BERLIN (Reuters) – Hasso Plattner, chairman and co-founder of SAP, bought shares worth nearly $300 million in the German software company on Monday after a once-in-a-generation price slide triggered when management dumped its profit targets.
The 76-year-old billionaire bought shares worth 248.5 million euros ($294 million) at an average price of 101 euros, according to a regulatory filing published on Tuesday.
SAP shares slumped by 20% after CEO Christian Klein ditched his “ambition” for profit margins to expand steadily through 2023 and lowered the outlook for this year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The share slide erased $35 billion from SAP’s market value and knocked the Walldorf-based company off its perch as Europe’s most valuable technology company, where it was ousted by Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML.
Plattner previously owned a 5.89% stake in SAP, making him the company’s largest individual shareholder, according to Refinitiv data. At Monday’s closing price his stake was still worth $8.2 billion.
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
