Silver Lake is reportedly in discussions to acquire Workday, the cloud-based enterprise software company currently valued at roughly $43 billion. If completed, the deal would represent one of the largest private equity-led technology acquisitions ever, dwarfing several of Silver Lake’s own recent blockbuster transactions.
The talks are described as preliminary, and no regulatory filings or official statements from either party have confirmed the negotiations.
Silver Lake’s appetite for mega-deals
Silver Lake is no stranger to writing big checks. The firm completed its acquisition of Endeavor, the entertainment and sports conglomerate, for $13 billion in March 2025. It also picked up a majority stake in Altera from Intel for approximately $4.46 billion that same year.
A $43 billion acquisition of Workday would blow past both of those deals combined. Silver Lake has approximately $114 billion in assets under management, focusing on technology and technology-enabled companies.
Why Workday makes sense as a target
Workday, founded in 2005 and publicly traded since 2012, has established itself as one of the dominant players in enterprise cloud software, competing head-to-head with SAP and Oracle in the HR and finance management space. The company’s subscription model produces predictable, recurring revenue, which is exactly the kind of cash flow profile that private equity firms look to underwrite.
The company has also been investing heavily in AI capabilities, weaving machine learning features into its platform for tasks like workforce planning, anomaly detection in financial data, and talent management.
Workday is scheduled to release its fiscal 2027 second-quarter results on August 27, 2026. That earnings report could serve as a natural inflection point for any ongoing negotiations, giving both sides fresh data on the company’s trajectory.
What a deal would mean for the market
There’s also the financing question. A $43 billion deal would require an enormous debt package, likely one of the largest leveraged buyout financings in years.
The firm’s track record includes companies like Dell Technologies, where Silver Lake played a central role in the company’s landmark go-private transaction in 2013 before its eventual return to public markets.
With no official confirmation from either side and earnings approaching at the end of August, the coming weeks will likely determine whether these preliminary talks evolve into a definitive agreement or fade into the long list of deals that almost happened.