Next to a paying a regular annual dividend, SAP has employed share repurchases for several years to continuously return excess cash to shareholders. Accordingly, SAP repurchases shares primarily for purposes of redemption and - to a lower extent - meeting its obligations arising from stock based compensation programs.

As of March 31, 2009, SAP has spent a total of approximately €3.65 billion to repurchase SAP shares since the inception of its share buybacks.

Period	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Share buyback (€ million)	141.4	417.0	1,141.6	1,004.7	486.8	0.0
Share buyback (millions of shares)	4.5	12.9	27.9	27.3	14.6	0.0
Average repurchase price during period (€)	31.37	32.44	40.97	36.85	33.34	0.00
Own shares redeemed during period (millions of shares)	0.0	0.0	0.0	23.0	21.0	0.0
Treasury stock at period end (€ million)	569.2	775.3	1,741.8	1,733.8	1,362.3	1,326.5
Treasury stock at period end (millions of shares)	21.5	26.7	49.3	48.1	38.5	37.4
Average repurchase price of shares in treasury stock at period end (€)	26.53	29.02	35.37	36.07	35.43	35.43
Total shares outstanding at period end, excluding treasury stock (millions of shares)	1,242.6	1,239.1	1,218.3	1,198.2	1,187.3	1,188.6