Qualtrics accepts $12.5B all-cash acquisition offer to go private

Qualtrics, the software company behind an experience management platform used by thousands of companies such as Uber, Coca-Cola and Pfizer, has accepted a $12.5 billion all-cash offer from private equity firm Silver Lake and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments).

The confirmation comes exactly a week after news of the acquisition bid first came to light, and some two years after SAP spun the business out as an independent publicly traded company, having bought it back in 2018 for $8 billion just as Qualtrics was originally planning its IPO.

Founded in 2002, Qualtrics provides software that helps companies gather data and measure how their customers experience their products. In its first year as a public company, its shares had mostly traded above its $30 IPO price, but as with many companies over the past 12 months Qualtrics has seen its market value plummet from a high of $28 billion in early 2021 to a low of around $5 billion at the tail-end of 2022, where it has roughly remained since.