SAP to buy Qualtrics

Qualtrics was on the verge of going public with a planned stock market listing when the deal was announced.

Under the terms of the acquisition, SAP will acquire all outstanding shares of Qualtrics for $8bn in cash. The price includes unvested employee bonuses and cash on the balance sheet at close.

The deal will strengthen the German company’s customer relationship management (CRM) offer, as it intends to combine its operational data with Qualtrics’ experience data and insights to aid clients in managing supply chains, networks, employees and core processes.

Bill McDermott, chief executive of SAP, described experience management as “the groundbreaking new frontier” for the tech industry, and added: “When you combine our operational data with Qualtrics’ experience data, we will accelerate the [experience management] category with an end-to-end solution with immediate global scale.”

Qualtrics is expected to operate as an entity within SAP’s Cloud Business Group following the deal, retaining its brand and joint headquarters in Provo, Utah and Seattle, Washington. Chief executive Ryan Smith (pictured) will continue to lead the company.

Qualtrics expects its 2018 revenue to exceed $400m and projects a growth rate of over 40%, not including any potential synergies from being part of SAP.

SAP claims 77% of transactions globally are touched by its systems, while Qualtrics’ products are used by 9,000 enterprise clients.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year, subject to regulatory clearances and closing conditions.