Only 3,000 staff jump from SAP after 10,000 earmarked to be pushed

CFO says 'a cushion of several thousand employees we can play with' is a good thing in uncertain times

SAP says 3,000 people have left the company in its restructuring plan but that it will wait to see if more employees might be affected after US tariff policies introduced global economic uncertainty.

Speaking as the German software giant announced an 8 percent year-on-year rise in revenue to €9.01 billion for calendar Q1, CFO Dominik Asam said a reduction in headcount was helping profitability.

Operating profit increased to €2.33 billion versus a loss of €787 million a year earlier.

In July last year, SAP said between 9,000 and 10,000 positions would be hit by global restructuring – up from 8,000 announced in January 2024 – although some people would be retrained and/or rehired.

SAP, which became Europe's most valuable company last month, is partway through the restructuring program.

Asam told investors it was reviewing how many employees may be affected by the restructuring in light of the economic turmoil expected to follow US president Donald Trump's introduction of his flagship trade policy. Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund warned of a "major negative shock" to the world economy following the tariffs.

"We've seen about 3,000 people leave," Asam said. "We've rehired some people, but currently, we are probably looking for a… back-end loading to see how the situation on the trade dispute will evolve. We are talking about a cushion of several thousand employees we can play with without having any major impact."

Asam added that SAP would also invest in technologies including AI and Business Data Cloud, announced in February.

"We will make sure that we balance the kind of near-term pressure versus the mid-to-long-term needs to be futureproof. But for the time being… we have to watch what's happening. It's very unpredictable," he said.

Meanwhile, CEO Christian Klein said tariffs could actually be good for the company. "Our pipeline for the year continues to look very solid. No other tech company can offer a solution portfolio which is more relevant in times of new regulations, tariffs, and business uncertainty."

He claimed SAP software could help multinationals run a compliant business everywhere in the world, pick the right suppliers, take account of tariffs, simulate scenarios, and adjust plans. "That gives me the confidence," he said.

"It's not right to say industries which are maybe hit hard in the short term by tariffs now buy less software. We are not seeing this correlation yet in the pipeline." ®