SAP Channels €7.7 Billion Qualtrics Windfall Into a Sprawling AI and Data Acquisition Blitz

SAP redeploys €7.7B from Qualtrics sale into AI acquisitions like Reltio and Prior Labs, unveils Autonomous Suite with 50+ AI agents, but stock remains down 31% YTD.

The software company is spending heavily on technology it hopes will underpin the next generation of enterprise intelligence. The market, however, remains unconvinced.

SAP has closed the sale of its majority stake in Qualtrics, pulling in €7.7 billion from Silver Lake and CPP Investments. That cash is being redeployed at speed into a string of acquisitions aimed squarely at artificial intelligence. On May 7, the company completed the purchase of Reltio, a master data management specialist designed to clean and unify data from SAP and third-party systems. A deal for Dremio, a data-lakehouse provider, is in the pipeline. And most ambitiously, SAP has signed a binding agreement to acquire Freiburg-based Prior Labs, committing more than €1 billion over four years to the startup’s tabular foundation models — AI engines built specifically for structured business data rather than general text.

These models tackle a weakness in many corporate AI projects: poor data quality. By normalizing customer, product and supplier records, SAP aims to create a reliable foundation for agent-based systems that can predict payment defaults, supplier risks or customer churn. Prior Labs will operate as an independent unit within SAP, with the transaction expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2026.

Evolution, Not Revolution, at Sapphire

The strategic thrust was on full display at SAP’s Sapphire conference in Orlando. Chief executive Christian Klein unveiled the Autonomous Suite, which will embed more than 50 domain-specific Joule assistants and coordinate over 200 specialized agents across finance, supply chain and human resources. The centerpiece is the “Joule Work” AI layer, which the company expects to drive the share of revenue from AI-based services above 30% by 2030.

Analysts greeted the announcements with cautious praise. Nay Soe Naing of Berenberg noted that management stuck to existing medium-term forecasts rather than raising them, which he called no surprise. He left his price target at €215. Charles Brennan of Jefferies described the new features as “evolution rather than revolution,” but acknowledged the technology’s growing maturity. His target stands at €230.

The stock had slumped to a 52-week low of €138.00 the day before the conference began, but recovered 2.52% on Thursday to close at €141.48. Even so, shares remain roughly 31% below where they started the year and are trading 27% below their 200-day moving average. The high for the past 52 weeks was €271.60.

UBS analysts pointed to the long-term potential of the cloud transformation and retained their buy rating, but the immediate mood is cautious.

A Hefty Buyback and Stiff Targets

On the financial front, SAP posted first-quarter revenue of more than €9.5 billion. For the full year 2026, it targets cloud revenue in a range of €25.8 billion to €26.2 billion and non-IFRS operating profit of €11.9 billion to €12.3 billion. The company has also authorized a share buyback program of up to €10 billion to run through the end of 2027.

The second-quarter results, due on July 23, will provide the first real test of whether the Sapphire promises are translating into orders. Investors will scrutinize cloud momentum and any concrete deals tied to the new AI tools. For now, the narrative is clearer than ever — but the valuation pressure remains intense.