Towards a mega-deal? Silver Lake in talks to acquire software company Workday, which jumped 17.8%

Private equity firm Silver Lake is in talks to acquire software company Workday, whose market value is estimated at approximately $43 billion, in a deal that could be considered one of the largest ever in the software industry, sources familiar with the matter reported to Reuters.

According to the report, Silver Lake and the human resources and finance management software company have been in discussions for the past few months regarding a potential deal. The talks are still ongoing and there is no certainty they will result in an actual agreement, said the sources, who requested anonymity because the information is confidential. Both companies did not respond to the report.

Since the beginning of the year, Workday has lost about 15% of its value, amid investor concerns regarding the survival ability of traditional software companies in an era where artificial intelligence is developing at a rapid pace. From the peak level recorded in 2024, the stock has plummeted by more than 40%. However, overnight it jumped by 17.8%. Against the backdrop of the report, a rally was recorded in the software sector: Monday jumped by 9.7% and Wix by 16.5%.

According to one of the sources, Silver Lake may bring in additional investors to finance the deal, which would be one of the firm's largest investments in the technology sector to date. Last year, Silver Lake partnered with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Affinity Partners as part of the acquisition of gaming company Electronic Arts, valued at approximately $55 billion.

According to the report, a deal of this type would be further reinforcement of the trend of returning mega-deals in the technology sector, after several years of relatively moderate activity in the field. Earlier this year, the fund Thoma Bravo announced an agreement to acquire payroll software company Dayforce, in a deal valued at approximately $16 billion.

Workday was founded in 2005 by Aneel Bhusri and David Duffield, former executives at PeopleSoft, and became a public company in 2012. The company provides cloud-based software for human resources, payroll, finance, expenses, and planning management, and has more than 11,500 customers worldwide, including Netflix, U.S. Bank, Johns Hopkins University, and Thomson Reuters. Bhusri returned to the position of CEO of Workday last February, as the company faces growing pressure from artificial intelligence technologies on the traditional core business software sector.