SAP CEO Bill McDermott stepping down after over nine years leading software giant
SAP said on Thursday that Bill McDermott is stepping down as CEO after more than nine years running the German software company.

Board members Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein have been appointed co-CEOs effective immediately, SAP said in a statement. McDermott, 58, will stay on as an adviser until the end of the year.

"For the past decade, McDermott has served as CEO and has overseen a period of dramatic growth for SAP, including expanding its portfolio and initiating a major shift to cloud computing," the statement said. "Under McDermott's leadership, key metrics including market value, revenue, profits, employee engagement and environmental sustainability have all strengthened substantially since 2010."

The company's stock has climbed 21% this year. It's up 75% in the past five years, topping rival Oracle , which is up 46%, and the S&P 500's 54% gain.

SAP, which develops database software and tools that companies use to manage their spending and day-to-day activities, also pre-announced third-quarter results, and beat expectations in part because of a cloud customer. The shares rose 5% in extended trading after the earnings release.

SAP said that a "cloud deal with a major partner" accounted for 17 percentage points of new cloud bookings growth in the quarter. Overall, new cloud bookings jumped 38% in the quarter. SAP said it will start recognizing revenue from the three-year cloud deal in the fourth quarter.

McDermott is being succeeded by two company veterans. Klein, a German, started at SAP in 1999, when he was still a student. He worked his way up to chief controlling officer in 2014 and operating chief two years later. Morgan joined in 2004, and in 2017, she became the first American woman on the company's executive board. She ran SAP's Cloud Business Group, which includes acquired assets like Concur and Qualtrics.

The company was established in Germany, but Morgan and her colleagues see it as global entity, Morgan said on a conference call with journalists after the announcement.