Palantir Technologies has provided almost no explanation for why it abruptly left Denver, which it communicated via a one-sentence social media post Tuesday that has garnered 15.3 million views.
But clues sprinkled in a 10-K filing made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday suggest an abrupt relocation, not unlike an upset partner moving out in the middle of the night.
The data-analytics company reportedly signed a lease in September for 11,400 square feet at the Financial House, located at 205 Detroit St. in Cherry Creek, and had even submitted plans to remodel the space, according to a BusinessDen story based on public records.
That would suggest Palantir saw a future in Colorado and was committed to Denver. But that address hasn’t shown up in any corporate filing made with the SEC or with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. If Palantir had ever intended to make Cherry Creek its headquarters, the plans are off.
In a change of address filing the company made with the secretary of state on Feb. 9, Palantir listed its principal office as being at 518 17th St., Suite 1015, replacing its prior address of 1200 17th St., Floor 15, which it had listed as its home since a filing made on July 23, 2023 — and as recently as on Feb. 2. The first address is in the DC Building, while the second one is in the Tabor Center.
On Wednesday, the company informed the state of another address change — this time to 19505 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 2350, an apparent coworking space in Aventura, Florida.
Both Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston described being caught off guard by the company’s decision to relocate. Palantir executives didn’t offer state and local leaders a chance to talk them into staying. But the company had a reputation for being tight-lipped and keeping to itself.
Even the company’s local headcount remains a mystery. Polis said Tuesday that it might be around 500.
Palantir’s importance wasn’t as much in its employee count as in its market value, which at its peak late last year surpassed that of every other Colorado company combined. It single-handedly put Denver on the map as an artificial intelligence hub, although not without controversy.
The company, which has extensive government contracts, has faced repeated protests over the assistance provided to the Israeli military in Gaza, as well as its recent contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help it in its deportation efforts. A protest at the end of January was larger than usual.
“We take this as proof that coordinated, collaborative action by the people is the most effective route to bringing about a better world. We won’t stop until Palantir is fully out of Denver and is brought to justice. We look forward to supporting the people of South Florida in the continued fight against this destructive corporation and its billionaire owners,” said Michael Hughes of Denver Anti-War Action, in a statement Wednesday.
Moving to South Florida, which has a much larger immigrant community than Denver, likely won’t shield it from protests.
New address is a coworking space
For a big public company with $332.5 billion in market value to abruptly shift its address and put its executives in a coworking space would be the corporate equivalent of sleeping on a best friend’s couch while going through a breakup. If the sudden move were a movie, Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” could provide the soundtrack.
It remains to be seen how much of the company’s workforce will remain in Denver, but the company is reported to be looking for more permanent space in the Miami area.
Aventura is a suburb on the northern edge of Miami-Dade County, closer to Fort Lauderdale than downtown Miami. The suite number is a mailing address for the Industrious coworking space, which is located within the Aventura Mall Office Tower, a building that has about 250,000 square feet of space and is attached to one of the nation’s most active malls.
Based on its typical footprint, Industrious might lease about 10% of that space, and of that amount, only a fraction of that would have likely been available for Palantir to take.
Palantir listed two key risks associated with its presence in Colorado in its 10-K, the first related to climate change and the second to the state’s new AI regulations.
“… our Colorado headquarters has experienced climate-related events and may continue to at an increasing frequency in the future, including drought, water scarcity, heat waves and wildfires, resulting in air quality impacts and power shutoffs. Additionally, while many of our employees have returned to our offices, it could be particularly difficult to mitigate the impact of these events on our employees continuing to work remotely,” the company said.
But if Palantir was looking for climate stability, Florida is hardly the place to go. That state has been hit by roughly 500 tropical and subtropical cyclones in records going back to 1851. And there have been only 18 years in the past 175 years where a hurricane didn’t strike somewhere. The 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons proved especially rough.
A more likely explanation is what the company said about the Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act, or CAIA, which the state legislature passed in 2024 and which is set to take effect this summer.
Palantir specifically called out Colorado’s AI legislation as a risk to its operations in its latest 10-K filing, saying the law mirrors provisions appearing in European Union regulations. It also mentions concerns about narrower regulatory efforts on AI in California, Utah and Texas.
“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, onerous, and costly, and could adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects,” the company warned investors.
Palantir’s departure ‘a real loss’
Attendees gathered on Wednesday at the Colorado Technology Association’s annual Tech Summit were also at a loss to explain why Palantir left, while acknowledging the company didn’t rub shoulders with the local tech community. They lacked insights and feared their warnings about the impacts of the state’s new AI law were coming true.
“I think it is a real loss,” said Seth Levine, a co-founder and partner in Foundry, a Boulder-based venture capital firm.
Levine was awarded the CTA’s Bob Newman Lifetime Achievement Award, along with David Cohen, founder and CEO of TechStars, a leading tech business incubator that got its start in Boulder.
After Colorado passed its AI bill into law, Levine said he heard from several investors saying they wouldn’t invest in any Colorado companies that Foundry brought to them. It might have been an overreaction, but members of the tech community nationally considered Colorado to be heavy-handed and stifling innovation.
Cohen raised the possibility that Palantir was lured away by the appeal of Miami, which has become a popular destination for tech and financial companies and billionaires looking to escape higher income taxes in other states.
“Miami is doing a good job of marketing itself,” Cohen said, although as someone who knows the tech scene there, he questions whether the appeal is sustainable.
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