Thread regarding SAS Institute layoffs

As billionaire wealth soars $33 trillion, Mark Cuban says it’s time for workers to receive a cut of their employers’ success in the form of stocks

https://fortune.com/2025/10/14/billionaire-mark-cuban-wants-employees-not-just-ceos-stock-gains-401k-wealth-success-bonuses/

Responding to a recent Oxfam report about billionaire wealth increasing by $33 trillion since 2015, Cuban posted on X that the reason behind the surge is that “the stock market has gone straight up.”

“You know who is funding the increase, particularly lately? Retail investors. 401ks,” Cuban wrote. “The better question is, why are we not giving incentives to companies to require them to give shares in their companies to all employees, at the same percentage of cash earnings as the CEO?”

….

@171 SAS has nothing that Microsoft needs, because they are already well integrated with R. Any buyer that wants analytics can do the same..

The eventual buyer will be an acquirer of declining enterprise software revenue streams.

That is Broadcom, a company like Broadcom, or private equity.

@m2 what a lot a horse$$$$ - BH is just spouting these talking points.......SAS is in decay but maybe some fool at MSFT or Google will buy them out

@wq “Decline” and “IPO” are compatible if the IPO is an exit strategy.

“Greater fools” are welcome but not necessary; an IPO usually brings a higher price than a private offer.

If that is the strategy, its execution should not have taken four years. But it’s not unusual for SAS to move slowly.

Notice how BH is trying to restructure the discussion towards a “kinder-and-gentler AI.” This is the company doing what it does best - virtue signaling while climbing the righteous pedestal of “aren’t we such good people?” They need some new material.

On another note, there are phases of growth frameworks, related to technology and microbiology. The last phase is “Decline”, which is probably where things are at. “Decline” and “IPO” don’t seem like compatible concepts, unless you’re banking on the “greater fool theory”. Anyone up for a company stock purchase program? Anyone?

We also know what followed the dot com bubble… namely the biggest run-up in tech history. The rise of the magnificent seven and partners profiting variously from their fabulous success. AI will ultimately succeed as the next paradigm of computing.

Achieving AI breakthroughs has been an important goal of academic computer science for the past 70 years. In that period of time Tech has continued to stack abstractions and make computing easier and more relevant for a greater number of people than ever. Thus, AI is riding atop millions of hours of research and engineering work from some of the smartest and most creative human beings ever.

Ultimately, a few key players will emerge with their AI platforms prevailing, just like Big Tech did as it rose from the ashes of the dot com bust. Below that will be small government and corporate “table scrap” AI markets for companies like SAS (or whatever it becomes in the future) to fight over. Their future will most likely be as advisors, integrators and providers of professional services. Certainly not as major innovators of AI technology itself.

“If Wall Street was full of gullible imbeciles…”

There are certainly gullible investors in this market. By all metrics, this AI bubble is comparable to the Dot-Com bubble, and we know how that ended.

The acquisition of Hazy was a good move. Depending on how much of that $2B is available for acquisitions, we may see more such. It’s easier and faster for SAS to acquire AI than to innovate.

If the goal is to compete with the tech giants, it’s true SAS doesn’t have the resources. But if the goal is to IPO, in this market, all they need is AI.

“ If Wall Street was full of gullible imbeciles, perhaps.”

Unlike the layoff.com which is full of super savvy armchair quarterbacks.
I bet you are running your fictitious company straight to unicorn status.

SAS is unwilling/unable ti make the size of investment and hire the level of AI research professionals necessary to innovate and compete at enterprise scale.

However, they could possibly build a few choice partnerships with the key players and pivot into more of a integrator/professional services value added reseller. Doing so would likely precipitate the end of innovation on what has traditionally been SAS software products and probably a “bridge too far” given their historical operating model.

"BH is saying the right things to prepare SAS for IPO."

If Wall Street was full of gullible imbeciles, perhaps.

BH can say whatever he likes, but there's no credibility to it. SAS is not a serious player in AI, and never will be. It won't change how SAS is valued. The value is SAS is purely based on existing contracts and predictions on how long it will be before those contracts are cancelled.

BH is saying the right things to prepare SAS for IPO. If they want to IPO, in the current environment, they must do something with AI, and “they are going to need considerable new talent to pull this off.”

However, there’s a bidding war for talent. Meta is paying $100M for top AI researchers. I hope my friends at SAS are earning similar amounts 😁.

