Enterprise resource planning software company Workday announced Chief Executive Carl Eschenbach on Monday was coming down And leaving the board of the company, with immediate effect. Workday co-founder and former CEO Anil Bhusri will return as CEO.
Eschenbach joined Workday as co-CEO with Bhusri in December 2022, and has been serving as sole CEO of the company since February 2024. Bhusri, who had led the company since 2009 – sometimes as co-CEO, sometimes as sole CEO – serves as executive chairman of the company from 2024.
Workday confirmed to TechCrunch that Bhusri is returning to the role permanently, rather than taking over the reins while a replacement is searched for.
Workday made this leadership change as it said its next chapter will surprisingly focus on AI.
“We are now entering one of the most important moments in our history,” Bhusri said in a company press release on Monday. “AI is an even bigger transformation than SaaS – and it will define the next generation of market leaders. I’m excited to return as CEO, working with our Presidents Gerrit Kazmaier and Rob Enslin, and I’m excited about the opportunity ahead of us.”
Last February, Workday reduced 8.5% of its workforceOr 1,750 people, Eschenbach said at the time as the company needed a new approach to labor in the age of AI.
