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SAS Institute turns 50
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50 years ago today, SAS Institute was spun out of N.C. State University, transforming what began as an effort to better analyze agricultural data into a company with a handful of employees.
Why it matters: The data analytics system those employees pioneered would create arguably North Carolina's most successful technology startup — minting billionaires, employing thousands of high-paying roles and making Cary into one of the state's most prosperous towns.
Zoom in: Jim Goodnight, the company's 83-year-old co-founder, has remained CEO for all 50 of those years.
- He's been focused for the past few years on advancing SAS's artificial intelligence tools to keep the company relevant to customers.
- "While we're proud of what we've accomplished over the last 50 years, we're even more excited about what comes next," Goodnight said in a statement.
Between the lines: What's next for the company and who succeeds Goodnight at its helm remains to be seen.
- The company said in 2021 it wanted to go public. Five years later, however, it remains tightly controlled by its co-founders with no initial public offering imminent.
