SAP is selling its majority stake in Qualtrics to Silver Lake and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). The two organizations collectively created funds called “Silver Lake,” which has agreed to purchase Qualtrics for $12.5 billion.

The deal, which the companies announced on Monday, calls for Silver Lake to pay $18.15 per share for all Qualtrics’ outstanding shares. It represents a 73% premium over Qualtrics’ share price on Jan. 25, when SAP revealed it was shopping Qualtrics.

Qualtrics expects the deal to close in the second half of this year, pending regulatory approvals. SAP will net $7.7 billion for its stake. SAP paid $8 billion to acquire the experience management (XM) software provider in 2019. In 2021, SAP spun off a chunk of Qualtrics’ shares in an initial public offering (IPO).

SAP Layoffs

Responding to the slowdown in IT spending in recent months, SAP announced it would lay off 2,500 employees in January. In addition to the 2.5% reduction in the company’s workforce, CEO Christian Klein said SAP would “sharpen” its portfolio. Since acquiring Qualtrics, Klein said its revenues had tripled.

SAP’s Christian Klein

“Silver Lake has both the operational expertise and the track record with software companies to help Qualtrics extend its leadership in the XM category it pioneered,” Klein said. “SAP intends to remain a close go-to-market and technology partner, servicing joint customers and continuing to contribute to Qualtrics’ success.”

Klein added that SAP had expanded the number of Qualtrics customers from 10,000 to 18,000.

Qualtrics’ CEO will continue to lead the company after the deal closes.

“Qualtrics is becoming central to how businesses make mission-critical customer and employee decisions that increase revenue and operational efficiency,” Sedafin said. “With our AI-powered platform and automated actions, we help companies deliver exceptional experiences and build deep relationships with their customers and employees at scale.”