SAP Puts Microsoft Veteran in Charge of Eastern Europe as Buyback Nears 8.9 Million Shares

SAP taps ex-Microsoft Austria executive Hermann Erlach to lead 24 countries, as buybacks continue and SAP Connect opens in Las Vegas.

SAP has handed Hermann Erlach the reins of its Central and Eastern Europe region, tapping a former Microsoft Austria executive to steer operations across 24 countries spanning Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The appointment, effective Thursday, reshapes the software group's sales and customer-service setup in a territory marked by widely differing economic conditions — and Erlach arrives with leadership experience gained at US rival Microsoft's Austrian business.

The regional handover lands amid broader organizational surgery at the Walldorf-based company. SAP and the works council of its parent entity have agreed on job security through the end of 2028, under which employees affected by restructuring are to be offered alternative positions elsewhere in the group and supported with retraining. Existing salary levels are also to be protected in the event of transfers. A comparable arrangement for the German sales unit was still being prepared at last report.

Buyback Adds Another 590,000 Shares

Management is simultaneously pressing ahead with its capital-return program. A mandatory disclosure published roughly a week ago showed the group picked up a further 590,000 of its own shares on the Xetra trading platform between September 21 and September 25 inclusive, a transaction valued at EUR 108,368,601.00. That lifted the cumulative volume of the current repurchase program to 8,895,886 shares.

Attention now shifts to Las Vegas, where SAP Connect opens on October 5, with the virtual portion running October 6 and 7. The gathering serves as the company's stage for developments in business software and artificial intelligence — a fitting venue given that management has been tilting its growth strategy ever more heavily toward AI capabilities. CEO Christian Klein, according to a Handelsblatt report dated September 28, described new AI products as a historic opportunity for substantial growth and said the company had made solid progress advancing its software and applications.

Nvidia Tie-Up Deepens as Customer Projects Multiply

Progress on existing technology partnerships is accompanying the conference. On September 28, SAP announced a deepened collaboration with Nvidia centered on integrating NVIDIA OpenShell into the SAP Business AI platform, with the group's own engineers contributing directly to the OpenShell codebase. Practical deployments are also coming into focus: alongside concepts for controlling AI token costs and autonomous workflows in payroll, SAP on Wednesday unveiled a project with Swiss transport operator BERNMOBIL, which is using the software for future planning.

Analysts have been warming to the stock as well. Charles Brennan of Jefferies kept his buy rating on September 22 and raised his price target to EUR 220 from EUR 210.

In Frankfurt, the DAX-listed shares closed Friday at EUR 184.70, a decline of 1.4%. Even so, the price sits 2.6% above its 50-day moving average of EUR 179.95 and comfortably clear of its 200-day average of EUR 166.31. Investors will get a fuller read on the operating picture on October 21, 2026, when SAP publishes complete third-quarter 2026 results — a report likely to be scrutinized for how the sales and workforce overhaul is feeding through to margins and cloud revenue.