Six months after her appointment, first female SAP co-CEO resigns

Co-chief executive of German software giant SAP, Jennifer Morgan, is stepping down after just six months in the job as the company switches back to a solo boss to steer it through the coronavirus upheaval.

Morgan, 48, became the first woman to head a company listed on Frankfurt's blue-chip DAX 30 index when she was appointed co-CEO alongside Christian Klein last October.

"More than ever, the current environment requires companies to take swift, determined action which is best supported by a very clear leadership structure," SAP said in a surprise statement late Monday.

In a decision it said was "mutually agreed" with the supervisory board, Morgan will leave the business software maker on April 30 while Klein will stay on as sole CEO.

 

Morgan joined SAP in 2004 and ran the company's cloud computing activities -- which became a vital growth driver for the firm under the leadership of former CEO Bill McDermott.

"With unprecedented change within the world, it has become clear that now is the right time for the company to transition to a single CEO leading the business," Morgan said in the same statement.

SAP released its first quarter results on Tuesday, which showed that customers began to postpone "a significant amount of new business" last month as the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic intensified.

Revenues over the first three months of 2020 were up seven percent year-on-year at 6.5 billion euros (USD 7 billion).

Net profit reached 811 million euros, up from a 108 million euro loss over the same period last year.

The company earlier this month already cut its outlook for 2020 as a result of the impact of the pandemic on the global economy.

SAP said it expects the current "challenging demand environment" to worsen in the second quarter before improving later in the year as countries loosen lockdowns aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.