Overview
- Carl Eschenbach stepped down from the CEO role and left the board, and he will remain as a strategic adviser to Bhusri.
- Regulatory filings show Bhusri will receive $135 million in time- and performance-based stock awards plus a $1.25 million salary, while Eschenbach gets about $3.6 million in severance with accelerated vesting.
- Workday shares fell as much as 9.6% on the news and are down roughly 41% over the past year.
- Bhusri framed the change as an AI-first pivot, saying AI will define the next generation of market leaders, while some analysts said his return could speed AI product development.
- The shake-up follows recent layoffs of about 2% of staff and last year’s 8.5% cuts tied to AI investment, with ongoing pressure from an activist investor that disclosed a roughly $2 billion stake.