Also, Microsoft, Google, Meta, xAI are each spending more than $10B on AI. If SAS spends only $2B, they have to innovate — to build something these giants have not.

SAS has never paid top compensation, and the “historical management establishment” has always been hostile to innovation.

I believe in the IPO, but not in the AI.

A $2B investment in AI over what timeframe? If precisely targeted at the right products and market sectors, within the next 2 years, this could be a very positive outcome for SAS. Based on history, they are going to need considerable new talent to pull this off.

Who thinks long-tenured members of the historical management establishment have a high probability of maximizing ROI on this $2B investment?

OMG, BH is so full of it!
A word salad of total BS...

"...moving to the next phase of growth trajectory"
"continued leader in this AI space"
"Our goal is always to cut through the hype of these emerging technologies, but also to deliver on the promise of them"

Really? Who's he kidding?

@cb

https://archive.ph/20251001162505/https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2025/10/01/cary-sas-ipo-artificial-intelligence-jim-goodnight.html

Story Highlights

SAS Institute prepares for IPO while emphasizing AI's potential.
CTO Bryan Harris advocates for positive AI dialogue in North Carolina.
SAS has committed $2 billion to AI initiatives.

As SAS Institute in Cary prepares for a potential Wall Street debut, its top technology executive is working to reframe the conversation around artificial intelligence.
Chief Technology Officer Bryan Harris said that in the wake of AI-related layoffs at tech giants like Accenture and Salesforce, it’s crucial for North Carolina companies to emphasize the growth potential of AI rather than its threat to jobs.
“I’d like to see more leaders speak up around the empowerment and inspiration of what’s possible and have the guts to invest in people and not use it in a negative way… saying 'if you’re not better than AI, you’re not going to have a job,'” he said. “I don’t like that tone at all.”
Harris spoke with TBJ from the SAS Innovate event at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, while back in Cary his team continues preparing for a potential initial public offering, though the timing remains uncertain. It's been more than four years since CEO Jim Goodnight announced the firm would “take the appropriate steps to prepare our business for entry into the public markets.”
SAS, a $3 billion software company, is Cary’s largest employer with more than 4,500 local employees, according to TBJ research.

Harris said the company has made "great progress,” particularly in automating back-office processes required for financial reporting as a public company. “Now it’s really about moving to the next phase of growth trajectory and making sure we are a continued leader in this AI space,” he said, noting the goal is to be ready whenever Goodnight decides to pull the trigger.
Goodnight is “actively working” on ways for employees to benefit directly from an IPO, possibly through stock options. Harris didn’t offer specifics, nor did he provide clarity on timing. But one thing he did emphasize: SAS’s people-centric culture — embodied by its amenity-rich Cary campus — won’t change when the company hits Wall Street.
While Harris acknowledged that going public brings regulatory scrutiny, especially around managing the balance sheet, he said the company's internal AI strategy will focus on growth — not cuts. He warned that approaching AI solely as a cost-cutting tool is misguided. While AI may “reshape” some roles, he said it’s more productive to view it as a driver of opportunity.
Harris was recently appointed to North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein’s AI Leadership Council, where he hopes to help reshape the AI conversation to the state's benefit.
“What we should do as a state is be a leader in this country to basically drive a proper dialogue with the next generation and employers and say, hey, if you want a thriving economy, we need to uplift people with AI … not use it as a way to threaten people’s jobs," Harris said.
In recent years, SAS — long known for its advanced analytics — has repositioned itself as an AI company. It has committed $2 billion toward AI initiatives, both in developing solutions and shifting its corporate messaging away from legacy analytics.
SAS continues to seek leadership in AI, particularly around trust and transparency.
“Our goal is always to cut through the hype of these emerging technologies, but also to deliver on the promise of them,” Harris said.

This article is behind the Triangle Business Journal's firewall. Please post the text of the article for those of us who are not TBJ subscribers.

@b0 But what that course might be would seem to be in question. For everyone.

More tech companies are going private or staying private now than ever before. JG was a thought leader in this and many other ways. Maybe the company will just stay private and continue on its course.

SAS may or may not IPO, but they want the option. And if they want to IPO this year, they have to be doing something with AI.

But will SAS become “IPO-ready” before this window closes?

For sure, a multinational company needs time to meet SEC requirements. But that should not have taken more than four years.

"making sure we are a continued leader in this AI space"...leader, what? huh? Oh ... THIS AI space, meaning the on SAS campus, ya SAS is a leader there, got it.