Workday shares surge 25% on report of Silver Lake takeover talks

Published Aug 13, 07:00 PM UTC

Workday's stock surged over 25% in late afternoon trading before being halted, following a report that private equity firm Silver Lake is in talks to acquire the human resources software company. The potential deal comes as software firms face pressure from AI disruption fears, which have caused Workday's shares to decline this year. The company's market value briefly topped $53 billion. Neither Workday nor Silver Lake commented on the report. Analyst Brent Thill noted that Workday CEO Aneel Bhusri and Silver Lake's Egon Durban have longstanding connections, making the deal plausible. The report follows a CEO transition in March, when co-founder Bhusri returned to lead the company after Carl Eschenbach stepped down.