Silver Lake in Talks to Buy Workday in Deal Worth Up to $43 Billion

Quick Facts

• Workday shares closed up 19.9% Thursday at $210.19, adding roughly $8.6 billion in market value, after reports of Silver Lake buyout talks emerged.
• Silver Lake is prepared to pay up to $43 billion for Workday, a price that would rank among the largest software buyouts in history.
• Talks are ongoing and no deal is guaranteed, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Private equity firm Silver Lake is in discussions to acquire Workday Inc. in a deal valued at up to $43 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks have taken place over recent months, though no agreement has been reached and no guarantee of a deal exists.

Workday shares surged as much as 21% Thursday and were halted for volatility before closing at $210.19, a gain of $34.90, or 19.9%, from Wednesday’s close. The intraday peak hit $227.49. With approximately 247 million shares outstanding, the day’s move added about $8.6 billion to the company’s equity value, bringing its market cap to roughly $51.9 billion.

The stock had fallen about 15% year-to-date before Thursday’s news and sat more than 40% below its 2024 peak. Thursday’s jump erased those year-to-date losses, putting shares up 3% since January.

The report from SiliconAngle follows a period of sustained pressure on software stocks as investors weigh the threat of artificial intelligence to legacy SaaS business models. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF is down about 3% over the past year, compared to more than 20% growth for the S&P 500.

Workday’s financials provide a clear picture of what Silver Lake is evaluating. As of April 30, the company held $4.35 billion in cash, equivalents, and marketable securities, against approximately $2.99 billion in debt. Subscription revenue grew 14.3% in the first quarter, and total subscription backlog rose 11% to $27.3 billion. The company projects 15% annual subscription revenue growth in the coming years.

Analyst Brent Thill, speaking on CNBC’s Power Lunch, pointed to a personal connection between the two sides. “Aneel Bhusri, the CEO, and Egon Durban from Silver Lake know each other well through many connections,” Thill said. “This goes back to how badly hit software’s been.”

Dan Niles, founder of Niles Investment Management, said a completed deal would likely “create a floor for the pressured software sector for some time” and could help the sector outperform the S&P 500 through year-end. He also flagged the risks Silver Lake faces. “PE firms use debt which increases risk if they are wrong, the cost of longer-term debt is the highest in nearly 20 years, and they need to feel comfortable about terminal value given exits are typically now in five to seven years,” Niles said.

CEO Aneel Bhusri returned to lead Workday in February 2026, saying at the time that AI represented “a bigger transformation than SaaS.” Workday’s dual-class share structure gives founders outsized voting power, meaning Bhusri’s personal view on any offer will carry significant weight in whether talks advance to a definitive agreement.

Silver Lake could bring in additional investors to help finance the deal, one source said. If completed at or near $43 billion, the transaction would approach the record set by Hg Capital’s $46.4 billion acquisition of OneStream Software, the largest take-private deal in software history.

Workday is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter 2027 results on August 27. That earnings release could serve as a decision point for both sides, providing fresh data on revenue growth and AI product traction before any deal terms are finalized.

Representatives for both Silver Lake and Workday did not respond to requests for comment.

Read more: Workday’s stock jumps 17% on report of Silver Lake buyout discussions