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Palantir Moves Headquarters to Denver from Silicon Valley
- mwksl 6y agoThe reception of this move appears to be... mixed[0]. As a Denver resident, I'm interested in seeing if this moves some larger offices out of Boulder and into Denver. Boulder seems to be suffering under the weight of zoning laws[1], but Denver seems to be capable of expanding, or at least adapting[2]. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/Denver/comments/iczx59/palantir_hq_is_moving_from_palo_alto_to_denver_fun/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Denver/comments/iczx59/palantir_hq_... [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/business/how-anti-growth-sentiment-reflected-in-zoning-laws-thwarts-equality.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/business/how-anti-growth-... [2] https://www.denverpost.com/2018/08/06/denveright-denver-plans-parks-development-transit-trails/ https://www.denverpost.com/2018/08/06/denveright-denver-plan...
- bitexploder 6y agoBoulder is our own mini SF here in Colorado. Housing is artificially expensive and has many of the same things going on as SF regarding zoning. Really cool and hip place that has become increasingly unaffordable over the last decade.
- odessacubbage 6y agoi love how these giant companies choose to locate in municipalities that are either geographically,culturally or politically hostile to expansion & gentrification AND THEN bitch about nimbys. maybe we were better off when the coastalites just thought we were all backwater and racist.
- Balgair 6y ago> The last decade It think it goes back a bit further than that. Boulder has been seven square miles between the mountains and reality since the early 90's.
- CincinnatiMan 6y agoWhile interesting, it's important to not interpret Redditor opinions as representative of the larger populace.
- johnward 6y agoDoes anyone think this will start a trend of de-centralizing Silicon Valley? I'm just wondering what the world looks like if these companies continue to have remote employees. Will there be a need for an HQ in such a high cost area?
- nickff 6y agoRemote work actually makes having an HQ in a high-cost area much cheaper, but it also means that ease of recruited talented administrative staff becomes a more important consideration (as opposed to talented development staff). I am not sure how one can or should balance prestige and HR considerations. Another consideration is how hostile California in general, and San Francisco in particular have become towards business(es).[1] [1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1259638112688304129?lang=en https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1259638112688304129?lang...
- Reedx 6y agoI think the trend was already in progress, and Covid-19 just accelerated it by N years.
- ghaff 6y agoThat's the general thing. Covid-19 isn't going to force long-term trends that are otherwise fundamentally unattractive. It is accelerating changes that were already underway--and it's giving a bit of a shove to trends that companies/people just weren't ready to try out or commit to.
- mlindner 6y agoI hope it does, but I think the trend has already been going on for a while. I just hope that trend speeds up.
- UncleOxidant 6y agoPalantir didn't start this trend, covid-19 did. It forced remote working and then many realized that it can actually work really well. And the accountants started looking at how much money can be saved on leases.
- bognition 6y agoIt'll be very interesting to see how going remote impacts various urban centers. I can imagine that centers like Silicon Valley will be hit hard as a ton of their labor can work from anywhere. Whereas places like Boston that have a heavy bio-tech investment are harder to relocate because you need people working in physical labs.
- rllearneratwork 6y agoa lot of SV's tax base is going to disappear
- justizin 6y agowho the fuck in SV even pays taxes? nobody with actual money, sadly. gtfo.
- Schiendelman 6y agoWhat do you mean? California has an 11% top marginal income tax bracket - most of my income was in that bracket when I worked there. Add to that fairly high local sales taxes, and property taxes for the new (high income) residents as well as the commercial properties where they work.
- one2know 6y agoRich people only pay long term capital gains. Bezos salary is like $79k. Others have income of $1.
- chrisco255 6y agoI assure you Bezos pays sales tax and property tax on all the buildings he owns. The state of Washington doesn't even have an income tax.
- vonmoltke 6y agoWe're talking about state taxation. I don't know how California works, but New Jersey has no concept of "capital gains". It's all income.
- Drunk_Engineer 6y agoI thought Palantir was headquartered in Langley?
- Balgair 6y agoNah, just their servers ;P
- CobrastanJorji 6y agoThis feels on-brand after they used their S-1 to complain about Silicon Valley "elites." > The engineering elite of Silicon Valley may know more than most about building software. But they do not know more about how society should be organized or what justice requires. Presumably Denver elites know what justice requires.
- bhupy 6y agoOr that Silicon Valley has no intrinsic advantage, and that they no longer have to factor it in where they are physically situated. Denver probably came out on top because they think it affords a better quality of life for their employees and possibly more favorable tax regime.
- wenc 6y agoIn one of Paul Graham's early essays [1], he talks about cities and ambition, and how each city sends a message to its inhabitants by virtue of the cluster of people who live there or aspire to be there (and have ended up there). I'm just wondering: what is Denver's message? Is it similar to Utah's where a slew of successful software companies got started? [2] Or has the city's message become unimportant in the era of remote work? I ask because it is often the case in history that great work is done in places that are the least comfortable. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/cities.html http://www.paulgraham.com/cities.html [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Slopes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Slopes
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago>I'm just wondering: what is Denver's message "I made my money, screw you" It's like the Florida or Vermont of the west only it's SV types who cash out and move there to raise kids or retire instead of the Wall St crowd.
- malandrew 6y agoA lot of us aren't against taxes. We're against unreasonable levels of taxation and governance that squanders the taxes it does collect. California is the taxation equivalent of a loan shark. I now live in a state where I pay lower taxes and that provides more and better services than California. In fact, I can't think of a single thing California does better. I'm happy to pay my taxes here as this state's government does a much better job with the tax revenue they do collect. Sadly, as more Californians come to my state, they are supporting a lot of the same bad policy decisions that were well-intentioned but ultimately ended up becoming problematic in California.
- shrubble 6y agoDenver is very heavy with Federal government agencies. So in that sense it seems to be a logical step.
- tom-_- 6y agoIgnore the grandstanding, the two reasons why companies move out of a state/country: 1. Tax laws 2. Cheaper labor Edit: 3. Be closer to the people that give them money
- valuearb 6y agoDon’t forget 3. Skiing.
- mxuribe 6y ago4. To be geographically in the center of the nation when the nukes launch towards the U.S....plus, it would be handy to visit the cafeteria at Cheyenne Mountain [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne_Mountain_Complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne_Mountain_Complex]
- hn_throwaway_99 6y agoI don't think that's true of "winner take all/most" businesses anymore. Who cares about saving 15% on labor in a business where the difference between the highest quality employees and just "good" employees is literally billions in valuation? There's a reason that so many of these giant incredibly profitable business are in places with punitive tax laws and some of the most expensive labor on the planet.
- tom-_- 6y agoIt's true, locality of talent pool matters..but covid has shown the degree to which it matters is quickly diminishing as evidenced by the handful of companies declaring WFH forever, or re-considering their office leases.
- anderspitman 6y agoI have fond memories of the security guards at the Palantir building in Palo Alto. I helped run street experiments for a wireless startup back in 2011 and they always thought we were trying to hack their WiFi.
- commonturtle 6y agoIt's unclear if a significant number of the employees are going to move from PA to Denver or if Denver will simply be HQ in name.
- rmk 6y agoNew Hampshire has no State Income Tax, nor any Sales Tax. Not entirely sure whether they have their own version of a Capital Gains Tax (CA sure does). Karp will reap the benefits of moving to NH. Not sure if he will escape CA Tax Authorities coming after him (but if he has planned his move, he probably has access to the best advice money can buy.)
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y agoBlucifer bursts out into braying laughter.