on the records of the Company or its transfer agents or registrars.
9.Acknowledgments and Agreements. Participant acknowledges, accepts, understands, and agrees with the following, which are conditions of these RSUs:
(a)THE VESTING OF THESE RSUS IS EARNED ONLY BY CONTINUING AS A SERVICE PROVIDER AND BEING HIRED OR BEING GRANTED THESE RSUS WILL NOT RESULT IN VESTING.
(b)THESE RSUS AND THIS AGREEMENT DO NOT CREATE AN EXPRESS OR IMPLIED PROMISE OF CONTINUED ENGAGEMENT AS A SERVICE
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PROVIDER FOR THE VESTING PERIOD, FOR ANY PERIOD, OR AT ALL AND WILL NOT INTERFERE IN ANY WAY WITH HIS OR HER RIGHT OR THE RIGHT OF THE EMPLOYER(S) TO TERMINATE HIS OR HER RELATIONSHIP AS A SERVICE PROVIDER AT ANY TIME, WITH OR WITHOUT CAUSE, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE LAWS.
(c)The Participant agrees that this Agreement and its incorporated documents reflect all agreements on its subject matters and that he or she is not accepting this Agreement based on any promises, representations, or inducements other than those reflected in the Agreement.
(d)The Participant agrees that the Company’s delivery of any documents related to the Plan or these RSUs (including the Plan, the Agreement, the Plan’s prospectus, and any reports of the Company provided generally to the Company’s stockholders) to him or her may be made by electronic delivery, which may include but does not necessarily include the delivery of a link to a Company intranet or to the Internet site of a third party involved in administering the Plan, the delivery of the document via email, or any other means of electronic delivery specified by the Company. If the attempted electronic delivery of such documents fails, the Participant will be provided with a paper copy of the documents. The Participant acknowledges that he or she may receive from the Company a paper copy of any documents that were delivered electronically at no cost to him or her by contacting the Company by telephone or in writing. The Participant may revoke his or her consent to the electronic delivery of documents or may change the electronic mail address to which such documents are to be delivered (if the Participant has provided an electronic mail address) at any time by notifying the Company of such revoked consent or revised e‑mail address by telephone, postal service or electronic mail. Finally, the Participant understands that he or she is not required to consent to electronic delivery of documents.
(e)The Participant may deliver any documents related to the Plan or these RSUs to the Company by e-mail or any other means of electronic delivery approved by the Administrator, but he or she must provide the Company or any designated third party administrator with a paper copy of any documents if his or her attempted electronic delivery of such documents fails.
(f)The Participant accepts that all good faith decisions or interpretations of the Administrator regarding the Plan and Awards under the Plan are binding, conclusive, and final. No member of the Administrator will be personally liable for any such decisions or interpretations.
(g)The Participant agrees that the Plan is established voluntarily by the Company, is discretionary in nature, and may be amended, suspended, or terminated by the Company at any time, to the extent permitted by the Plan.
(h)The Participant agrees that the grant of these RSUs is exceptional, voluntary and occasional and does not create any contractual or other right to receive future grants of restricted stock units or benefits in lieu of restricted stock units, even if restricted stock units have been granted in the past.
(i)The Participant agrees that any decisions regarding future Awards will be in the Company’s sole discretion.
(j)The Participant agrees that he or she is voluntarily participating in the Plan.
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(k)The Participant agrees that these RSUs and any Shares acquired under these RSUs, and the income from and value of same, are not intended to replace any pension rights or compensation.
(l)The Participant agrees that these RSUs, any Shares acquired under these RSUs, and the income from and value of same, are not part of normal or expected compensation for the purpose of, including, but not limited to, calculating any severance, resignation, termination, redundancy, dismissal, end-of-service payments, bonuses, holiday pay, long-service awards, pension or retirement or welfare benefits, or similar payments.
(m)The Participant agrees that the future value of the Shares underlying these RSUs is unknown, indeterminable, and cannot be predicted with certainty.
(n)The Participant agrees that no member of the Company Group is liable for any foreign exchange rate fluctuation between the Participant’s local currency and the United States Dollar that may affect the value of these RSUs or of any amounts due to him or her from the payment of these RSUs or the subsequent sale of any Shares acquired upon such payment.
(o)Unless otherwise provided in the Plan or by the Administrator in its discretion, the RSUs and the benefits evidenced in this Agreement do not create any entitlement to have the RSUs or any such benefits transferred to, or assumed by, another company, nor to be exchanged, cashed out or substituted for, in connection with any corporate transaction affecting the Shares.
(p)The Participant agrees that he or she has no claim or entitlement to compensation or damages from any forfeiture of these RSUs resulting from the termination of his or her status as a Service Provider (for any reason whatsoever, whether or not later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where he or she is a Service Provider or the terms of his or her service agreement, if any).
10.Data Privacy. The Company’s Privacy and Security Statement (the “External Privacy Notice”) is available online at: https://www.palantir.com/privacy-and-security. The information in this Section is provided to the Participant by the Company for the purpose of processing Personal Data (as such term is used in the External Privacy Notice) in the context of implementing, administering and managing the Plan. For the purposes of this Section, the Company is the controller. Where local data protection laws require the appointment of a local representative, such representative will be the Company’s Data Protection Officer. A glossary of terms used in this Section is provided below.
This Section applies in addition to the Company’s Employee Privacy and Security Statement, as applicable. Participant is responsible for (i) providing the Company with accurate and up-to-date Personal Data; and (ii) updating those Personal Data in the event of any material changes. For any questions related to this Section or relating to the Company’s processing of Personal Data, please contact the Data Protection Officer at privacy@palantir.com.
For purposes of this Section:
“controller” means the entity that decides how and why Personal Data are processed.
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“process”, “processing” or “processed” means anything that is done with Personal Data, including collecting, storing, accessing, using, editing, disclosing or deleting those data.
