Workday, Inc., is an American on‑demand ( cloud-based) financial management, human capital management, and student information system software vendor. Workday was founded by David Duffield, founder and former CEO of ERP company PeopleSoft, along with former PeopleSoft chief strategist Aneel Bhusri, following

Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

's acquisition of PeopleSoft in 2005. In October 2012, Workday launched a successful

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

that valued the company at $9.5 billion. Competitors of Workday include SAP Successfactors, Dayforce, UKG, and

. In 2020, '' Fortune'' magazine ranked Workday Inc. at number five on their Fortune List of the Top 100 Companies to Work For in 2020 based on an employee satisfaction survey.

History

2005–2015

Workday was founded in March 2005 and launched in November 2006. Initially, it was funded by David Duffield and the venture capital firm Greylock Partners. In December 2008, Workday moved its headquarters from

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland, California, Oakland. Walnut Creek has a total population of 70,127 per t ...

, to Pleasanton, California, where PeopleSoft founder Duffield's prior company was located. On February 6, 2008, Workday announced that it had reached a definitive agreement to purchase Cape Clear Software. In May 2008, Workday signed a large contract with Flextronics to provide human capital management software services. Companies that have publicly disclosed contracts or deployments of Workday include Aviva, Chiquita Brands, and other firms. On April 29, 2009, Workday announced that it had secured $75 million in funding led by New Enterprise Associates. Existing investors Greylock Partners and Workday CEO and co‑founder Dave Duffield also participated in the round. On October 24, 2011, Workday announced $85 million in new funding, bringing the total capital raised to $250 million. Investors in the latest round included T. Rowe Price,

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

Investment Management, Janus, and Bezos Expeditions. As of spring 2012, Workday had 310 customers, ranging from mid-sized businesses to ''Fortune'' 500 companies. In October 2012, Workday launched its

(IPO) on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

with ticker symbol WDAY. Its shares were priced at $28 and ended trading Friday, October 12, at $48.69, which "propelled the start-up to a

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

of nearly $9.5 billion including unexercised stock options." It sold 22.75 million Class A shares, raising $637 million. The IPO raised more cash than any launch in the U.S. technology sector since

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

's $16 billion IPO in May 2012. Its shares surged 74% in their IPO, underscoring investor interest in

cloud computing Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

2015–present

In 2016, Workday launched a cloud-based student information system to augment its portfolio of financial management and human capital management products. In 2018, Workday acquired Filip Doušek's company Stories.bi. The CEO of Workday was Aneel Bhusri, who is a partner with Greylock Partners and handled senior leadership positions earlier in his career at PeopleSoft. In 2020, Chano Fernandez was promoted to co-CEO along with Bhusri. Dave Duffield served as the chairman of the board until his resignation in April 2022, after which Aneel Bhusri took over as the chairman. In November 2021, Workday announced its acquisition of VNDLY, a startup that helps companies manage external workforce personnel, for $510 million. Sequoia Capital's Carl Eschenbach replaced Fernandez as co-CEO in December 2022. The company also announced that Eschenbach would become its sole CEO after March 2024, when Bhusri will move to the role of executive chair. Eschenbach is now the company's sole CEO. It was announced in February 2025 that Workday would cut 8.5% of its workforce in favor of investing in

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

to counter a "softer

macroeconomic Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output/ GDP ...

environment".

Adaptive Insights

Adaptive Insights was a

software as a service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike o ...

company founded in 2003 and headquartered in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

. The company was acquired by Workday in a $1.55 billion deal completed in August 2018, renaming the company and its core product to Workday Adaptive Planning. In 2003, Robert S. Hull and Richard L. Dellinger co-founded Adaptive Planning to market enterprise budgeting, forecasting, and reporting software as an alternative to

spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in c ...

-based planning or larger on-premises software. Adaptive Planning was an early user of the

(SaaS) model for

business intelligence Business intelligence (BI) consists of strategies, methodologies, and technologies used by enterprises for data analysis and management of business information. Common functions of BI technologies include Financial reporting, reporting, online an ...

and corporate performance management. In 2003, it was incorporated in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

as Visus Technology, renamed as Adaptive Planning. It was incubated at Onset Ventures in

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park ( ) is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, California, Eas ...

