Palantir postponed a Williams College recruiting session after 1,000 signed against it in 36 hours
A petition with 1,000 signatures in 36 hours, 37% of them alumni, forced Palantir to shelve a Williams College recruiting session. The company hiring its way to an $8.53 billion year just found its labor supply contested.
Vincent Jiangtwo-minute read
The recruiters never showed. On Thursday, Palantir−3.69% — Palantir, down 3.69 percent today postponed its alum-run "Palantir X Williams" session at Williams College's '68 Center for Career Exploration, citing "unforeseen circumstances 1." On Friday, about 100 students, faculty and community members picketed anyway, chanting "we won't use our minds to commit war crimes" 1. The trigger was a petition that drew more than 1,000 signatures in 36 hours, with over 400 comments 1.
The resistance sits inside the hiring funnel
Here is the tell other desks missed: 37% of the signers were Palantir alumni 1. The protest against Palantir's hiring funnel is standing inside it. Organizers taped 800 posters across campus and delivered the petition to President Maud Mandel, whose office says hosting a recruiter is not an endorsement 1. Organizers want a policy barring companies like it; the college says it cannot bar one at all short of assault.
The work they object to is documented, not rhetoric. A $30 million ICE contract runs through September 2027, using Palantir software to identify noncitizens for deportation 1. Bloomberg found Palantir's Maven Smart System inside the US military targeting process ahead of a February strike on an Iranian elementary school that killed at least 123 children 1. What is new since our October reporting on the ICE tool is the renewal date now sitting inside a contested campus, days after Democrats took Congress.
Hiring is the input behind the $8.53 billion guide
Q3 US commercial revenue jumped 148% to $984 million, passing US government revenue of $953 million for the first time, and adjusted expenses rose 53% year over year on hiring 2. That hiring is the input behind the raised $8.53 billion 2026 guide 2. Meanwhile the stock carries a 33.78x forward sales multiple, roughly nine times the industry's 3.78x, which leaves no margin for execution trouble 3. The Rule of 40 score of 158%, built on 96% revenue growth and a 62% adjusted operating margin, is near four times the software benchmark and has climbed all year 3.
Revenue has grown 2.8 times in eight quarters, to $2.3 billion
Data
| Revenue | |
|---|---|
| Q4 '24 | $0.83B |
| Q1 '25 | $0.88B |
| Q2 '25 | $1B |
| Q3 '25 | $1.18B |
| Q4 '25 | $1.41B |
| Q1 '26 | $1.63B |
| Q2 '26 | $1.94B |
| Q3 '26 | $2.31B |
Rule of 40 is nearly four times the 40% benchmark and still climbing
Data
| Rule of 40 score | |
|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 145% |
| Q2 2026 | 155% |
| Q3 2026 | 158% |
Who pays: Palantir, if cleared engineers cost more or hiring slows. Who benefits: Helsing and Anduril$124.31B — Anduril, private, latest valuation $124.31B, recruiting the same campuses. Watch the ICE renewal in September 2027 and any congressional demand for Maven records. The recruiting tent is where the war meets the labor market, and the labor market just said no.
Get Policy & Labor by email, free
The rules governments write for AI, and what AI does to jobs. In our daily email, every weekday.
Reader comments
0 comments