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Workday Announces Return To Dual CEO Structure As Its Quarterly Earnings Beat Estimates

SaaS-based enterprise solutions provider, Workday has announced for the first time since 2014, that it will have a dual CEO structure. Co-President, Chano Fernandez has been promoted to Co-CEO and will work alongside current Chief Executive Officer Aneel Bhusri, a Co-Founder of the company.

Fernandez joined Workday in 2014. Since then, he’s held several leadership roles, including president of EMEA and APJ. As co-president of Workday, he was responsible for global field operations and strategic partner alliances. Before joining Workday, Fernandez served in senior positions at software companies and worked in global consulting.

“Chano is the right leader to join me as Co-CEO, as we navigate such a dynamic year and make great progress on the long-term opportunity ahead of us,” said Bhusri. “Chano lives our values, has a proven track record of success, and has a passion for empowering our people, customers, and the broader Workday community. I’m proud to partner with him as we help our customers succeed in this world of constant change.”

For Workday, this is a return to a trusted model that saw Bhusri and Co-Founder Dave Duffield work as Co-CEOs. Duffield later stepped down but has remained Chairman of the company he founded with Bhusri in 2005.

This announcement coincided with Workday reporting better-than-expected quarterly revenue and earnings. Revenue jumped by about 19.6% to $1.06 billion for the second quarter ending July 31, beating analysts’ average $1.04 billion estimates. Meanwhile, growth was down from 23% one quarter earlier.

Following the report, Workday shares rose as much as 13% in extended trading on Thursday, August 27.

With an accelerated shift towards cloud migration, Workday’s subscription revenue also grew by 23%. Operating loss improved at $16.8 million, compared to an operating loss of $122.5 million in the same period last year. Workday expects a fiscal year 2021 subscription revenue of between $3.73 billion and $3.74 billion, up from its previous forecast of $3.67 billion to $3.69 billion.

Workday, which provides enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, has seen its stock recover to its pre-COVID peak around early July. The company has primarily benefited from the acceleration of digital transformation and the shift to cloud due to the global health crisis.