Booming in Walldorf: The acting since 2010 SAP chief executive Bill McDermott resigns surprisingly. The board members Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein are to act as a leading duo with immediate effect to succeed him and lead Europe's largest software manufacturers, as the Dax Group announced early Friday morning surprising.
Since 2014, the now 58-year-old McDermott directed the fortunes of the most valuable listed German group in the top management alone. The American has heavily rebuilt the group in the direction of cloud software for rent from the Internet. "The growth of SAP will continue to benefit from this course setting for many years," said supervisory board chairman and SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner. With the change of leadership, the long-term succession planning of the control panel, it said.
A concrete reason for the resignation McDermotts called the enterprise so far not. McDermott's contract ran until 2021, this he would not extend. He has been with the company since 2002. Until the end of the year, the manager wants to remain in an advisory role in the company. "Now is the time to open a new chapter," he said.
Every CEO dreams of being exceptionally strong for his next generation. Today we did it for @SAP. I love the people of this company. I could not prouder of what we did. @JenniferBMorgan & @ChrstnKlein wants to be outstanding. Now we start the next chapter!
- Bill McDermott (@BillRMcDermott) October 11, 2019McDermott had recently announced a plan for longer-term efficiency increase in mid-November. Investors had repeatedly criticized the long-suffering margin of the cloud business, but McDermott was fully committed to growing the software, which is used over the Internet and paid for by subscription or royalty.
McDermott is considered a gifted seller. Under his aegis the group became the most valuable German stock exchange group, currently SAP
The third-quarter SAP figures were also announced on Friday night: revenue and earnings were surprisingly strong after SAP had seen the US-China trade dispute in the previous quarter. The revenue increased the company year on year by 13 percent to 6.8 billion euros, the bottom line remained at 1.26 billion euros 30 percent more profit left.
After 17 years at SAP, @BillRMcDermott is stepping down from his position as CEO. In activating its long-term succession plan, @JenniferBMorgan and @ChristnKlein have been appointed Co-CEOs, effective immediately, with the approval of the Supervisory Board. https://t.co/m1SYfMVYpL pic.twitter.com/jLMtDCD7Nz
- SAP (@ SAP) October 10, 2019McDermott's successors have also been with the company for many years.
- Jennifer Morgan is 48 years old and also from the USA. So far, she controls the cloud sector on the SAP board. She has been with the company since 2004 and has been on the board since 2017.
- Christian Klein was born in 1980 and is currently responsible for product development on the board. He has been with the company since 1999 and on the board since last year.
