Co-chairmen of the executive board, SAP, AG COMBINED NET WORTH In
excess of $7 billion
AGES 51; 54
ADDRESSwww.sap.com BioS SAP's
motto ought to be Infrastructure, Infrastructure Uber Alles. The
company, based in Germany, creates and installs the software that
allows huge corporations--including Exxon and Microsoft--to
integrate their far-flung parts and departments, thus saving
millions of dollars. It's a largely unsung but vital and
sterotypically Teutonic job, and it has made SAP billions as the
best in the business. This leader in the gray world of
corporate-infrastructure software was started by Plattner and
three other former IBMers in 1972, and with $3.4 billion in
revenues last year, it is the world's fourth largest software
maker. 1998 POWER PLAY Plattner takes enough time off from
leading one of the fastestgrowing companies in the world to sail
and occasionally pal around with Bill Gates. It's a symbiotic
relationship: Microsoft helped fine-tune SAP's products for the
Internet, while every client-server software sale that SAP makes
helps promote the Windows NT operating system. Kagermann, who was
promoted to the top spot this spring, is the more cerebral
leader. The former mathematics professor seems more comfortable
writing code than with the wind in his hair. SAP threw a $2
million beach party on Wall Street this summer to celebrate its
listing on the New York Stock Exchange; no word as to whether
Kagermann and Plattner lost their pinstripes and got into the
beach volleyball action. PLACE YOUR BETS SAP's listing on the
n.y.s.e. is big news; with a market cap of about $70 billion it
is the largest new listing ever. The company took a bit of a hit
this year when projected growth figures were lower than expected,
but analysts agree there are few better long-term investments out
there.
