Workday CEO Eschenbach is leaving, and co-founder Aneel Bhusri is returning as CEO

ERP software company Workday announced Monday that CEO Karl Eschenbach He was stepping down The company’s Board of Directors left effective immediately. Workday co-founder and former CEO Aneel Bhusri will return as CEO.

Eschenbach joined Workday in December 2022 as co-CEO alongside Bhusri, and has been serving as the company’s sole CEO since February 2024. Bhusri, who has led the company since 2009 — sometimes as co-CEO, sometimes as sole CEO — has been the company’s CEO since 2024.

Workday confirmed to TechCrunch that Busseri will return to his position permanently, rather than take the helm while a replacement is searched.

Workday has made such a change in leadership that it says its next chapter will, unsurprisingly, focus on artificial intelligence.

“We are now entering one of the most pivotal moments in our history,” Busseri said in a company press release on Monday. “AI is an even bigger transformation than SaaS – and will define the next generation of market leaders. I’m excited to return as CEO, working alongside our Presidents Gerrit Kazmaier and Rob Enslin, and I’m excited about the opportunity ahead of us.”

last February, Workday has laid off 8.5% of its employeesor 1,750 people, with Eschenbach stating at the time that the company needed a new approach to operating in the age of artificial intelligence.