No, I do not know.
And I don't mean to suggest that JMP grows 10% every year, either. It has grown 10% in good years. Even in bad years, it's often had single-digit growth. It has been a slow steady grower -- you can judge that by its slow steady increase in headcount.
But even after 30 years, JMP only employs hundreds, while SAS employs thousands. So whatever the precise fraction, JMP revenues can be only a small part of SAS revenues.
I'm surprised to hear that's JMP has been growing that fast. Do you know what fraction of SAS revenue comes from JMP?
In my 10+ years at SAS, the only time that I ever heard anyone mention JMP (or IDEAS for that matter) was once per year when Dr. G. pointed out that the financial number for that year didn't include either.
Previous poster here. Sorry for the confusion.
I've been told that JMP has grown steadily, near 10% per year for many years, and that it is nicely profitable.
JMP sales are growing. This's also true of other parts of SAS, such as Risk and Fraud; but is not true of SAS as a whole.
My understanding is that no decision has been made to IPO JMP or SAS. Rather, they are becoming "IPO-ready".
Separating JMP and SAS provides the flexibility of IPO'ing either or both, together or separately. That flexibility is attractive, to buyer or seller.
Not the previous poster, but SAS is definitely in decline. 9 years of basically flat revenue. That's effectively a decline when you factor in inflation or compare against the rest of the market. I've never seen real numbers for JMP. Does anyone know what the annual revenue is for JMP ans how's it's grown or not?
Are you saying JMP is a declining asset? Or do you mean SAS?
When John D. Rockefeller was forced to split his company, he advised friends to "Buy Standard Oil". He reasoned, correctly, that the parts would be more valuable than the whole.
But all those parts were growing. So it's not clear the same reasoning applies here. And the best time to sell a declining asset is ASAP.
I was told that this had been discussed, but no decision made.
A separate IPO would return more money for JMP, but less money for SAS. So IMO it would be better to IPO them as one unit. I may be wrong, though... or it may not even matter.
Wall Street will want clear accounting, to their standards, for some period of time in front of an IPO. JMP is still using the SAS Campus, and, last I heard, the SAS IT department. They would need to make a clear separation.
They are planning their own IPO 2025
Yes, the code dependences can be resolved by licensing agreements. It's a legal hurdle, but not insurmountable.
Assuming that SAS IPOs most of its stock, then anyone can buy majority control. If JMP fits with their business plan, they can keep it; if it doesn't fit, they can sell it or IPO it.
JMP seems unlikely to get spun off before an IPO, because it makes an IPO (or private sale) more attractive. JMP's recent reorg as an independent subsidiary emphasizes that this part of SAS is profitable and growing, and makes it easy for an acquirer to choose whether to keep JMP or spin it off.
IIRC, JMP still has some code dependencies with the SAS Threaded Kernel (TK). Those would need to be eliminated or proper biz agreements crafted if/once JMP and SAS are no longer the same “corporate umbrella”.
(Assuming IPO ever happens) There is no chance. It will get spun off on its own or sold separately to another buyer or PE. There is near zero synergy between it and the rest of the SAS offerings.