. In 2009, Adaptive Insights partnered with NetSuite, Inc. and is currently a member of the SuiteCloud Developer Network. The company also integrates with other cloud ERP solutions from Sage Intacct,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

, and others. Adaptive Insights partners with associates in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, the UK and the United States. In September 2012, the company acquired the Louisville, Colorado based company ' for an undisclosed amount. By October 2013, Adaptive Planning held a fourth round of

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

, totaling $45 million. The company also added salesforce.com as a backer. In February 2014, Adaptive Planning was renamed Adaptive Insights and released a new version of the software with an updated user interface. In January 2015, the company appointed Citrix Chairman Tom Bogan as CEO. In June, the company reported another investment round of $75 million with several investors, including

Norwest Venture Partners Norwest Venture Partners (Norwest) is an American venture and growth equity investment firm. The firm targets early to late-stage venture and growth equity investments across several sectors, including cloud computing and information technology, ...

, ONSET Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cardinal Venture Capital, Information Venture Partners, and others. In April 2018, the company announced it added 500 net new customers in 2018, bringing Adaptive Insights' total customer base to more than 3,700 customers worldwide in FY2018. In August, Workday completed the acquisition of Adaptive Insights, announcing that the company would operate as Adaptive Insights, a Workday company. In May 2020, Adaptive Insights rebranded once again and was renamed Workday Adaptive Planning.

Business model

Workday sells subscriptions to its services.

Expense An expense is an item requiring an outflow of money, or any form of fortune in general, to another person or group as payment for an item, service, or other category of costs. For a tenant, rent is an expense. For students or parents, tuition i ...

s are booked up front when it signs on a new customer, but the associated

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

is recognized over the life of multiyear agreements. In the first quarter 2016, Workday announced annual revenue in excess of $1 billion for the first time ever in fiscal year 2016.

Corporate governance

Duffield holds voting rights to Workday shares that are worth $3.4 billion and Bhusri holds voting rights to shares valued at $1.3 billion. Collectively, they hold 67% of the company's voting shares. This voting structure makes the event of a

hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (law), company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast t ...

much less likely.

Product

Workday provides a software to help businesses manage finances and

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...

. Key features include: * Global workforce and recruitment management with real-time reporting and analytics. * Financial management capabilities, including accounting tools, expense tracking, and financial planning insights. * Employee self-service, such as with onboarding and time-tracking tasks. In February 2014, Workday acquired the startup Identified and its artificial intelligence Syman to create its Insight Apps line of products. The first products running SYMAN were announced at Workday Rising 2014. In July 2017, Workday CEO Aneel Bhusri announced that the company had decided to open up its platform to developers, partners and third-party software. As a result, Workday will enter the Platform as a Service (PaaS) market. Bhusri said the move will allow customers to build custom extensions and applications to work with Workday. In January 2018, Workday announced that it acquired SkipFlag, makers of an AI knowledge base that builds itself from a company's internal communications. Workday has released 39 updates to its product line as of September 2022, the most recent being "2022 R2". It releases a major update every 6 months, in September and March. Workday operates data centers located in

Ashburn, Virginia Ashburn is a unincorporated settlement and census-designated place (CDP) in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, its population was 46,349, up from 3,393 in 1990. It is northwest of Washington, D.C., and par ...

; Lithia Springs, Georgia;

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

;

Dublin, Ireland Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and also uses Amazon Web Services for its primary computing infrastructure platforms in order to accelerate its worldwide expansion.

Workday Adaptive Planning

The Workday Adaptive Planning application is a cloud-based software app designed to help organizations with financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting. It is a part of the broader Workday suite of enterprise applications, which includes solutions for human resources, finance, sales, operations, and HR in their planning processes. The app covers the planning, consolidation, analytics, and reporting functions with its Business Planning Cloud. It automates consolidations and integration of data from other systems and enables collaboration and real-time updates via its on-demand SaaS-based model.

Acquisitions

Sponsorship

In May 2021, Workday signed a sponsorship deal with

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

as the regional finance & human resource enterprise partner across the UK and Germany. The deal was renewed and expanded in 2022, where Workday will be a regional partner of Formula One in a multiyear deal. In March 2023, Workday signed a multiyear sponsorship deal with McLaren as an official partner.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Software companies established in 2005 American companies established in 2005 2012 initial public offerings Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies based in Pleasanton, California Cloud computing providers Companies listed on the Nasdaq Human resource management software ERP software companies 2005 establishments in California Software companies of the United States