User Review
( votes)
Commenting on the news, SAP CEO Christian Klein said “SAP’s acquisition of Qualtrics has been a great success and has outperformed our expectations with 2019 cloud growth in excess of 40%, demonstrating very strong performance in the current setup.”
SAP Qualtrics- Over the weekend, in a move that surprised many of us in business and tech, German software giants SAP announced their intention to spin out their experience management acquisition Qualtrics and make it public through an IPO. The announcement was deemed particularly notable due to the fact that SAP only acquired the experience management company less than two years ago.
Back in late 2018, a few days before Qualtrics went public, SAP acquired the Utah-based Qualtrics for a cash-only deal of $8Bn. This was one of the biggest cash-only deals at the time, making this announcement all the more surprising and exciting. What does this move tell us about the nature of the Experience Management market? How have circumstances shifted in just a few short years?
It’s worth noting that the partnership between SAP and Qualtrics is far from over. In fact, SAP will retain majority ownership of Qualtrics and the experience management company’s founder, Ryan Smith, will be the firm’s largest stakeholder. Speaking about the move, Smith added, “SAP is an incredible partner with unprecedented global reach, and we couldn’t be more excited about continuing the partnership. This will allow us to continue building out the XM ecosystem across a broad array of partners.”
Commenting on the news, SAP CEO Christian Klein said “SAP’s acquisition of Qualtrics has been a great success and has outperformed our expectations with 2019 cloud growth in excess of 40%, demonstrating very strong performance in the current setup.” He added that this spin-out will provide the “greatest opportunity for Qualtrics to grow the experience management category, serve its customers, explore its own acquisition strategy, and continue building the best talent.”
Why now?
SAP’s decision to make Qualtrics public stands to unlock the software company’s value to an unprecedented extent, boosting their autonomy on the scene while continuing to generate revenue for SAP. The massive value potential of Qualtrics has clearly not gone unnoticed.
