Palantir appoints first female board member ahead of IPO

Palantir appoints first female board member ahead of IPO

Palantir appoints first female board member ahead of IPO

Palantir office known as the "Jewel Box" in Palo Alto, California.

Mark Neuling | CNBC

Peter Thiel's Palantir has appointed Wall Street Journal reporter Alexandra Wolfe Schiff as its first female board member ahead of an anticipated stock market listing. 

Wolfe Schiff, who has been with the Wall Street Journal since 2013, announced the move on Twitter after it was first reported by Bloomberg. 

"Big news: After over seven wonderful years at the Wall Street Journal, I've resigned to join the board of Palantir," she said late Tuesday. 

Palantir's home state of California requires public firms to have at least one woman on their board and financial heavyweights such as Goldman Sachs have said they won't help companies go public if they don't have diverse boards. 

While some have congratulated Wolfe Schiff on the appointment, others have questioned whether it is ethical for a journalist to join the board of a company like Palantir, which provides software to spy agencies and governments for surveillance purposes.

"Enjoy joining the wrong side of history," said former Googler Alex Hidalgo, who now works as a site reliability engineer at website building platform Squarespace, in response to Wolfe Schiff's tweet. 

Palantir has also