Qualtrics, the firm behind the Utah Jazz’s 5 For the Fight jersey patches, has been acquired in a multi-billion-dollar deal.
And now for something we don’t normally get into here at The J-Notes: some financial news. Over the weekend, a key sponsor and business partner of the Utah Jazz fetched a hefty sum from one of the world’s largest software and programming companies.
Qualtrics, the Provo, Utah-based data and analytics research firm behind the Jazz’s 5 For the Fight jersey patches, has been acquired by tech giant SAP for $8 billion (that’s billion, with a B). The all-cash deal was officially announced on Sunday.
The acquisition comes just days before Qualtrics was set to go public; the company had just filed for its IPO on October 19. At top price, with all options exercised, it was believed that the offering could bring in nearly $500 million.
Following its purchase by SAP, plans for a public offering have been nixed.
The Jazz and Qualtrics received overwhelming praise last year when their jersey sponsorship agreement was announced. In this brave, new world of ad patches on uniforms, it marked the first time an NBA team eschewed a corporate sponsorship for a philanthropic one.
In a phrase, they crushed the controversy surrounding jersey sponsorship.
5 For the Fight, which was co-founded by Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith, is a non-profit which was created to fund cancer research. Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio and others within the organization have been working hard since the partnership began to achieve a mutual goal of raising $50 million to help fight the disease.
In addition to teaming up on the patch, Qualtrics has also been the team’s official fan experience insights and analytics partner.
At Qualtrics X4 Summit in March, Jazz VP of analytics and strategy Craig Sanders said the team saw an 11-point upswing in NPS score, which measures customer loyalty and satisfaction, once the Jazz began using Qualtrics’ platform.