Christian
Klein,
CEO
of
the
software
company
SAP,
stands
on
the
podium
looking
at
his
cell
phone
before
the
start
of
the
company’s
Annual
General
Meeting.
Uwe
Anspach
|
Picture
Alliance
|
Getty
Images
SAP
said
on
Tuesday
that
it
aims
to
carry
out
voluntary
buyouts
or
enable
job
changes
for
8,000
employees
as
part
of
a
restructuring
program
for
2024.
The
German
software
company
said
in
a
statement
that
its
headcount
should
remain
the
same
at
year
end.
SAP
had
about
108,000
full-time
employees
at
the
end
of
2023,
meaning
that
the
restructuring
will
affect
over
7%
of
the
workforce.
SAP
shares
were
up
about
5%
in
extended
trading.
The
stock
jumped
about
50%
last
year,
its
best
performance
since
2012,
while
the
Nasdaq
Composite
index
rose
43%.
SAP
is
aiming
to
reposition
itself
for
faster
growth,
in
part
from
artificial
intelligence
after
revenue
increased
5%
year
over
year
in
the
fourth
quarter.
Higher
interest
rates
and
concerns
about
the
economy
have
hurt
tech
spending
and
led
to
layoffs
across
the
industry,
starting
in
late
2022.
A
year
ago
SAP
said
it
would
get
rid
of
3,000
roles.
The
downsizing
trend
has
continued
to
start
2024,
with
companies
including
Alphabet
and
Amazon
announcing
layoffs
this
month.
SAP
said
it
now
expects
10
billion
euros
($10.85
billion)
in
2025
adjusted
operating
profit.
That’s
down
2
billion
euros
from
its
previous
outlook
because
of
share-based
compensation,
but
up
by
500
million
euros
due
to
planned
efficiencies
from
the
restructuring.
CEO
Christian
Klein
has
been
working
to
make
SAP
more
cloud-centric,
following
similar
shifts
at
Adobe,
Microsoft
and
Oracle.
Klein
joined
SAP
in
1999.
In
2019
he
was
named
co-CEO
with
Jennifer
Morgan
to
replace
Bill
McDermott,
and
in
2020
Klein
became
sole
CEO.
About
44%
of
SAP’s
fourth-quarter
revenue,
totaling
8.47
billion
euros,
came
from
cloud
services,
up
from
25%
in
2019.
That
was
above
the
consensus
of
8.33
billion
euros
among
analysts
polled
by
LSEG.
WATCH:
SAP
CEO
says
2024
will
be
year
AI
moves
from
discovery
to
execution
watch
now
