Silver Lake in Talks to Acquire Workday in Potentially Biggest Software Deal Ever
Silver Lake, the private-equity investment firm, is in talks to acquire enterprise-software company Workday, according to people familiar with the matter. The report sent Workday shares up nearly 18% Thursday, their biggest one-day gain since 2016. The stock was halted multiple times late Thursday and closed at $206.45, lifting Workday's market capitalization to about $51.1 billion. If completed, the transaction could rank among the largest acquisitions in the global software industry. Silver Lake and Workday have been discussing a potential deal for several months, and negotiations are continuing, the people said. No agreement has been reached, and the talks could still end without a deal. Silver Lake may also bring in other investors to help finance the acquisition. Neither company responded to requests for comment. Before news of the talks emerged, Workday's market value was about $43 billion. Its shares were down about 15% for the year and more than 40% from their 2024 peak. Even after Thursday's sharp rebound, the stock remained down about 8% on the year. The rapid development of artificial-intelligence technology has prompted investors to reassess the growth prospects and business models of traditional enterprise-software companies, leaving vendors such as Workday under continuing valuation pressure. Concerns that AI could disrupt traditional software business models have also made private-equity firms more cautious about large software acquisitions and increased the difficulty of assessing companies' future growth prospects and value. Large software take-private transactions have been relatively limited this year. In January 2026, Hg Capital agreed to acquire financial-software company OneStream for about $6.4 billion. Thoma Bravo previously agreed to acquire payroll-management software provider Dayforce for about $12.3 billion. A potential Workday transaction would be substantially larger than both deals and would serve as an important test of whether private-equity capital is returning to software investing on a larger scale. Silver Lake has a long history of investing in technology and software companies, including Dell Technologies, VMware and Qualtrics. In 2025, the firm joined Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Affinity Partners in reaching an agreement to take Electronic Arts private in a transaction valued at about $55 billion. Workday was founded in 2005 by former PeopleSoft executives and went public in 2012. It provides cloud software for human resources, payroll, finance, spend management and planning. The company has more than 11,500 customers worldwide, including Netflix, U.S. Bancorp, Johns Hopkins University and Thomson Reuters. In February 2026, co-founder Aneel Bhusri returned as Workday's chief executive officer to lead the company through the challenges AI poses to traditional enterprise software. In May 2026, Workday reported quarterly results that exceeded market expectations and said demand related to AI was helping drive business growth. The company subsequently raised its outlook. Workday reported $9.6 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue, up 13% from the prior year, and $2.9 billion in operating cash flow, up 19%. Revenue growth was slower than the 16% recorded in fiscal 2024.
The stock was halted multiple times late Thursday and closed at $206.45, lifting Workday's market capitalization to about $51.1 billion. If completed, the transaction could rank among the largest acquisitions in the global software industry.
Silver Lake and Workday have been discussing a potential deal for several months, and negotiations are continuing, the people said. No agreement has been reached, and the talks could still end without a deal. Silver Lake may also bring in other investors to help finance the acquisition. Neither company responded to requests for comment.
Before news of the talks emerged, Workday's market value was about $43 billion. Its shares were down about 15% for the year and more than 40% from their 2024 peak. Even after Thursday's sharp rebound, the stock remained down about 8% on the year.
The rapid development of artificial-intelligence technology has prompted investors to reassess the growth prospects and business models of traditional enterprise-software companies, leaving vendors such as Workday under continuing valuation pressure.
Concerns that AI could disrupt traditional software business models have also made private-equity firms more cautious about large software acquisitions and increased the difficulty of assessing companies' future growth prospects and value. Large software take-private transactions have been relatively limited this year.
In January 2026, Hg Capital agreed to acquire financial-software company OneStream for about $6.4 billion. Thoma Bravo previously agreed to acquire payroll-management software provider Dayforce for about $12.3 billion. A potential Workday transaction would be substantially larger than both deals and would serve as an important test of whether private-equity capital is returning to software investing on a larger scale.
Silver Lake has a long history of investing in technology and software companies, including Dell Technologies, VMware and Qualtrics. In 2025, the firm joined Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Affinity Partners in reaching an agreement to take Electronic Arts private in a transaction valued at about $55 billion.
Workday was founded in 2005 by former PeopleSoft executives and went public in 2012. It provides cloud software for human resources, payroll, finance, spend management and planning. The company has more than 11,500 customers worldwide, including Netflix, U.S. Bancorp, Johns Hopkins University and Thomson Reuters.
In February 2026, co-founder Aneel Bhusri returned as Workday's chief executive officer to lead the company through the challenges AI poses to traditional enterprise software.
In May 2026, Workday reported quarterly results that exceeded market expectations and said demand related to AI was helping drive business growth. The company subsequently raised its outlook. Workday reported $9.6 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue, up 13% from the prior year, and $2.9 billion in operating cash flow, up 19%. Revenue growth was slower than the 16% recorded in fiscal 2024.