Workday shares spiked more than 19% in late afternoon trading on Thursday before a brief trading halt, following a Reuters report that private equity firm Silver Lake is in talks to buy the human resources software company.
The report, citing sources familiar with the matter, said discussions have been ongoing over the past several months. The news pushed Workday’s market value above $50 billion before trading was paused, according to CNBC.
Neither Workday nor Silver Lake immediately responded to CNBC’s request for comment.
AI disruption concerns have weighed on the stock
The potential takeover comes at a time when investors have grown increasingly worried that artificial intelligence tools could upend the traditional software business model. Those concerns have been a major overhang on Workday’s shares in recent months, even as the stock has rebounded from its recent selloff.
Despite Thursday’s jump, Workday shares remain down 7% year over year.
Management changes and recent earnings
The company has undergone leadership shifts this year. In March, co-founder Aneel Bhusri was renamed CEO after Carl Eschenbach stepped down. Bhusri has held various leadership roles at Workday over the years, including a previous stint as CEO and co-CEO.
The Silver Lake report also drew attention from Wall Street analysts. Brent Thill, an analyst covering the software sector, told CNBC’s “Power Lunch” that a deal could make strategic sense given the relationship between Bhusri and Silver Lake’s Egon Durban.
“Aneel Bhusri, the CEO, and Egon [Durban] from Silver Lake know each other well through many connections. So we think certainly this could make sense, and I think this goes back to how badly hit software’s been,” Thill said.
In May, Workday posted better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its forecast, citing tailwinds from AI adoption.
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/13/workday-skyrockets-25percent-before-trading-halted-on-report-of-silver-lake-takeover.html
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