Silver Lake in Talks to Acquire Workday; Shares Surge 19%, Market Cap Tops $50 Billion
Private equity firm Silver Lake is in talks to acquire Workday, a human resources and financial management software company, in a deal valuing it at about $43 billion. The news sent Workday shares up more than 19% in late trading, with the market value briefly exceeding $50 billion. Shares rose as much as 25% intraday, the biggest gain since 2012. The stock is down about 3% this year and 7% from a year ago. Co-founder Aneel Bhusri returned as CEO in March.
Workday shares surged more than 19% in late trading Thursday, posting their biggest one-day gain since going public, after reports that private equity firm Silver Lake was in talks to acquire the human resources and financial management software company. The deal values Workday at about $43 billion, and if completed, would be one of the largest acquisitions in software history. The talks have been ongoing for months, but no agreement is guaranteed.
Workday shares rose as much as 25% intraday, the largest one-day gain since the company began trading in 2012, before being briefly halted due to volatility. Prior to the halt, the company's market value exceeded $50 billion. Workday provides cloud-based software for managing HR, payroll, benefits, recruiting, performance, accounting, financial reporting, procurement, expenses, and business analytics and AI agents.
Like many software companies, Workday had previously suffered a sharp decline as investors worried that AI models would diminish the value of expensive software products. The stock is down about 3% this year and 7% from a year ago. In March, co-founder Aneel Bhusri returned as CEO after Carl Eschenbach stepped down. Bhusri has held various leadership roles at the company, including CEO and co-CEO.