SAP’s API Tightening Puts a Spotlight on an Already Tense Shareholder Meeting

SAP faces shareholder unease at its AGM as a user group dispute over API access adds to a 47% stock decline, while AI monetization and cloud growth take center stage.

Investors heading into SAP’s annual general meeting on Tuesday have more on their minds than just the dividend. A brewing dispute over programming interface access has added a fresh layer of uncertainty to a stock that has already lost nearly half its value from its 52-week peak.

The Walldorf-based software giant has tightened its rules on API usage, declaring that only explicitly documented interfaces will be considered official going forward. The company says the move is about preventing uncontrolled data flows and ensuring technical stability, particularly around the use of generative AI through external systems. But the Deutschsprachige SAP-Anwendergruppe, or DSAG, the main user group, is pushing back hard.

DSAG chief Jens Hungershausen warns the new restrictions could grind innovation to a halt. If customers can’t clearly see which interfaces are allowed, he argues, they may hesitate to connect new AI solutions to their SAP systems — a risk for future projects. SAP has tried to calm those fears, insisting that existing customer integrations won’t be affected in the short term and that the new rules are aimed primarily at new clients. What remains unclear is how the company will handle contract renewals, and the DSAG is demanding swift transparency on potential new pricing models.

The API dispute lands at a difficult moment for the share price. SAP stock closed Friday at €144.40, down roughly 28 percent since the start of the year and nearly 47 percent below its 52-week high. That kind of slide has left shareholders on edge, and the controversy over interface access only adds to the unease.

Tuesday’s virtual AGM will serve as the record date for the proposed dividend of €2.50 per share, a slight increase from last year. The ex-dividend date follows on May 6, with payment scheduled for May 8. But the real focus will be on the board’s strategic messaging, particularly around artificial intelligence.

SAP has been pushing its AI assistant Joule hard, expanding it to more than 40 specialized agents and roughly 2,400 capabilities. The applications span finance, procurement, and supply chain management, including autonomous decision-making. The company is betting that linking process intelligence from its Signavio unit with these AI actions will accelerate the cloud transformation. The cloud backlog — contracted future cloud revenue — remains the key metric analysts are watching to gauge growth momentum.

On the chart, the €150 mark has emerged as a short-term resistance level after the stock’s late-April rally. A sustained break above that would open the door to further gains, while support around €144 provides a floor on the downside. Macro signals from the US, especially on interest rates, could also move the needle. Growth stocks like SAP are sensitive to changes in discounting rates, and how convincingly management outlines AI monetization on Tuesday will go a long way toward shaping sentiment after the meeting.

Financially, SAP has been trying to steady the ship. A share buyback program is underway, with the company having purchased its own stock for €2.6 billion so far. The acquisition of data specialist Reltio is expected to close by autumn. And from May 11 to 13, the Sapphire conference will give management a platform to present its new AI architecture. By then, SAP will need to explain how its stricter API rules square with its own AI ambitions — a question that is likely to hang over the AGM as well.