Participant authorizes and consents to the collection, maintenance, and international transfer of Personal Data related to him/her (under transfer mechanisms required by applicable law, and in accordance with the External Privacy Notice) by Company or its representatives for purposes including: administration of the Plan; compliance with applicable law; to fulfill and safeguard the rights and interests of Participant, Company, and other participants under the Plan; to fulfill the legitimate interests of Company in connection with management, operation, and promotion of its business; and related purposes. Such Personal Data may include, but not be limited to, data relating to Participant’s identity, contact details, employment data, nationality, immigration status, and Participant’s present or historical equity holdings relating to Company. Participant authorizes the Company and Company’s representatives to discuss with and disclose such Personal Data relating to Participant’s participation in this plan with their respective advisors and corporate affiliates as necessary to maintain, administer, and operate the plan in accordance with applicable law.
11.Insider Trading Restrictions/Market Abuse Laws. The Participant acknowledges that he or she may be subject to insider trading restrictions and/or market abuse laws in applicable jurisdictions including, but not limited to, the United States and the Participant’s country of residence, which may affect the Participant’s ability to acquire or sell Shares or rights to Shares (e.g., RSUs) under the Plan during such time as the Participant is considered to have “inside information” regarding the Company (as defined by the laws in the applicable jurisdictions). Local insider trading laws and regulations may prohibit the cancellation or amendment of orders the Participant placed before the Participant possessed inside information. Furthermore, the Participant could be prohibited from (i) disclosing the inside information to any third party and (ii) “tipping” third parties or causing them otherwise to buy or sell securities. The Participant should keep in mind third parties includes fellow employees. Any restrictions under these laws or regulations are separate from and in addition to any restrictions that may be imposed under any applicable insider trading policy of the Company. The Participant is responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable restrictions and should consult with his or her personal legal advisor on this matter.
12.Foreign Asset/Account Reporting Requirements. Depending on the Participant’s country, the Participant may be subject to foreign asset/account, exchange control and/or tax reporting requirements as a result of the vesting of the RSUs, the acquisition, holding and/or transfer of Shares or cash resulting from participation in the Plan and/or the opening and maintaining of a brokerage or bank account in connection with the Plan. The Participant may be required to report such assets, accounts, account balances and values, and/or related transactions to the applicable authorities in his or her country. The Participant may also be required to repatriate sale proceeds or other funds received as a result of his or her participation in the Plan to his or her country through a designated bank or broker and/or within a certain time after receipt. The Participant acknowledges that he or she is responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable foreign asset/account, exchange control and tax reporting and other requirements. The Participant further understands that he or she should consult the Participant's personal tax and legal advisors, as applicable on these matters.
13.Miscellaneous.
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(a)Address for Notices. Any notice to be given to the Company under the terms of this Agreement must be addressed to the Company at Palantir Technologies Inc., 1200 17th Street, Floor 15, Denver, Colorado 80202, USA until the Company designates another address in writing.
(b)Non-Transferability of RSUs. These RSUs may not be transferred other than by will or the applicable laws of descent or distribution.
(c)Binding Agreement. If any RSUs are transferred, this Agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the heirs, legatees, legal representatives, successors, and assigns of the parties to this Agreement.
(d)Additional Conditions to Issuance of Stock. If at any time the Company determines, in its discretion, that the listing, registration, qualification or rule compliance of the Shares upon any securities exchange or under any U.S. or non-U.S. federal, state or local law the tax Code and related regulations or under the rulings or regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or any other governmental regulatory body or the clearance, consent or approval of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or any other governmental regulatory authority is necessary or desirable as a condition to the issuance of Shares to Participant hereunder, such issuance will not occur unless and until such listing, registration, qualification, rule compliance, clearance, consent or approval will have been completed, effected or obtained free of any conditions not acceptable to the Company. If any such listing, registration, qualification, rule compliance, clearance, consent or approval has not been completed by the applicable Settlement Deadline with respect to a Restricted Stock Unit in a manner that would allow it to be settled by the applicable Settlement Deadline, such Restricted Stock Unit will be forfeited as of immediately following the Settlement Deadline for no consideration and at no cost to the Company. Subject to the terms of this Agreement and the Plan, the Company shall not be required to issue any certificate or certificates for Shares hereunder prior to the lapse of such reasonable period of time following the date of vesting of a Restricted Stock Unit as the Administrator may establish from time to time for reasons of administrative convenience and any such certificate may be in book entry form.
(e)Captions. Captions provided in this Agreement are for convenience only and are not to serve as a basis for interpretation or construction of this Agreement.
(f)Agreement Severable. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be severed from the remaining provisions of this Agreement and the invalidity or unenforceability will have no effect on the remainder of the Agreement.
(g)Non-U.S. Appendix. These RSUs are subject to any special terms and conditions set forth in any appendix to this Agreement for the Participant’s country (the “Appendix”). If the Participant resides and/or works in a country, or relocates to a country, included in the Appendix, the special terms and conditions for that country will apply to him or her to the extent the Company determines that applying such terms and conditions is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons.
(h)Imposition of Other Requirements. The Company reserves the right to impose other requirements on the Participant’s participation in the Plan, on the RSUs and on any Shares acquired under the Plan, to the extent the Company determines it is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons, and to require the Participant to sign any additional agreements or
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undertakings that may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing; provided, however, that no such imposition of other requirements shall occur or be effective unless such imposition would result in these RSUs remaining exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A pursuant to the “short-term deferral” exception or another exception or exemption under Code Section 409A, or otherwise complying with Code Section 409A, in each case such that none of this Agreement, the RSUs provided under this Agreement, or Shares, cash or other property issuable hereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A.
