INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
SAP today announced that Bill McDermott, its CEO for the last nine years, is stepping down immediately
The company says he decided not to renew his contract
SAP Executive Board members Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein have been appointed co-CEOs.
McDermott, who started his business career as a
deli owner in Amityville, Long Island and recently spoke at our TechCrunch Sessions: Enterprise event, joined SAP in 2002 as the head of SAP
He became co-CEO in 2008 and the company sole CEO in 2014, making him the first American to take on this role at the German enterprise giant
Under his guidance, SAP annual revenue and stock price continued to increase
He&ll remain with the company in an advisory role for the next two months.
It unclear why McDermott decided to step down at this point
Activist investor Elliott Management recently disclosed a $1.35 billion stake in SAP, but when asked for a comment about today news, an
Elliott spokesperson told us that it didn''t have any &immediate comment.
It also worth noting that the company saw a number of defections
among its executive ranks in recent months, with both SAP SuccessFactors COO Brigette McInnis-Day and Robert Enslin, the president of its
cloud business and a board member, leaving the company for Google Cloud.
SAP would not be what it is today without Bill McDermott,& said
Plattner in today announcement
&Bill made invaluable contributions to this company and he was a main driver of SAP transition to the cloud, which will fuel our growth for
We thank him for everything he has done for SAP
We also congratulate Jennifer and Christian for this opportunity to build on the strong foundation we have for the future of SAP
Bill and I made the decision over a year ago to expand Jennifer and Christian roles as part of a long-term process to develop them as our
next generation of leaders
We are confident in their vision and capabilities as we take SAP to its next phase of growth and innovation.
McDermott biggest bet in recent
years came with the acquisition of Qualtrics for $8 billion
At our event last month, McDermott compared this acquisition to Apple acquisition of Next and Facebook acquisition of Instagram
&Qualtrics is to SAP what those M-A moves were to those wonderful companies,& he said
Under his leadership, SAP also acquired corporate expense and travel management company Concur for $8.3 billion and SuccessFactors for $3.4
billion.
Now is the moment for everyone to begin an exciting new chapter, and I am confident that Jennifer and Christian will do an
outstanding job,& McDermott said in today announcement
&I look forward to supporting them as they finish 2019 and lay the foundation for 2020 and beyond
To every customer, partner, shareholder and colleague who invested their trust in SAP, I can only relay my heartfelt gratitude and enduring
respect.
SAP agrees to buy Qualtrics for $8B in cash, just before the survey software company IPO
Updating…
