Palantir Gives Investors the Miami Vice Treatment After New HQ Announcement…

Alex Karp puts the “man” in "Florida Man” 

Palantir’s Iron Throne King, Alex Karp, is going full Miami Vice as Palantir announced Tuesday it's packing up and taking its talents to Miami, completing what is now officially a two-step retreat from civilized weather. First was Palo Alto → then Denver in 2020, and finally Denver → Miami. Three times a charm. 

(Source: Giphy) 

The official reason is the usual vague gestures toward "innovation hub" energy and "business-friendly environment." The actual reason is the California Billionaire Tax Act, which has the entire tech wealth class collectively clenched for what’s to come. Turns out a one time 5% wealth tax on anyone worth over $1 billion is apparently one step too far for most. Translation: If you're sitting on $4 billion and California wants an extra $200 million from you,  you start noticing how nice Miami is. Suddenly the humidity is "character-building."

(Source: CNBC) 

That said, Dr. Emmett Brown's real life twin (read: Karp) isn’t alone in his thinking. Peter Thiel (PLTR co-founder and certified bada$$ on all things VC) has already set up a serious Miami base. Zuck reportedly bought another mansion in Florida. Ken Griffin's Citadel has been there for a while now, quietly building the Midtown Manhattan of the Southeast. ServiceNow just announced more office space in West Palm Beach. Oh, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin have reportedly dipped from California entirely.

Meaning, the California exodus ain’t your grandpa’s trickle… It's a full-on wave. On the other hand, the only one being a teacher's pet with this (so far) is none other than Jensen Huang… worth $150 billion… and says he’s “perfectly fine” with the wealth tax. And just imagine having that amount of F’you money to say that. Airbnb’s Brian Chesky is also staying put. 

 

(Source: X) 

The craziest part though, is Gavin Newsom, who you'd expect to be going to pound town on this thing, came out against it. Even the San Jose mayor, a Democrat, said no thanks. When you've managed to unite California tech billionaires AND the Democratic governor in opposition, you might want to revisit your legislation. 

Regardless, from where Palantir and Karp sit, this is just sensible portfolio management. For Miami, it's clear they didn’t become the most recent tech hub because of the weather or the nightlife. They became one because a bunch of extremely rich people did the same math at the same time and all landed at MIA. Woof. Until next time, friends… 

 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News does not hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.