(i)Choice of Law; Choice of Forum. The Plan, this Agreement, these RSUs, and all determinations made and actions taken under the Plan, to the extent not otherwise governed by the laws of the United States, will be governed by the laws of the State of Delaware without giving effect to principles of conflicts of law. For purposes of litigating any dispute that arises under the Plan, the Participant's acceptance of these RSUs is his or her consent to the jurisdiction of the State of Delaware and his or her agreement that any such litigation will be conducted in the Delaware Court of Chancery or the federal courts for the United States for the District of Delaware and no other courts, regardless of where he or she is performing services.
(j)Modifications to the Agreement. The Plan and this Agreement constitute the entire understanding of the parties on the subjects covered. The Participant expressly warrants that he or she is not accepting this Agreement in reliance on any promises, representations, or inducements other than those contained herein. Modifications to this Agreement or the Plan can be made only in an express written contract executed by a duly authorized officer of the Company. Notwithstanding anything in the Plan or this Agreement to the contrary, but subject to Section 13(h), the Administrator may, without the consent of the Participant, modify this Agreement in any of the following manners: (a) take any action permitted by Section 4 of this Agreement, including to waive or decrease, in whole or in part, some or all of the requirements required for vesting of all or a portion of the unvested RSUs; or (b) waive or decrease some or all of the requirements for settlement of RSUs. The Company reserves the right to revise this Agreement as it deems necessary or advisable, in its sole discretion and without the consent of the Participant, to comply with Code Section 409A, to otherwise avoid imposition of any additional tax or income recognition under Code Section 409A in connection with these RSUs, or to comply with other Applicable Laws.
(k)Waiver. The Participant acknowledges that a waiver by the Company of a breach of any provision of this Agreement will not operate or be construed as a waiver of any other provision of this Agreement or of any subsequent breach of this Agreement by him or her.
(l)Language. The Participant acknowledges that the Participant is sufficiently proficient in English, or has consulted with an advisor who is sufficiently proficient in English, so as to allow the Participant to understand the terms of this Agreement. If Participant has received this Agreement, or any other document related to these RSUs and/or the Plan translated into a language other than English and if the meaning of the translated version is different than the English version, the English version will control.
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EXHIBIT B
LOA POLICY – RSU SECTION
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EXHIBIT C
APPENDIX TO GLOBAL RESTRICTED STOCK UNIT AGREEMENT
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PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.
2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
NOTICE OF RESTRICTED STOCK UNIT AWARD AND
GLOBAL PERFORMANCE-BASED RESTRICTED STOCK UNIT AGREEMENT
Capitalized terms that are not defined in this Notice of Restricted Stock Unit Award and Global Performance-Based Restricted Stock Unit Agreement (the “Notice of Grant”), the Terms and Conditions of Global Performance-Based Restricted Stock Unit Award, the Non-U.S. Appendix attached hereto as Exhibit B and all other exhibits to these documents (all together, the “Agreement”) have the meanings given to them in the Palantir Technologies Inc. 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”).
The Participant has been granted this performance-based Restricted Stock Unit (“P-RSU”) award according to the terms below and subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan and this Agreement, as follows:
Participant: _________________________
Grant Number: _________________________
Grant Date: _________________________
Covered Quarter: _________________________
Vest Date: _________________________
Number of P-RSUs Granted: _________________________
Vesting Schedule:
Subject to the Administrator’s discretion to accelerate vesting, these P-RSUs will vest upon satisfaction of the following requirements, as set forth below, subject to the Participant remaining a Service Provider through the Vest Date:
•[Insert Company Performance Goal Requirements]
Any P-RSUs that have become eligible to vest based on the criteria set forth above shall vest on the Vest Date so long as the Participant remains a Service Provider through any portion of the Vest Date. Any P-RSUs that have not become eligible to vest shall not vest on the Vest Date. For the avoidance of doubt, if the percentage of P-RSUs vesting on the Vest Date does not equate to a whole number of Shares, the number of Shares that will be paid to the Participant pursuant to Section 2 of this Agreement will be rounded down to the nearest whole number.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, to the extent that any or all of the outstanding P-RSUs do not vest on the Vest Date, as set forth above, such unvested P‑RSUs will terminate in accordance with the terms of Section 5(b) of this Agreement effective as of the Vest Date (such forfeiture provision, the “Early Forfeiture Provision”); for the avoidance of doubt,
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such forfeiture will occur even if Participant remains a Service Provider following the Quarter End Date and/or the Vest Date.
[Insert Definitions Relevant to Company Performance Goals]
“Prior Quarter” means the three-month period ending on the day immediately preceding the first day of the Covered Quarter. By way of example, if the Covered Quarter began on October 1, 2023, then the Prior Quarter would be the three-month period commencing at the beginning of the day on July 1, 2023 and ending at the end of the day on September 30, 2023.
“Quarter” means the Prior Quarter or the Covered Quarter, as applicable.
“Quarter End Date” means the last day of the Covered Quarter.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Plan (including but not limited to Section 14 of the Plan) or this Agreement, unless the Administrator determines otherwise, in the event of a Change in Control or merger in which these P-RSUs are not assumed or substituted for by the successor or acquiror, any then-unvested P-RSUs will be forfeited immediately prior to the closing of the Change in Control or merger.
If the Participant ceases to be a Service Provider for any or no reason before the Vest Date, the unvested P-RSUs will terminate according to the terms of Section 5(a) of this Agreement.
In receiving this Award, Participant is hereby notified that the following constitute certain of the terms, conditions, and obligations of receiving, holding, and potentially vesting in and settlement of the P-RSUs referenced in this Agreement:
(i)The Award of P-RSUs is granted under and governed by the terms and conditions of the Plan and this Agreement, including their exhibits and appendices.
(ii)Participant understands that the Company is not providing any tax, legal, or financial advice and is not making any recommendations regarding his or her participation in the Plan or his or her acquisition or sale of Shares.
