SAP

SAP SE, known simply as SAP, is a big software company from Germany. It helps businesses manage things like money, workers, and supplies using computers. The company started in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, and has grown to have offices in many countries around the world.

SAP makes special kinds of software that big companies need. It is the largest company in Europe for this type of software and one of the biggest in the whole world. People can buy pieces of SAP to help their companies run better.

In June 2025, SAP became the biggest European company by value. It has many employees and works in over 180 countries, helping companies keep track of important information.

History

20th century

When Xerox stopped making computer hardware in 1971, it asked IBM to update its business systems. IBM got rights to some software called Scientific Data Systems (SDS)/SAPE as payment. Five IBM engineers—Dietmar Hopp, Klaus Tschira, Hans-Werner Hector, Hasso Plattner, and Claus Wellenreuther, all from Mannheim—were working on a big system using this software. But IBM told them it was no longer needed. Instead of giving up, they left IBM and started their own company in June 1972. They called it SAP Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung ("System Analysis and Program Development" or "SAPD").

Their first customer was the German branch of Imperial Chemical Industries in Östringen. They created programs for payroll and accounting, storing data electronically instead of on old punch cards. They called their system "real-time" because it didn’t need overnight processing. In 1973, SAP launched its first big product, the RF financial accounting system. This helped many tasks and needed a database.

In 1976, SAP GmbH was created for sales and support. Five years later, the original partnership ended, and its rights went to SAP GmbH. In 1979, SAP introduced SAP R/2, adding features like materials management and production planning. In 1981, SAP released a redesigned product, but R/2 didn’t improve much until 1985–1990. In 1992, SAP released SAP R/3, with many updates through 1995.

In August 1988, SAP GmbH became SAP AG, and started trading shares on November 4, 1988, on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges. By 1995, SAP was in the German stock index DAX and later in the STOXX Europe 50.

In the mid-1990s, SAP moved from old mainframe computers to a newer client–server architecture. In 1996, SAP partnered with Seidor, a Spanish tech firm, to grow its solutions in Latin America.

21st century

In 2004, SAP replaced R/3 with SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) 5.0 and changed its structure. In 2006, SAP released ERP 6.0, which was updated several times.

Since 2012, SAP bought many companies offering online services, trying to compete with Oracle. In 2014, SAP bought Concur Technologies for $8.3 billion, its biggest purchase then. In 2025, SAP bought SmartRecruiters to improve its hiring tools.

On May 21, 2014, SAP’s shareholders approved changing its legal form to a European stock corporation (Societas Europaea, SE). This happened on July 7, 2014, and SAP’s German part became SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG.

In 2014, SAP partnered with IBM and later with HPE to offer online services. SAP also worked with Microsoft to improve tools for data and mobile apps.

By 2015, SAP made more money than expected because of its online services and SAP HANA. In 2016, SAP planned to invest €2 billion in technology like the Internet of things (IoT) by 2020. SAP created a new product line called SAP IoT.

In January 2019, SAP announced it would reduce its workforce by about 4,000 people to focus on newer technologies like blockchain, quantum computing, machine learning, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence.

In April 2021, SAP formed a joint venture called SAP Fioneer with Dediq GmbH, investing over €500 million. In June 2025, SAP’s value reached €320 billion, with most of its work now done through online services. In September 2025, the European Commission began looking into SAP for possible unfair business practices.

Acquisitions

Main article: List of mergers and acquisitions by SAP

Since 1991, SAP has bought more than 70 companies. As of December 31, 2024, the SAP Group included 226 companies. SAP focuses on growing its own technologies for the future, but also buys other companies to improve its products and reach more markets.

SAP helps new companies grow by investing in special funds managed by Sapphire Ventures. These funds have more than $10 billion (€9 billion) and have promised to invest over $1 billion in new companies creating advanced technologies to help businesses around the world.

Products

Main article: List of SAP products

SAP makes many types of software that help big companies run smoothly. Besides its main business software, SAP also sells special software for databases, a technology called SAP HANA, and systems built for the internet.

Some of the other software SAP sells includes tools to help companies manage their workers, keep track of customers, watch how well they are doing, plan products, work with suppliers, organize supplies, and more. SAP also has a special area for creating programs called SAP AppGyver.

SAP provides a cloud service called SAP Cloud Infrastructure that helps companies run their software online. SAP also has a special team that helps government agencies and other important customers use their software safely.

Many of the biggest companies in the world use SAP, and about 80% of SAP’s customers are smaller businesses.

Finances

For the fiscal year 2017, SAP reported earnings of €4 billion, with an annual revenue of €23.5 billion. This was a 6.3% increase compared to the previous year. In December 2023, SAP's shares were worth over US$154 each, and the company's total value reached US$180 billion, making it the largest German company by market capitalization.

The key trends for SAP are shown below:

Corporate structure and ownership

SAP uses a two-tier structure with an executive board and a supervisory board. In October 2019, Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein became co-CEOs of SAP. In April 2020, it was announced that Jennifer Morgan would leave SAP. Christian Klein continued as the sole CEO, as the COVID-19 recession needed quick and clear leadership.

Most of SAP's employees work in Germany and the United States, with around 20,000 in Germany and about 19,311 in the United States. In 2022, 45 employee representatives were elected to the SAP SE Works Council, including 15 from the Ver.di and IG Metall trade unions, representing 17,000 employees in Germany.

The headquarters manages the company and leads product development. Customer support is handled by a unified group called Active Global Support. SAP also encourages employees to volunteer abroad, with teams helping non-profits in countries like China, India, Brazil, and South Africa.

For broader coverage of this topic, see SAP and unions.

Research and development

SAP has research and development centers all over the world. These centers are in more than 20 countries and make up most of SAP’s engineering team. In early 2025, SAP spent a big part of its money on research and development. They used many people to work on new projects in over 100 places around the globe.

Some of the biggest centers are in Germany, India, the USA, and China. They are also growing in East Asia, Eastern Europe, Canada, and Latin America.

User Group Executive Network

The SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN) has 12 member organizations. One of them is the American Users' Group.

Americas' SAP Users' Group

The Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG) is the largest IT professional group in North America. It started in 1990 when SAP customers met at the SAPPHIRE conference. In 1991, ASUG was officially formed. ASUG works with SAP to offer education, training, networking, and research to its members. The ASUG Annual Conference happens in the same place as SAP's SAPPHIRE NOW event.

In 2016, ASUG bought some North American assets from The Eventful Group. That same year, ASUG started the ASUG University program, which uses both hands-on and virtual learning methods.

Criticism and controversy

Since 2015, SAP has faced several serious investigations related to unfair business practices. One investigation in the United States resulted in SAP paying a fine to settle charges that a former executive tried to offer gifts to government officials in Panama to win big technology contracts.

In 2017, SAP was accused of doing business with a controversial family in South Africa. SAP denied these claims, but later investigations showed that the company had paid large sums of money to groups linked to this family to help win government contracts. These actions led to further investigations and fines, including a large payment in 2024 to settle violations of laws against unfair business practices in several countries.

The company also faced claims of unfair treatment of employees and issues with how it governed its business practices over many years. In some cases, employees reported feeling treated poorly, and the company was criticized for not handling these concerns appropriately.