Palantir CEO Says Commercial Contracts Are Getting Shorter

Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp said commercial customers are moving to deployment faster but signing shorter contracts, a shift that coincided with a 31% quarterly drop in U.S. commercial total contract value.

On the third-quarter earnings call, Karp described “much quicker interaction, much quicker to deployment, shorter duration of the contract but then an ability to expand that contract dramatically.”

Palantir closed $1.46 billion in U.S. commercial total contract value in the quarter, down about 31% from the $2.13 billion record in the second quarter. Total revenue rose 96% year over year to $2.31 billion, while U.S. commercial revenue climbed 148% to $984 million.

U.S. commercial revenue exceeded U.S. government revenue of $953 million for the first time. Quarterly revenue also topped $2 billion for the first time. The result surpassed Palantir’s previous third-quarter revenue forecast.