(iii)Participant has read and agrees to each provision of Section 9 of this Agreement.
(iv)Participant accepts as binding, conclusive and final all decisions or interpretations of the Administrator upon any questions relating to the Plan and this Agreement.
(v)Participant will notify the Company of any change to his or her contact address.
(vi)Unless otherwise required to comply with Applicable Laws, these P-RSUs will be subject to recoupment under any clawback policy in place on the Grant Date or that is adopted to comply with Applicable Laws.
(vii)This Award of P-RSUs is not subject to the “Global LOA Policy for Equity While on Leave” (also referred to as the Company’s Reduced Hours and Leave of Absence Policy).
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(viii)Prior to settlement under this Award, the Company may require Participant to sign a written confirmation and acceptance that he or she has complied with all terms of this Agreement and that he or she accepts and agrees to all of its terms.
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EXHIBIT A
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF PERFORMANCE-BASED RESTRICTED STOCK UNIT AWARD
1.Grant. The Company grants the Participant an award of P-RSUs as described in the Notice of Grant. If there is a conflict between the Plan, this Agreement, or any other agreement with the Participant governing these P-RSUs, those documents will take precedence and prevail in the following order: (a) the Plan, (b) the Agreement, and (c) any other agreement between the Company and the Participant governing these P-RSUs.
2.Company’s Obligation to Pay. Each P-RSU is a right to receive a Share or, in the sole discretion of the Administrator, an amount in cash equal to the Fair Market Value of one Share, on the date it vests. Until a P-RSU vests, the Participant has no right to payment of the Share. Before a vested P-RSU is paid, the P-RSU is an unsecured obligation of the Company, payable (if at all) only from the Company’s general assets. A vested P-RSU will be paid to the Participant (or in the event of his or her death, to his or her estate or such other person as specified in Section 6 below) in whole Shares or cash. Subject to the provisions of Section 4(b) and notwithstanding anything in the Plan to the contrary, each vested P-RSU that has met all requirements for settlement under this Agreement (including with respect to P-RSUs that the Administrator determines will be settled in cash) will be settled no later than the applicable Settlement Deadline. “Settlement Deadline” with respect to a particular vested P-RSU means March 15 of the calendar year following the calendar year in which occurs the first date on which the applicable P-RSU is no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture for purposes of Section 409A. If any P-RSU has not met all the requirements for settlement under this Agreement in a manner that would allow it to be settled by the applicable Settlement Deadline, such P-RSU will be forfeited as of immediately following the applicable Settlement Deadline. In no event will Participant be permitted, directly or indirectly, to specify the taxable year or date of settlement of any P-RSUs under this Agreement. For the avoidance of doubt, there may be multiple Settlement Deadlines, with each such Settlement Deadline corresponding to a particular P-RSU.
3.Vesting. These P-RSUs will vest only under the Vesting Schedule in the Notice of Grant, Section 4 of this Agreement, or Section 13 of the Plan. P-RSUs scheduled to vest on a certain date or upon the occurrence of a certain condition will not vest unless the Participant continues to be a Service Provider until the time such vesting is scheduled to occur.
4.Acceleration; Amendment.
(a)Discretionary Acceleration or Amendment. The Administrator may, pursuant to its authority under, and in accordance with, Section 4(b)(v), Section 4(b)(ix), Section 4(b)(xiv) and Section 9(c) of the Plan, in its discretion, unilaterally (x) accelerate, in whole or in part, the vesting of these P-RSUs, (y) waive or decrease some or all of the requirements required for vesting of unvested P‑RSUs at any time, or (z) waive or decrease some or all of the requirements for settlement of P-RSUs at any time, in each case, subject to the terms of the Plan but without the need for Participant consent in any instance, and subject to Section 13(j) of this Agreement; provided, however, that no such acceleration, waiver or decrease shall occur or be effective unless such modification would result in this P-RSU award remaining exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A pursuant to the “short-term deferral” exception or another exception or exemption under Code Section 409A, or otherwise complying with Code Section 409A, in each case
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such that none of this Agreement, the P-RSUs provided under this Agreement, or Shares issuable hereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A. If so modified, the vesting date with respect to the applicable P-RSUs will be deemed for all purposes of this Agreement to be the date specified by the Administrator (provided, that, for purposes of determining the applicable Settlement Deadline under Section 2 of this Agreement with respect to such P‑RSUs, the vesting date will be deemed to be no later than the first date on which the P-RSUs are no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture for purposes of Code Section 409A). The settlement of P‑RSUs through Shares pursuant to this Section 4(a) shall in all cases be no later than the applicable Settlement Deadline as set forth in Section 2 of this Agreement and at a time or in a manner that is exempt from, or complies with, Code Section 409A. The prior sentence may be superseded in a future agreement or amendment to this Agreement only by direct and specific reference to such sentence.
(b)The Company’s intent is that this P-RSU award be exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A. However, in an abundance of caution, the Company is including in this subsection, certain Code Section 409A rules that only apply if these P-RSUs are not exempt or excepted, and then only in certain circumstances. Specifically, Code Section 409A contains rules that must apply to these P-RSUs if (i) they are not exempt or excepted from Code Section 409A, (ii) the Company has any stock that is publicly traded on an established securities market or otherwise at the time Participant has a “separation from service” (within the meaning of Code Section 409A, as determined by the Company), (iii) Participant receives acceleration of vesting of these P-RSUs in connection with a termination of service, and (iv) at the time of such termination, Participant is considered a “specified employee” under the Code Section 409A rules. Should these rules ever become applicable to Participant’s P-RSUs, then notwithstanding anything in the Plan, this Agreement or any other agreement (whether entered into before, on or after the Grant Date) to the contrary, if the vesting of these P-RSUs is accelerated in connection with Participant’s “separation from service” within the meaning of Code Section 409A, as determined by the Company, other than due to Participant’s death, and if (x) Participant is a U.S. taxpayer and a “specified employee” within the meaning of Code Section 409A at the time of such separation from service and (y) the settlement of such accelerated P-RSUs will result in the imposition of additional tax under Code Section 409A if such settlement is on or within the six (6) month period following Participant’s separation from service, then the settlement of such accelerated P-RSUs will not occur until the date six (6) months and one (1) day following the date of Participant’s separation from service, unless the Participant dies following his or her separation from service in which case, the Shares subject to these P-RSUs will be settled and issued to the Participant’s administrator or executor of his or her estate as soon as practicable following his or her death (subject to Section 6).
