SAP’s US-listed shares gained more than 7% on Wednesday morning after the German-headquartered software company unveiled a restructuring plan that would impact 8,000 jobs along with the release of its fourth quarter and full-year 2023 earnings.
The company said the planned transformation program reflects the company’s focus on the scalability of its operations and its Business AI offering.
It added that the majority of the impacted 8,000 positions are expected to fall under voluntary leave programs and internal reskilling measures, with the company planning on spending €2 billion to retrain employees.
For 2023, the company’s cloud revenue rose 20% to €13.7 billion, with total revenue of €31.2 billion.
Diluted earnings per share increased from €0.46 from the previous financial year to €1.01.
Its current cloud backlog is €13.66 billion, an all-time record, the company noted.
“From this position of strength, SAP is opening the next chapter: with the planned transformation program, we are intensifying the shift of investments to strategic growth areas, above all Business AI,” CEO Christian Klein said in a statement.
SAP’s NYSE-listed stock was up 7.3% at US$175.24 shortly before noon on Wednesday.