Data analytics giant SAS Institute Inc announced on Thursday it was preparing for an initial public offering by 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move to go public came from the need to give employees stock options to attract tech talent, as well as succession planning to position the company for long-term growth, co-founder and CEO Jim Goodnight said in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The process will take three years to meet accounting standards set by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move came weeks after a report that chip and software company Broadcom Inc was in talks to acquire the company for $15 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cary, North Carolina-based SAS reported $3 billion in revenue in 2020, half of which came from overseas, and said it had been profitable for a long time and had not raised outside funding to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although annual revenue growth has stagnated in recent years, the company is now forecasting 15% annual growth, while maintaining profitability by investing in robust sectors such as the pharmaceutical industry and doubling hybrid cloud solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founded in 1976, SAS provides data and analytics services to customers in 147 countries worldwide in key industries such as banking, healthcare, retail and manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The TSAS Institute’s software is used by about 83,000 companies, governments and university sites, according to the company’s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more information, you may view the original story from Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n