Workday, an enterprise resource planning software company, announced Monday that Chief Executive Officer Carl Eschenbach will resign and retire from the company’s board of directors, effective immediately. Workday co-founder and former CEO Aneel Bhusri will return as CEO.
Mr. Eschenbach joined Workday in December 2022 as co-CEO with Mr. Bhusri, and had been the company’s sole CEO since February 2024. Bhusri has led the company since 2009, sometimes as co-CEO, sometimes as sole CEO, and has been the company’s executive chairman since 2024.
Workday confirmed to TechCrunch that Bhusri will be returning to the role permanently, rather than taking the helm while the company searches for a replacement.
Workday has understandably made this leadership change because it says its next chapter will focus on AI.
“We are now at one of the most important moments in our history,” Bhusri said in a company press release on Monday. “AI is a bigger transformation than SaaS and will define the next generation of market leaders. I am energized to return as CEO and work with our presidents Gerrit Kazmayer and Rob Enslin, and I am excited about the opportunities ahead.”
Last February, Workday laid off 1,750 people, or 8.5% of its workforce, and Eschenbach said at the time that the company needed a new approach to working in the age of AI.