5.Forfeiture upon Cessation of Status as a Service Provider; Early Forfeiture Provision.
(a)Upon the Participant’s termination as a Service Provider for any reason, these P-RSUs will immediately stop vesting and any of these P-RSUs that have not yet vested will be forfeited by the Participant for no consideration upon (i) the [XXXXX] following the date Participant ceases to be a Service Provider (or any earlier date on or following the date Participant ceases to be a Service Provider determined by the Administrator) if Participant’s cessation as a Service Provider is due to the Participant’s death, or (ii) the date that Participant ceases to be a Service Provider for any reason other than Participant’s death, in all cases, subject to Applicable Laws. For the avoidance of doubt, service during any portion of the vesting period shall not entitle the Participant to vest in a pro rata portion of unvested P-RSUs. For purposes of the P-RSUs, the
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Participant’s status as a Service Provider will be considered to be terminated as of the date the Participant is no longer providing services to the Company, or if different, the member of the Company Group employing the Participant (the “Employer”) or the Subsidiary or Parent to which the Participant is providing services (the Employer, Subsidiary or Parent, as applicable, the “Service Recipient”) or other member of the Company Group (regardless of the reason for such termination and whether or not later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where the Participant is a Service Provider or the terms of the Participant’s employment or service agreement, if any). The Company shall have the exclusive discretion to determine when the Participant is no longer providing services for purposes of the P-RSUs (including whether the Participant may still be considered to be providing services while on a leave of absence).
(b)Upon the triggering of the Early Forfeiture Provision, the outstanding P-RSUs that do not vest on the Vest Date will immediately stop vesting and will be forfeited by the Participant for no consideration effective as of the Vest Date, in all cases, subject to Applicable Laws.
6.Death of Participant. Any distribution or delivery to be made to the Participant under this Agreement will, if he or she is then deceased, be made to the administrator or executor of his or her estate or, if the Administrator permits, his or her designated beneficiary, unless otherwise required to comply with Applicable Laws. Any such transferee must furnish the Company with (a) written notice of his or her status as transferee, and (b) evidence satisfactory to the Company to establish the validity of the transfer and compliance with any laws or regulations that apply to the transfer.
7.Tax Obligations.
(a)Tax Withholding.
(i)No Shares will be issued to the Participant until he or she makes satisfactory arrangements (as determined by the Administrator) for the payment of Tax Withholdings. If the Participant is a non-U.S. employee, the method of payment of Tax Withholdings may be restricted by any Appendix (as defined in Section 13 below). If the Participant fails to make satisfactory arrangements for the payment of any Tax Withholdings under this Agreement when any of these P-RSUs otherwise are supposed to vest or Tax Withholdings related to P-RSUs otherwise are due, he or she will permanently forfeit the applicable P-RSUs and any right to receive Shares under such P-RSUs, and such P-RSUs will be returned to the Company at no cost to the Company, to the extent permitted by Applicable Laws.
(ii)The Company has the right (but not the obligation) to satisfy any Tax Withholdings by withholding from proceeds of a sale of Shares acquired upon payment of these P-RSUs arranged by the Company (on the Participant’s behalf pursuant to this authorization without further consent), and this will be the method by which such Tax Withholding obligations are satisfied until the Company determines otherwise, subject to Applicable Laws.
(iii)The Company also has the right (but not the obligation) to satisfy any Tax Withholdings: (a) by reducing the number of Shares otherwise deliverable to the Participant; (b) by requiring payment by cash or check made payable to the Company and/or any Service Recipient with respect to which the withholding obligation arises; (c) by deduction of such amount from salary, wages or other compensation payable to the Participant; or (d) in any combination of the
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foregoing, or any other method determined by the Administrator to be compliance with Applicable Laws.
(iv)The Company may withhold or account for Tax Withholdings by considering statutory or other withholding rates, including minimum or maximum rates applicable in the Participant’s jurisdiction(s). In the event of over-withholding, the Participant may receive a refund of any over-withheld amount in cash (with no entitlement to the equivalent in Common Stock), or if not refunded, the Participant may seek a refund from the local tax authorities. In the event of under-withholding, the Participant may be required to pay any additional Tax Withholdings directly to the applicable tax authority or to the Company and/or the Service Recipient(s). If the obligation for Tax Withholdings is satisfied by withholding in Shares, for tax purposes, the Participant will be deemed to have been issued the full number of Shares subject to the vested P-RSUs, notwithstanding that a number of the Shares is held back solely for the purpose of paying the Tax Withholdings.
(v)Further, if the Participant is subject to taxation in more than one jurisdiction between the Grant Date and the date of any relevant taxable or tax withholding event, the Company or the Service Recipient(s) or former Service Recipient(s) may withhold or account for tax in more than one jurisdiction.
