German software company SAP announced Sunday that it will acquire Qualtrics International Inc., a Provo-based customer survey business considered one of the state’s highest profile and most successful technology firms, for $8 billion in cash.
CEO Ryan Smith will continue to lead Qualtrics, and it plans to maintain headquarters in Provo and Seattle, according to a statement from the two firms describing their agreement.
It said the boards of directors of both companies and Qualtrics' shareholders have approved the deal, expected to close in the first half of 2019.
Qualtrics, launched in 2002 in the basement of Brigham Young University marketing professor Scott Smith, Smith’s father, had been on the brink of going public.