SAP SE announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Qualtrics, a research and experience management software provider, in an $8 billion cash transaction. The acquisition positions SAP to combine Qualtrics’ experience data with its operational data to help customers better manage supply chains, networks, employees and processes.
The company said Qualtrics will maintain its leadership, branding, personnel and culture, and operate as an entity within SAP’s Cloud Business Group. Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith will continue to lead the company, which will maintain its dual headquarters in Provo, Utah and Seattle, Wash. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019.
“Our mission is to help organizations deliver the experiences that turn their customers into fanatics, employees into ambassadors, products into obsessions and brands into religions,” said Smith in a statement. “Supported by a global team of over 95,000, SAP will help us scale faster and achieve our mission on a broader stage. This will put the XM Platform everywhere overnight. We could not be more excited to join forces with the SAP team in this once-in-a-generation opportunity to power the experience economy.”
“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,” said SAP CEO Bill McDermott in a statement. “For Qualtrics, this introduces a dynamic new partner with the belief, passion and scale to bring experience management to millions of customers around the world.”