(vi)Regardless of any action of the Company or the Service Recipient(s), the Participant acknowledges that the ultimate liability for all Tax Withholdings and any and all additional taxes related to the Award, the Shares or other amounts or property delivered under the Award and the Participant’s participation in the Plan is and remains his or her responsibility and may exceed the amount actually withheld by the Company or the Service Recipient(s). The Participant further acknowledges that the Company and the Service Recipient(s) (1) make no representations or undertakings regarding the treatment of any Tax Withholdings in connection with any aspect of these P-RSUs and (2) do not commit to and are under no obligation to structure the terms of the grant or any aspect of these P-RSUs to reduce or eliminate his or her liability for Tax Withholdings or achieve any particular tax result.
(b)Code Section 409A. It is the intent of this Agreement that it and all issuances and benefits to U.S. taxpayers hereunder be exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A pursuant to the “short-term deferral” exception under Code Section 409A, or otherwise be exempted or excepted from, or comply with, Code Section 409A, so that none of this Agreement, the P-RSUs provided under this Agreement, or Shares issuable thereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A, and any ambiguities or ambiguous terms herein will be interpreted to be so exempt or excepted, or to so comply. Each issuance upon settlement of the P-RSUs under this Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-2(b)(2). In no event will any member of the Company Group have any liability or obligation to reimburse, indemnify, or hold harmless Participant for any taxes that may be imposed, or other costs incurred, on Participant as a result of Code Section 409A.
8.Rights as Stockholder. The Participant’s or any other person’s rights as a stockholder of the Company (including the right to vote and to receive dividends and distributions) will not begin until Shares have been issued and recorded on the records of the Company or its transfer agents or registrars.
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9.Acknowledgments and Agreements. Participant acknowledges, accepts, understands, and agrees with the following, which are conditions of these P-RSUs:
(a)THE VESTING CONDITIONS OF THESE P-RSUS THAT RELATE TO SERVICE ARE SATISFIED BY CONTINUING AS A SERVICE PROVIDER (AS SET FORTH IN MORE DETAIL HEREIN) AND BEING HIRED OR BEING GRANTED THESE P-RSUS WILL NOT RESULT IN VESTING.
(b)THESE P-RSUS AND THIS AGREEMENT DO NOT CREATE AN EXPRESS OR IMPLIED PROMISE OF CONTINUED ENGAGEMENT AS A SERVICE PROVIDER FOR THE VESTING PERIOD, FOR ANY PERIOD, OR AT ALL AND WILL NOT INTERFERE IN ANY WAY WITH HIS OR HER RIGHT OR THE RIGHT OF THE EMPLOYER(S) TO TERMINATE HIS OR HER RELATIONSHIP AS A SERVICE PROVIDER AT ANY TIME, WITH OR WITHOUT CAUSE, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE LAWS.
(c)The Participant agrees that this Agreement and its incorporated documents reflect all agreements on its subject matters and that he or she is not accepting this Agreement based on any promises, representations, or inducements other than those reflected in the Agreement.
(d)The Participant agrees that the Company’s delivery of any documents related to the Plan or these P-RSUs (including the Plan, the Agreement, the Plan’s prospectus, and any reports of the Company provided generally to the Company’s stockholders) to him or her may be made by electronic delivery, which may include but does not necessarily include the delivery of a link to a Company intranet or to the Internet site of a third party involved in administering the Plan, the delivery of the document via email, or any other means of electronic delivery specified by the Company. If the attempted electronic delivery of such documents fails, the Participant will be provided with a paper copy of the documents. The Participant acknowledges that he or she may receive from the Company a paper copy of any documents that were delivered electronically at no cost to him or her by contacting the Company by telephone or in writing. The Participant may revoke his or her consent to the electronic delivery of documents or may change the electronic mail address to which such documents are to be delivered (if the Participant has provided an electronic mail address) at any time by notifying the Company of such revoked consent or revised e‑mail address by telephone, postal service or electronic mail. Finally, the Participant understands that he or she is not required to consent to electronic delivery of documents.
(e)The Participant may deliver any documents related to the Plan or these P-RSUs to the Company by e-mail or any other means of electronic delivery approved by the Administrator, but he or she must provide the Company or any designated third party administrator with a paper copy of any documents if his or her attempted electronic delivery of such documents fails.
(f)The Participant accepts that all good faith decisions or interpretations of the Administrator regarding the Plan and Awards under the Plan are binding, conclusive, and final. No member of the Administrator will be personally liable for any such decisions or interpretations.
(g)The Participant agrees that the Plan is established voluntarily by the Company, is discretionary in nature, and may be amended, suspended, or terminated by the Company at any time, to the extent permitted by the Plan.
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(h)The Participant agrees that the grant of these P-RSUs is exceptional, voluntary and occasional and does not create any contractual or other right to receive future grants of restricted stock units or benefits in lieu of restricted stock units, even if restricted stock units have been granted in the past.
(i)The Participant agrees that any decisions regarding future Awards will be in the Company’s sole discretion.
(j)The Participant agrees that he or she is voluntarily participating in the Plan.
(k)The Participant agrees that these P-RSUs and any Shares acquired under these P‑RSUs, and the income from and value of same, are not intended to replace any pension rights or compensation.
(l)The Participant agrees that these P-RSUs, any Shares acquired under these P-RSUs, and the income from and value of same, are not part of normal or expected compensation for the purpose of, including, but not limited to, calculating any severance, resignation, termination, redundancy, dismissal, end-of-service payments, bonuses, holiday pay, long-service awards, pension or retirement or welfare benefits, or similar payments.
(m)The Participant agrees that the future value of the Shares underlying these P-RSUs is unknown, indeterminable, and cannot be predicted with certainty.
(n)The Participant agrees that no member of the Company Group is liable for any foreign exchange rate fluctuation between the Participant’s local currency and the United States Dollar that may affect the value of these P-RSUs or of any amounts due to him or her from the payment of these P-RSUs or the subsequent sale of any Shares acquired upon such payment.
