SAS layoffs? Execs say no

Goodnight is eager to squash rumors

SAS Institute's Cary campus is buzzing with rumors that the company's management wants to zap.

The world's largest privately held software company, which has about 4,000 local employees, is not offering buyouts, and it's not laying off hundreds of people, said Jim Davis, chief marketing officer.

"We typically don't even acknowledge rumors," he said. "But we've been hearing these things, and I can tell you it's not true."

And SAS has not been sold.

In an e-mail message, chief executive Jim Goodnight wrote that SAS "is not for sale. No one has made even an approach."

Goodnight, the billionaire who co-founded SAS 30 years ago with technology developed at N.C. State University, wrote that the company is profitable and revenue is up 10 percent this year. He has asked his sales managers to hire 100 additional account executives.

Davis said he thinks the rumors started with the recent departures of two vice presidents and the restructuring of a business unit. The change, which moves some duties handled by its BetterManagement.com division into SAS.com, will affect about 20 employees, including three or four in Cary and 12 to 14 in Beaverton, Ore.

Employees can apply for new positions within the company, including jobs in sales and the beefed-up online division.

"We're dimming the lights on one and turning the lights up at SAS.com," Davis said. But he concedes that workers in Oregon might not find something that fits their location and skills.

Employees and the public might call the changes layoffs. SAS does not.

"It is a realignment," Davis said. "We're increasing head count over where we were last year, not doing a reduction in work force."

No other employees at SAS are being realigned, he said.

Goodnight will host a company-wide Webcast on Friday morning. The quarterly event has been scheduled for two weeks, but the timing is convenient to put some misinformation to rest, Davis said.

Among the rumors is one that Kelly Ross, vice president of U.S. commercial sales, quit because she was asked to eliminate hundreds of jobs. Marianna Clampett, vice president of government, Latin America, education and Canada operations, left recently as well.

Both women resigned for personal reasons, Davis said. Neither could be reached for comment Wednesday.

There also have been murmurs about buyout packages being offered to senior employees. Davis denies that, too.

"A lot of people out there, when you start moving jobs around, they know the horror stories of what's happened at other companies," Davis said. "Sometimes these things take on a life of their own."