SAP announces job buyouts, restructuring plan

Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Germany-based SAP said Tuesday that the company plans to buy out and restructure more than 7% of its workforce of nearly 108,000.

Despite the plans, SAP says it expects to end 2024 "at a headcount similar to current levels."

The company is planning to reposition itself for future growth that is being fueled, in part, by advances being made in the field of artificial intelligence. The move also comes while a number of other companies are taking similar steps by reducing the number of of employees.

In 2022, SAP stock had its best performance since 2012. After its revenue demonstrated consistent increases year after year, the company now is looking toward a future in which it hopes to be more "cloud-centric" like other companies such as Adobe, Microsoft and Oracle.

But SAP said it expects an adjusted operating profit in 2025 of $10.85 billion in U.S. dollars -- or 10 billion euros -- which is 2 billion euros down from previous projections but up by 500 million euros due to "planned efficiencies from the restructuring."

Tuesday's news comes as other companies have launched similar moves, including Google, which recently announced further job cuts, and Amazon, which cut hundreds of jobs at Prime Video, MGM Studios and Twitch.

SAP said their 2024 transformation will "focus on scalability of operations and key strategic growth areas" and that a majority of the nearly 8,000 affected employees will be "covered by voluntary leave programs and internal re-skilling measures."