SAS Institute

SAS Institute Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustrySoftware
FoundedJuly 1, 1976; 48 years ago (1976-07-01)
FounderAnthony James Barr
James Goodnight
John Sall
Jane Helwig
HeadquartersCary, North Carolina, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
James Goodnight, CEO and Co-founder
John Sall, Co-founder and Executive Vice President
ProductsSAS (software)
SAS language
JMP
RevenueIncrease US$ 3.2 billion (2021)[1]
Number of employees
12,170 (2022)[2]
Websitewww.sas.com

35°49′37″N 78°45′44″W / 35.82694°N 78.76222°W / 35.82694; -78.76222

SAS Institute (or SAS, pronounced "sass") is an American multinational developer of analytics and artificial intelligence software based in Cary, North Carolina. SAS develops and markets a suite of analytics software (also called SAS), which helps access, manage, analyze and report on data to aid in decision-making. The company's software is used by most of the Fortune 500.[3]

SAS Institute started as a project at North Carolina State University to create a statistical analysis system, in fact SAS originally stood for "Statistical Analysis System", though it is no longer considered an acronym.[4] It was originally used primarily by agricultural departments at universities in the late 1960s. It became an independent, private business led by current CEO James Goodnight and three other project leaders from the university in 1976.

SAS is one of the largest privately held software providers in the world, and the company's software is used by most of the Fortune 500. The company's revenue grew from $10 million in 1980 to $3.2 billion in 2022.[5] Historically, it has spent a notably higher proportion of its annual revenue on research and development than most other software companies.

  1. ^ "2021-2022 Annual Report" (PDF). SAS. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  2. ^ "Company Overview". SAS. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference seventyeight was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Herzberg, Paul A. (1990), "What is the SAS System?", How SAS Works: A Comprehensive Introduction to the SAS System, New York, NY: Springer US, pp. 3–10, doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-9670-7_1, ISBN 978-1-4615-9670-7, retrieved February 25, 2024
  5. ^ Gordon, Brian (September 28, 2023). "SAS eliminates more positions this week as part of its 2023 staff reduction plan". The News & Observer.