German business software company SAP has agreed to buy Qualtrics International for $8 billion (€7.1 billion) in cash, pre-empting a planned stock market listing by the US-based company which specialises in tracking online sentiment. “Experience data plus operational data are a powerful combination,” Mr McDermott told reporters on a call. “We were going to be one day worth $20 billion or $30 billion, like a ServiceNow or a Workday ,” Mr Smith said. “We hit it off right off the bat,” said Mr McDermott, a 57-year-old New Yorker who has headed SAP since 2010. He described the Qualtrics deal as transformational in terms of growth potential, comparing it with Facebook’s takeover of photo-sharing site Instagram.

Source: The Irish Times November 12, 2018 12:07 UTC