SAP CEO Léo Apotheker has resigned after less than a year as the sole CEO of SAP.
Executives Jim Hagemann Snabe and Bill McDermott will take over as co-CEOs. McDermott currently heads up the field organization and Hagemann Snabe heads up product development.
CTO Vishal Sikka has been named to the executive board. Hasso Plattner will "continue to play a strong role in advising the new leaders on technology and product development," according to an SAP statement.
"The new setup of the SAP Executive Board will allow SAP to better align product innovation with customer needs," Plattner said in a press release. "The new leadership team will continue to drive forward SAP's strategy and focus on profitable growth, and will deliver its innovations in 2010 to expand SAP's leadership of the business software market."
There has been speculation that Apotheker's contract would not be renewed. A press release from SAP said the Supervisory Board came to a "mutual agreement" with Apotheker not to extend his contract.
His resignation comes on the heels of the notoriously failed attempt by the vendor to raise its customers' maintenance and support fees from 17% to 22% of net licensing fees. SAP recently reinstated a tiered maintenance and support option after nearly a year and a half of trying to convince its customers of the value of Enterprise Support.
"The SAP Supervisory Board thanks Léo Apotheker for his enormous contribution
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to the success of SAP, which he joined more than 20 years ago, and wishes him all the best for the future," a press release announcing the resignation said.