(o)Unless otherwise provided in the Plan or by the Administrator in its discretion, the P-RSUs and the benefits evidenced in this Agreement do not create any entitlement to have the P-RSUs or any such benefits transferred to, or assumed by, another company, nor to be exchanged, cashed out or substituted for, in connection with any corporate transaction affecting the Shares.
(p)The Participant agrees that he or she has no claim or entitlement to compensation or damages from any forfeiture of these P-RSUs resulting from the termination of his or her status as a Service Provider (for any reason whatsoever, whether or not later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where he or she is a Service Provider or the terms of his or her service agreement, if any).
10.Data Privacy. The Company’s Privacy and Security Statement (the “External Privacy Notice”) is available online at: https://www.palantir.com/privacy-and-security. The information in this Section is provided to the Participant by the Company for the purpose of processing Personal Data (as such term is used in the External Privacy Notice) in the context of implementing, administering and managing the Plan. For the purposes of this Section, the Company is the controller. Where local data protection laws require the appointment of a local representative, such representative will be the Company’s Data Protection Officer. A glossary of terms used in this Section is provided below.
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This Section applies in addition to the Company’s Employee Privacy and Security Statement, as applicable. Participant is responsible for (i) providing the Company with accurate and up-to-date Personal Data; and (ii) updating those Personal Data in the event of any material changes. For any questions related to this Section or relating to the Company’s processing of Personal Data, please contact the Data Protection Officer at privacy@palantir.com.
For purposes of this Section:
“controller” means the entity that decides how and why Personal Data are processed.
“process”, “processing” or “processed” means anything that is done with Personal Data, including collecting, storing, accessing, using, editing, disclosing or deleting those data.
Participant authorizes and consents to the collection, maintenance, and international transfer of Personal Data related to him/her (under transfer mechanisms required by applicable law, and in accordance with the External Privacy Notice) by Company or its representatives for purposes including: administration of the Plan; compliance with applicable law; to fulfill and safeguard the rights and interests of Participant, Company, and other participants under the Plan; to fulfill the legitimate interests of Company in connection with management, operation, and promotion of its business; and related purposes. Such Personal Data may include, but not be limited to, data relating to Participant’s identity, contact details, employment data, nationality, immigration status, and Participant’s present or historical equity holdings relating to Company. Participant authorizes the Company and Company’s representatives to discuss with and disclose such Personal Data relating to Participant’s participation in this plan with their respective advisors and corporate affiliates as necessary to maintain, administer, and operate the plan in accordance with applicable law.
11.Insider Trading Restrictions/Market Abuse Laws. The Participant acknowledges that he or she may be subject to insider trading restrictions and/or market abuse laws in applicable jurisdictions including, but not limited to, the United States and the Participant’s country of residence, which may affect the Participant’s ability to acquire or sell Shares or rights to Shares (e.g., P-RSUs) under the Plan during such time as the Participant is considered to have “inside information” regarding the Company (as defined by the laws in the applicable jurisdictions). Local insider trading laws and regulations may prohibit the cancellation or amendment of orders the Participant placed before the Participant possessed inside information. Furthermore, the Participant could be prohibited from (i) disclosing the inside information to any third party and (ii) “tipping” third parties or causing them otherwise to buy or sell securities. The Participant should keep in mind third parties includes fellow employees. Any restrictions under these laws or regulations are separate from and in addition to any restrictions that may be imposed under any applicable insider trading policy of the Company. The Participant is responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable restrictions and should consult with his or her personal legal advisor on this matter.
12.Foreign Asset/Account Reporting Requirements. Depending on the Participant’s country, the Participant may be subject to foreign asset/account, exchange control and/or tax reporting requirements as a result of the vesting of the P-RSUs, the acquisition, holding and/or transfer of Shares or cash resulting from participation in the Plan and/or the opening and maintaining of a brokerage or bank account in connection with the Plan. The Participant may be required to report such assets, accounts, account balances and values, and/or related transactions to the applicable authorities in his or her country. The Participant may also be required to repatriate sale proceeds or other funds received as a result of his or her participation in the Plan to his or her
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country through a designated bank or broker and/or within a certain time after receipt. The Participant acknowledges that he or she is responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable foreign asset/account, exchange control and tax reporting and other requirements. The Participant further understands that he or she should consult the Participant’s personal tax and legal advisors, as applicable on these matters.
13.Miscellaneous.
(a)Address for Notices. Any notice to be given to the Company under the terms of this Agreement must be addressed to the Company at Palantir Technologies Inc., 1200 17th Street, Floor 15, Denver, Colorado 80202, USA until the Company designates another address in writing.
(b)Non-Transferability of P-RSUs. These P-RSUs may not be transferred other than by will or the applicable laws of descent or distribution.
(c)Binding Agreement. If any P-RSUs are transferred, this Agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the heirs, legatees, legal representatives, successors, and assigns of the parties to this Agreement.
(d)Additional Conditions to Issuance of Stock. If at any time the Company determines, in its discretion, that the listing, registration, qualification or rule compliance of the Shares upon any securities exchange or under any U.S. or non-U.S. federal, state or local law the tax Code and related regulations or under the rulings or regulations of the SEC or any other governmental regulatory body or the clearance, consent or approval of the SEC or any other governmental regulatory authority is necessary or desirable as a condition to the issuance of Shares to Participant hereunder, such issuance will not occur unless and until such listing, registration, qualification, rule compliance, clearance, consent or approval will have been completed, effected or obtained free of any conditions not acceptable to the Company. If any such listing, registration, qualification, rule compliance, clearance, consent or approval has not been completed by the applicable Settlement Deadline with respect to a P-RSU in a manner that would allow it to be settled by the applicable Settlement Deadline, such P-RSU will be forfeited as of immediately following the Settlement Deadline for no consideration and at no cost to the Company. Subject to the terms of this Agreement and the Plan, the Company shall not be required to issue any certificate or certificates for Shares hereunder prior to the lapse of such reasonable period of time following the date of vesting of a P-RSU as the Administrator may establish from time to time for reasons of administrative convenience and any such certificate may be in book entry form.
