People stand in front a banner displaying Palantir Technologies Inc. signage during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, Sept. 30, 2020.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Palantir confirmed on Monday that it’s cutting about 2% of its workforce as layoffs continue to hammer the tech industry.
“We believe our company is at an inflection point and to continue to evolve, we are making the tough choice of reducing teams in several areas,” the company said in an emailed statement. “While less than 2% of our workforce is impacted by these changes, these are incredibly painful decisions but the right ones for the company’s future.”
The layoffs will affect roughly 75 people based on the company’s latest Securities and Exchange Commission report in December, which showed it had 3,838 employees. A spokesperson told CNBC the company plans to continue hiring in areas of strategic importance.
Shares of Palantir were little changed on Monday and are up 27% so far this year.
The layoffs come after the software company reported its first profitable period earlier this month for the fourth quarter, and CEO Alex Karp said it expects to generate a profit for the current fiscal year. Palantir, which is known for its work with government defense agencies, reported an 18% increase in fourth-quarter revenue to $509 million.
Palantir is the latest tech company to announce layoffs as the industry reckons with a slowdown following over a decade of unbridled growth. Twilio, Dell, Zoom and eBay disclosed significant cuts to their workforce this month. In January, Google revealed plans to lay off more than 12,000 workers, Microsoft announced plans to cut 10,000 employees and Salesforce said it planned to cut 7,000 jobs.
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