{"id":5817,"date":"2023-03-14T08:11:51","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T08:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/?p=5817"},"modified":"2024-01-13T10:23:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T10:23:24","slug":"experience-management-platform-qualtrics-acquired-by-private-equity-firm-in-massive-12-5b-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/experience-management-platform-qualtrics-acquired-by-private-equity-firm-in-massive-12-5b-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Experience management platform Qualtrics acquired by private equity firm in massive $12.5B deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
Qualtrics, a software company that provides an experience management platform used by notable companies like Uber, Coca-Cola, and Pfizer, has agreed to a $12.5 billion all-cash acquisition offer from Silver Lake and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). This acquisition comes two years after SAP spun off the business as an independent publicly traded company after buying it back in 2018 for $8 billion, just as Qualtrics was preparing to launch its IPO.<\/p>\n
Qualtrics, founded in 2002, offers software that assists companies in gathering data and evaluating their customer experience with their products. The company’s shares traded above its $30 IPO price in its first year as a public company, but its market value has plummeted in the past year, from a high of $28 billion in early 2021 to approximately $5 billion at the end of 2022.<\/p>\n
The $12.5 billion acquisition offer from Silver Lake and CPP Investments, financed mainly by equity commitments, appears to be an opportunistic move for a company that has been underperforming for some time. The deal has been approved by SAP’s U.S.-based subsidiary, SAP America Inc., which holds nearly 96% of the voting power via its ownership of Qualtrics’ Class A common stock, making additional shareholder approval unnecessary.<\/p>\n
Assuming regulatory approvals, Qualtrics expects the transaction to close in the second half of 2023, following which it will be a fully private company once again, with CEO Zig Serafin continuing to lead the company, and its dual headquarters remaining in Utah and Washington.<\/p>\n
Qualtrics, which generated $1.5 billion in annual sales last year, a 36% increase, with over 80% of those revenues coming from recurring subscriptions, invented specialized software analytics tools that assist companies in responding to their online customers. The consortium includes co-investors in Silver Lake’s funds and CPP Investments, which will provide $1.75 billion.<\/p>\n