(e)Captions. Captions provided in this Agreement are for convenience only and are not to serve as a basis for interpretation or construction of this Agreement.
(f)Agreement Severable. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be severed from the remaining provisions of this Agreement and the invalidity or unenforceability will have no effect on the remainder of the Agreement.
(g)Non-U.S. Appendix. These P-RSUs are subject to any special terms and conditions set forth in any appendix to this Agreement for the Participant’s country (the “Appendix”). If the Participant resides and/or works in a country, or relocates to a country, included in the Appendix, the special terms and conditions for that country will apply to him or her to the
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extent the Company determines that applying such terms and conditions is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons.
(h)Imposition of Other Requirements. The Company reserves the right to impose other requirements on the Participant’s participation in the Plan, on the P-RSUs and on any Shares acquired under the Plan, to the extent the Company determines it is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons, and to require the Participant to sign any additional agreements or undertakings that may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing; provided, however, that no such imposition of other requirements shall occur or be effective unless such imposition would result in these P-RSUs remaining exempt or excepted from the requirements of Code Section 409A pursuant to the “short-term deferral” exception or another exception or exemption under Code Section 409A, or otherwise complying with Code Section 409A, in each case such that none of this Agreement, the P-RSUs provided under this Agreement, or Shares, cash or other property issuable hereunder will be subject to the additional tax imposed under Code Section 409A.
(i)Choice of Law; Choice of Forum. The Plan, this Agreement, these P-RSUs, and all determinations made and actions taken under the Plan, to the extent not otherwise governed by the laws of the United States, will be governed by the laws of the State of Delaware without giving effect to principles of conflicts of law. For purposes of litigating any dispute that arises under the Plan, the Participant’s acceptance of these P-RSUs is his or her consent to the jurisdiction of the State of Delaware and his or her agreement that any such litigation will be conducted in the Delaware Court of Chancery or the federal courts for the United States for the District of Delaware and no other courts, regardless of where he or she is performing services.
(j)Modifications to the Agreement. The Plan and this Agreement constitute the entire understanding of the parties on the subjects covered. The Participant expressly warrants that he or she is not accepting this Agreement in reliance on any promises, representations, or inducements other than those contained herein. Modifications to this Agreement or the Plan can be made only in an express written contract executed by a duly authorized officer of the Company. Notwithstanding anything in the Plan or this Agreement to the contrary, but subject to Section 13(h), the Administrator may, without the consent of the Participant, modify this Agreement in any of the following manners: (a) take any action permitted by Section 4 of this Agreement, including to waive or decrease, in whole or in part, some or all of the requirements required for vesting of all or a portion of the unvested P-RSUs; or (b) waive or decrease some or all of the requirements for settlement of P-RSUs. The Company reserves the right to revise this Agreement as it deems necessary or advisable, in its sole discretion and without the consent of the Participant, to comply with Code Section 409A, to otherwise avoid imposition of any additional tax or income recognition under Code Section 409A in connection with these P-RSUs, or to comply with other Applicable Laws.
(k)Waiver. The Participant acknowledges that a waiver by the Company of a breach of any provision of this Agreement will not operate or be construed as a waiver of any other provision of this Agreement or of any subsequent breach of this Agreement by him or her.
(l)Language. The Participant acknowledges that the Participant is sufficiently proficient in English, or has consulted with an advisor who is sufficiently proficient in English, so as to allow the Participant to understand the terms of this Agreement. If Participant has received this Agreement, or any other document related to these P-RSUs and/or the Plan translated into a
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language other than English and if the meaning of the translated version is different than the English version, the English version will control.
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EXHIBIT B
APPENDIX TO GLOBAL PERFORMANCE-BASED RESTRICTED STOCK UNIT AGREEMENT
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Exhibit 31.1
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-14(a) OR 15d-14a OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302
OF THE SARBANES OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Alexander C. Karp, certify that:
1.I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Palantir Technologies Inc.;
2.Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:
a.Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
b.Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
c.Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
d.Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and
5.The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
a.All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
b.Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.
| PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC. | |||||||||||
Date: November 4, 2024 | By: | /s/ Alexander C. Karp | |||||||||
| Alexander C. Karp | |||||||||||
| Chief Executive Officer | |||||||||||
(Principal Executive Officer) | |||||||||||
Exhibit 31.2
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-14(a) OR 15d-14a OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302
OF THE SARBANES OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, David Glazer, certify that:
1.I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Palantir Technologies Inc.;
2.Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:
a.Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
b.Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
c.Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
d.Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and
5.The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
a.All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
b.Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC. | |||||||||||
Date: November 4, 2024 | By: | /s/ David Glazer | |||||||||
David Glazer | |||||||||||
Chief Financial Officer | |||||||||||
(Principal Financial Officer) | |||||||||||
Exhibit 32.1
CERTIFICATIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL OFFICER
PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 906
OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Alexander C. Karp, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Palantir Technologies Inc. for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2024 fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and that information contained in such Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of Palantir Technologies Inc.
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC. | |||||||||||
Date: November 4, 2024 | By: | /s/ Alexander C. Karp | |||||||||
Alexander C. Karp | |||||||||||
Chief Executive Officer | |||||||||||
(Principal Executive Officer) | |||||||||||
I, David Glazer, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Palantir Technologies Inc. for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2024 fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and that information contained in such Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of Palantir Technologies Inc.
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC. | |||||||||||
Date: November 4, 2024 | By: | /s/ David Glazer | |||||||||
David Glazer | |||||||||||
Chief Financial Officer | |||||||||||
(Principal Financial Officer) | |||||||||||