If the results of Qualtrics’ initial public offering and early trading of the company’s stock mean anything, German software giant SAP got a real deal when it swooped in and bought the company for $8 billion two years ago. Qualtrics priced its shares at $30 when it went public on Jan. 28, putting its valuation around $15 billion, up more than 87 percent from the amount SAP paid in the acquisition. By the end of the first day of trading, Qualtrics shares were going for $45.50, valuing the company at more than $27 billion.
In late 2018, Qualtrics announced that it was going to go public, but SAP halted that initial attempt at an IPO by purchasing the experience management technology company. This time around, the Qualtrics IPO raised $1.55 billion on the Nasdaq technology stock exchange.
In its pre-IPO filings, Qualtrics reported $550 million in revenue for the nine months ended in September (up from $418 million in the same period the prior year), and a net loss of $258 million (improving on its loss of $860 million in the same period the year before). Businesses use the company’s experience management platform to collect data on how customers, employees and others experience their products and services, taking action based on the results.
The company was able to reach “a much larger epicenter of customers” as part of SAP, Qualtrics’ CEO Zig Zerafin said. Its customer base rose from 9,000 companies to 13,000 companies in the time between its prior planned IPO and the recent public offering.
SAP America remains the majority owner of Qualtrics following the IPO. The company trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol XM — a shoutout to its position in the experience management category.