It would be unprofessional for a CFO to retire during an IPO or sale. The retirement creates buyer uncertainty, so one would either retire before the transaction, or after.
The simplest explanation is that the IPO/sale has been delayed, and the CFO did not want to delay his retirement any longer. That would be best for current employees.
Any other guesses?
Here is an archived link: https://archive.is/iYqoO
The media finally reported the CFO's retirement. Perhaps someone with a TBJ subscription can share this article.
"SAS Institute's CFO David Davis retires after 38 years. His departure comes as the Cary-based tech giant prepares for a potential IPO..."
https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2025/04/09/sas-cfo-david-davis-to-retire-jim-goodnight.html
SAS owners are quite competent to negotiate a private sale, e.g. to Broadcom. But for an IPO, it makes sense to hire a CFO with experience in IPOs.
If that’s what they are doing, it is the right direction indeed.
SAS needs a CFO with public company experience. That paired with the new COO role are moves in the right direction, finally.
"the laundry was soiled by the BG"
He is the gift that just keeps giving. In my 30 years at SAS he was the king! King of arrogance. I pity his students.
For the life of me, I never understand why people come on this site to air out dirty laundry.
Probably because many rightfully point out that, “those aren’t my skid marks in the shorts, the laundry was soiled by the BG - I’m just burdened by having to clean up the mess.”
“ I don’t understand why you have a problem with that.”
These people have a problem with everything. Don’t sweat it.
@qh+1jq512wzv “you don't work at SAS… air out dirty laundry… can't keep your mouths closed.”
I no longer work at SAS, and have no laundry to air. I have not shared information, but asked for it. I don’t understand why you have a problem with that.
@p5+1jq512wzv If you can't find it or don't know, then it's obvious you don't work at SAS.
For the life of me, I never understand why people come on this site to air out dirty laundry. Thank goodness we aren't yet public. You people would come on here and tank our stock prices because you can't keep your mouths closed.
@ph+1jq512wzv A CFO resigning in front of a sale or IPO could suggest bad news. It could mean he just decided to retire; it could mean the IPO/sale has been postponed. A public announcement enables SAS to give a benign explanation, or spin the news as needed.
@p5+1jq512wzv Not a publicly traded company. Why would you expect public announcements?
“ I could elaborate, but I'm finally getting smarter about how to play this game with you people.”
Are you though? I’m not seeing it.
So last week SAS appointed a new COO and a new CFO?
I can find no public announcement about these changes.
I could elaborate, but I'm finally getting smarter about how to play this game with you people.
@m2+1jq512wzv No why do you ask? Because I like non made up stuff?
Did "Company Man" recently finish a graduate degree in a field related to Statistics? Analytics, perhaps?
“ Tons of SAS folk actually believe there will be an ipo and they'll get rich off of it. ”
Tons is an odd way to quantify the amount of people who think what you say. How did you weigh them?
Did you interview all these people and they said “wow I’m getting rich!!!”?
You didn’t and they didn’t
“ Pretty much all of them don't know anything about how an ipo actually works. Or they'd know that SAS lacks even the most basic requirements to do one successfully.”
How do you know they don’t know how an IPO actually works?
You might be the one that doesn’t know how an IPO works if you think SAS lacks “even the most basic requirements”. Or you aren’t familiar with where SAS is in the process because you are wrong.
Keep on making sh-t up…
“Tons of SAS folk actually believe there will be an IPO… SAS lacks even the most basic requirements to do one successfully.”
That’s incorrect; any company can IPO. Neither growth, nor profits, are required.
SAS can certainly IPO. They want that option, because an IPO usually brings a better price than a private sale.
SAS has publicly announced they will be “IPO-ready” in 2025, so they probably will be.
All that said, the markets have taken a turn. The uncertainty over tariffs means businesses can’t predict their costs, so they hesitate to make commitments. This slows hiring, mergers and acquisitions, large new purchases (e.g. Viya), and IPOs.
The US announced another batch of tariffs today. Other countries will retaliate. We can’t tell yet whether we are in a global trade war, or a temporary spat. Many IPOs will be on hold until the situation becomes clear.
My conspiracy theory is that he worked at the place for 40 years, they are in the process of (hopefully) standardizing the accounting system, and they offered him a VRBO. He decided it was time, and he took the extra money and walked.
It's quite scandalous, to be sure.
Tons of SAS folk actually believe there will be an ipo and they'll get rich off of it. Pretty much all of them don't know anything about how an ipo actually works. Or they'd know that SAS lacks even the most basic requirements to do one successfully.
New COO... meh! That promotion is leaving mixed feelings. Who is that guy?
We all know how the last one ended. The Old German was supposed to be the coveted next person in line to take the throne, but instead tried to burn it all down.
