SAP Cuts Jobs and Mulls Qualtrics Sale

German-based software giant SAP has announced plans to cut up to 3,000 jobs, and says it will explore the possible sale of its 71% stake in experience management firm Qualtrics.

The news follows other big tech lay-off announcements, including Salesforce, which said earlier this month it would be losing around 10% of its workforce or 7,300 jobs; and even closer to home Nielsen, which amid departures for many senior execs has confirmed it is reducing total headcount to 'roughly in line with where it was a year ago'.

The SAP job losses are equivalent to about 2.5% of the workforce, and come despite healthy results published last Thursday. Provo, Utah-based Qualtrics, which SAP purchased in November 2018 for an already eye-popping $8bn in cash and took public at a still higher valuation of $30 a share (c.$15bn) precisely two years ago, provides solutions across what it calls the four 'core experiences': contact center customer needs forecast CustomerXM; employee engagement trend tracker EmployeeXM; ProductXM, which gives product managers the ability to test market 'fit' on new products; and BrandXM. Ryan Smith (pictured) is CEO and co-founder.

SAP CEO Christian Klein said in the company's earnings call: 'We are further focusing our portfolio in areas where we are strongest to continue our accelerated growth'. In the same call, CFO Luka Mucic asserted that in the event of a sale the company 'absolutely will continue' its 'very successful collaboration on the go-to market and technology front with Qualtrics' and said he believes the move would give Qualtrics 'an even better ability to independently pursue its leadership and pursue the corresponding investments'.

Web sites: www.qualtrics.com and www.sap.com .