Silver Lake Partners is in talks to acquire Workday, the enterprise software company, for roughly $43 billion, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The potential deal would rank among the largest buyouts in technology sector history.
Workday's market capitalization stood near $43 billion before news of the talks emerged, valuing the deal at approximately one times the company's public market price. Silver Lake, the technology-focused private equity firm with roughly $90 billion in assets under management, has built a portfolio centered on software and infrastructure companies including Apollo Global Management and Motorola Solutions.
Workday provides human capital management and financial planning software to enterprises globally. The company reported $7.7 billion in annual recurring revenue as of its most recent fiscal year and serves more than 10,000 organizations across sectors including financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing. Founded in 2005, Workday went public in 2012 and has maintained profitability in recent fiscal periods.
Silver Lake's approach typically involves partnering with company management to optimize operations and pursue acquisitions within a portfolio company's sector. The firm closed its latest flagship fund at $23 billion in 2023 and has deployed capital into generative AI and data infrastructure investments in recent years. A Workday acquisition would occur amid macroeconomic uncertainty around corporate technology spending.
No agreement has been reached, and talks could end without a deal closing. Workday's board would need to approve any transaction, and regulatory review would likely be limited given competition in the software sector. The company's stock moved sharply on the acquisition reports.
Silver Lake has completed multiple technology acquisitions exceeding $10 billion in the past decade, including its $5.3 billion take-private of SolarWinds in 2020 and prior investments in companies later valued in the tens of billions. If Silver Lake acquires Workday at the rumored valuation, the deal would be its largest technology sector transaction on record. The number that decides whether this advances is whether Workday's independent board committee issues a go-shop provision allowing management to solicit competing bids within a defined window after signing.