And who is the new COO?
I'm surprised to see so much talk about CFO retirement and not much about the new COO appointment.
We are all entitled to our theories. Mine has been that plans changed in the last few months.
The reason could be as simple as price. When the SAS Executives visited NYSE and NASDAQ in January, markets were high. In recent months, they have become more uncertain. Investment bankers could have said, we now believe your company will only sell for X, and SAS backed off.
That would have given the CFO a green light to retire. It would be unprofessional for a CFO to retire while an IPO/sale is in progress. But if it’s not, his retirement does not hurt its chances.
An alternative reason to retire is as @ex+1jq512wzv suggested: SAS has found a more qualified CFO, one more skilled and experienced in leading successful sales/IPOs. We’ll soon know if that’s the case.
The hard truth is that the company's revenue streams are not in the right mix such that they are valued by Wall Street at any meaningful level - software revenue is viewed differently than cloud revenue is viewed differently than consulting revenue. Is SAS an investment in cloud growth and potential? Is SAS a consulting company? What is the revenue from software sales and licensing - and, importantly, where does it come from... the federal and state governments? An investor in SAS must look at the cold, hard facts and will invest accordingly - and while considering other options... from Salesforce to Palantir to Alteryx and Teradata and IBM and Snowflake... etc etc. SAS reportedly turned down $20 billion from Broadcom back around 2020... and that began the IPO chatter. Today, SAS is probably a $6 billion company at best in the public markets. This understanding can lead one to celebrate a long career with retirement.
Or, we are getting sold and our new parent company already has a CFO, therfore making his position redundant.
Wow, 40 years! He must have been an indispensable resource for the company. Will next year's numbers show growth and profitability?
IIRC, JG's kids reported to the CFO. Financial Analysts, or something like that. It was fun to visit their offices periodically. The doors remained closed. Busy doing some hard number crunching, I suspect. The air must have been very stale.
Who do they report to now?
Yea, the dog and pony show sure did imply an IPO...but now, crickets.
The Executive Team visited NYSE and NASDAQ earlier this year, and was interviewed on NYSE’s podcast to publicize SAS.
A company takes such actions when contemplating an imminent IPO.
Now the CFO leaving suggests otherwise.
No one has ever really expected an actual IPO, have they? I thought they were pretty upfront that 'IPO-ready' was code for 'move to generally accepted bookkeeping/accounting standards in order to make a sale more palatable'?
Maybe I'm misremembering. But I think everyone is aware that 50 year old stable companies are not great IPO prospects....
"I meant only to suggest that it would be unprofessional of him to retire during an IPO or sale"
As it should be, he retires when he wants and likely could not care less whether you think that is "unprofessional".
One person is not going to make or break a sale/ipo. Certainly not like a bunch of lackluster products.
I meant only to suggest that it would be unprofessional of him to retire during an IPO or sale. Therefore I guess the IPO/sale is not happening anytime soon.
That's the best outcome for employees. It means continued layoffs, but a delay in the inevitable mass layoff.
[OP]
Mr D gave 40 years. That is unheard of and has been for quite awhile. I think his retirement is well deserved. If anyone thinks that is "unprofessional" then they must be absolutely outraged that SAS kept doubling down on a loser like Viya, promoting an environment where a sale/IPO is literally in a state of constipation. The CFO's retirement is just one drop of ur--e in that huge pi-s/po-p pot.
Happy retirement to Mr D, well deserved, and thank you for your 40 years of service!
As we prepare to begin to think about evaluating the consideration of perhaps having an eventual IPO...almost IPO ready y'all!
IPO is a funny way to say "estate planning"
Did SAS ever say they'd go IPO in 2025 for sure?
They just get their (financial) books sorted out to the state where it can be IPO-ready, right?
Maybe there was never an IPO at all.
It’s clear that just like the cake, the IPO is a lie.
"My opinion is that your opinion is horsesh-t."
Thank you so much for your thoughtfully worded reasoning 😂.
There is room here for darker conspiracy theories. It is certainly unusual for a CFO to leave in the year announced for an IPO.
But it would be unprofessional to hurt the IPO/sale of a company that paid you for 40 years. Therefore, I don't think he did that.
My best guess is that the CFO knows the IPO/sale has been delayed, and therefore his retirement will not hurt his employer.
I think your guess is likely the case. Anyone know if he started at SAS in his early 20's and is in his early 60's .. or did he start later and is in his late 60's? If the latter, definitely cannot blame him. But it certainly is an odd look if the company were on the verge of an IPO.
“ It would be unprofessional for a CFO to retire during an IPO or sale”
That is an opinion, my opinion is that your opinion is horsesh-t.
There is nothing unprofessional about retiring after 40 years.
40 years………