While Palantir Technologies continues to expand its footprint in the artificial intelligence sector, a new equity research report from Jefferies has highlighted startling details buried in the company’s latest 10-K filing, the annual report that all publicly traded companies submit to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The most eye-catching revelation concerns the travel habits of CEO Alex Karp, whose executive aircraft expenses more than doubled over the previous year, suggesting the chief executive may have spent nearly one-third of his year in the sky. In the 10-K, Palantir disclosed Karp incurred $17.2 million in executive aircraft expenses in calendar year 2025, covering both personal and business travel. This figure represents a massive surge from the $7.7 million reported in 2024.
To put this spending into perspective, Jefferies analysts crunched the numbers on flight costs. If Karp were utilizing a midsize jet with an estimated operating cost of $7,000 per hour, the $17.2 million total implies he logged roughly 2,457 flight hours. That equates to approximately 28% of the entire year, or roughly one out of every 3.5 days, spent flying.
Even under a conservative estimate assuming the use of a top-tier jet, such as a G650 costing $15,000 per hour, Karp would still have spent 13% of the year—about 1,147 hours—in the air. The report notes this spending is “elevated relative to peers,” citing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s aircraft spending of roughly $1.8 million and Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora’s approximately $2.4 million.
