Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) has been making headlines after its board member, and partner at 8VC, Alex Moore deleted his X (formerly Twitter) account after saying in a tweet that its move to Nasdaq will “force billions in ETF buying.”
The tweet also said, "Everything we do is to reward and support our retail diamondhands following.”
What Happened: Palantir Technologies, also popularly known on the r/PLTR, subreddit as "pili,” is a data management and software company cofounded by Peter Thiel. It deals with government and military contracts. Knowing Palantir’s business it’s unlikely for the financial market participants to peg this company for having a vehement, meme-making fandom.
On Nov. 14, Palantir announced that it would transfer the listing of its Class A common stock from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Palantir said it expects to begin trading as a Nasdaq-listed company on Nov. 26. "Upon transferring, Palantir anticipates meeting the eligibility requirements of the Nasdaq-100 Index," the company said.
The tweet from Moore came after the announcement where he said that the shift to Nasdaq was to “deliver tendies to retail investors” consequent to the Nasdaq-following ETFs buying the stock.
Moore did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.
The use of ‘tendies’ is part of a broader meme culture within the stock market, where the slang term is used to discuss stock appreciation and profits. On Reddit, what ‘tendies’ also represent are the chicken tenders that an adult can buy as a reward for doing his chores.
Also read: Palantir Stock Is Rising After The Bell: What’s Going On?
Why It Matters: The fandom started when the company’s chief executive officer Alex Karp’s video overdubbed with fake vocals was posted by fans in r/PLTR. In the spoof video, Karp also known in the meme community as Daddy Karp was using indecent words and claimed that the stock would climb to $504 apiece. Following was the real video, which was spoofed:
However, Arny Trezzi, from Lecco, Italy, who runs the weekly Substack newsletter, Palantir Bullets told LinkedIn News that "even though the fundamentals of the company actually started to emerge, the meme community basically died when the stock went down in 2022."
"Board members should not be making posts like this regarding the companies they serve," a former regulator with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and founder of FrontLine Compliance Amy Lynch told Bloomberg.
The SEC will look at all trading activity and Reddit posts to see what was happening at the time of the tweet and who benefited from the tweet via transactions, Lynch said. While nothing may come of their investigation, it's possible the company could look to remove him from the board, she added.
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