- Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) harbored a secret plan to deepen its relationship with the U.K.'s National Health Service without public scrutiny.
- Palantir aimed to buy up smaller rivals that already had an existing relationship with the NHS, Bloomberg reports citing relevant documents.
- Palantir planned to take over small businesses serving the NHS to "take a lot of ground and take down a lot of political resistance."
- Also Read: 'Bad Times Are Incredibly Good For Palantir:' CEO Alex Karp
- The suitable U.K. takeover targets were those with credible leadership, annual revenue of between £5 million and £50 million, and already selling software services to the NHS.
- Since 2020, Palantir bagged over £37 million in contracts with the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care, the report specified, citing public spending tracker AdviceCloud.
- Key client NHS hired Palantir to help respond to COVID-19 and currently has a £360 million contract for tender.
- Palantir hopes to deepen its business with a critical client by making key hires from the NHS and via potential acquisitions.
- Palantir has faced criticism in countries including the U.S. and U.K. for providing tools to government agencies that help enable broad surveillance of populations.
- Palantir acknowledged winning NHS business on merit.
- Recently Palantir won a $229 million deal to develop and deliver artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities for the Special Forces, the Joint Staff, and every branch of the U.S. Armed Services.
- Price Action: PLTR shares traded higher by 0.87% at $8.15 in the premarket on the last check Friday.
