Peter Thiel on Fox & Friends in Aug. 2019. Photo: John Lamparski/Getty Images
The Defense Department announced on Friday that it cinched a roughly $110 million contract with Palantir, the data-mining company founded by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, the Washington Post reports.
The big picture: Palantir already holds more than $1.5 billion in federal government contracts — just over $1 billion of which was with the Defense Department, as of August. The company, founded in 2004, has partnered closely with the agency since its inception, when it reportedly worked on projects in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Details: The newly announced $110 million deal is the first installment of "a four-year, $440 million program called Vantage, formerly known as Army Leader Dashboard," per the Post.
- Doug Philippone, head of Palantir's operation in D.C., told the Post that "the project will allow military agencies to harness data to make better strategic decisions."