SAP To Take Experience Management Unit Qualtrics Public, Less Than 2 Years After $8B Acquisition

SAP SE SAP announced Sunday it is planning to take its experience management (XM) software unit Qualtrics public in the United States.

What Happened

The German multinational software corporation will hold on to the majority ownership of Qualtrics and said the primary objective for the IPO is to “fortify Qualtrics's ability to capture its full market potential within Experience Management.”

The enterprise software maker owns 100% of Qualtrics and said it has no intention of spinning off or divesting that stake. 

Ryan Smith, the co-founder and CEO of the cloud-based survey-software company intends to be the largest individual shareholder of Qualtrics post-IPO.

“SAP is an incredible partner with unprecedented global reach, and we couldn't be more excited about continuing the partnership," Smith noted. "This will allow us to continue building out the XM ecosystem across a broad array of partners.”

A final decision on the IPOs conditions and timings is yet to be announced.

Why It Matters

SAP had purchased the Utah-based firm in 2018 for $8 billion just before it was set to go public, at a $2.5 billion premium. At the time, the XM software firm had over 9,000 customers, such as Coca-Cola Co KO, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG BMWYY, Walt Disney Co DIS, and the U.S. Air Force, the Financial Times reported.

Had Qualtrics gone public in 2018, it would have raised approximately $4.5 billion at the upper end of the $18-$21 per share indicated range for the offering.

SAP said in the statement that the U.S. firm has been able to operate with greater independence within the German software giant’s cloud portfolio than other companies that it had previously acquired.

Price Action 

SAP shares closed 1.6% lower at $158.62 in New York on Friday. 

Photo courtesy: TechCrunch