Workday, Inc.
Enterprise Cloud Software — Human Capital Management and Financial ManagementFounded 2005- Updated July 2025
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Last reviewed: July 2025
CorpDigest
Workday, Inc.
Financial Performance
Last reviewed: July 2025 · By Swet Parvadiya
Revenue
$9.55B
Market Cap
$35.6B
Net Income
$693M
Employees
18,400
Revenue grew from $7.26 billion in fiscal 2024 to $8.45 billion in fiscal 2025 and $9.55 billion in fiscal 2026, a 13.1 percent year-over-year increase in the most recent year. Subscription revenue of $8.83 billion, growing at consistent double-digit rates, drives the long-term cash flow visibility embedded in the backlog. Net income of $693 million in fiscal 2026 on $9.55 billion in revenue implies a net margin of approximately 7.3 percent, significantly compressed by $1.57 billion in stock-based compensation. On a cash earnings basis, the business is substantially more profitable than GAAP net income reflects. The $35.6 billion market capitalization against $9.55 billion in revenue implies a price-to-sales multiple of roughly 3.7, compressed relative to fiscal 2021 levels when cloud software multiples were materially higher. The current valuation reflects growth deceleration from the high-teens toward the low-teens percent range as Workday's addressable market becomes more fully penetrated among large enterprises. The $2.9 billion share repurchase in fiscal 2026 is a capital return signal from a company that historically prioritized investment over buybacks. Combined with the 8 percent workforce reduction in 2025, the pattern suggests a deliberate shift toward margin expansion and shareholder returns rather than headcount-driven growth. That transition is one most mature SaaS businesses eventually make, and Workday appears to be executing it with deliberate timing.
Revenue Trend Analysis
YoY Change
+13.1%
2-Year CAGR
+14.7%
Peak Year
2026
Trend
Consistent Growth
Workday, Inc. has reported revenue across 3 fiscal years, compounding at +14.7% annually over 2 years. The most recent year saw a 13.1% increase versus the prior year. Revenue peaked in 2026 at $9.6B. Out of 2 reported periods, 2 showed growth and 0 showed a decline.
| Fiscal Year | Revenue | Net Income | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $9.6B | $693M | +13.1% |
| FY2025 | $8.4B | — | +16.4% |
| FY2024 | $7.3B | — | — |
Source: SEC EDGAR filings, annual earnings releases, and verified financial disclosures.
Click any row to see year details.
Workday reported fiscal year 2025 revenue of $9.55 billion for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2025, up 16 percent from $7.26 billion in fiscal year 2024 and continuing the multi-decade growth trajectory that has compounded revenue at a 35 percent compound annual growth rate since the 2012 initial public offering. Subscription revenue accounted for approximately 90 percent of total revenue at $8.79 billion, up 17 percent year over year, with professional services revenue contributing the remaining $760 million. The 12-month subscription revenue backlog reached $7.63 billion at fiscal year end, providing strong forward revenue visibility. Non-GAAP operating margin expanded to approximately 26 percent, reflecting operating leverage on the subscription revenue base and disciplined expense management even as the company invested significantly in artificial intelligence capabilities and the HiredScore and Evisort acquisitions. GAAP net income for fiscal year 2025 was $1.55 billion with GAAP operating margin near 19 percent, materially improved from prior fiscal years when stock-based compensation absorption suppressed GAAP profitability. Cash flow from operations exceeded $2.5 billion supporting share repurchases and continued capital deployment into research and development and strategic acquisitions. The market capitalization fluctuated between $50 billion and $70 billion across fiscal year 2025 trading windows. Workday joined the S&P 500 index in December 2024 reflecting the company's enterprise software incumbent status.
Workday's revenue growth from $134 million in fiscal year 2012 at the time of the October 2012 initial public offering to $9.55 billion in fiscal year 2025 represents a compound annual growth rate of approximately 36 percent across the 13-year window, one of the strongest sustained growth trajectories among enterprise software companies of comparable scale. The growth was driven by three reinforcing dynamics. First, customer count expansion from approximately 325 customers at the time of the 2012 IPO to more than 10,500 customers by fiscal year 2025, with customer additions averaging more than 600 net new customers annually across recent years. Second, expansion within existing customers through purchase of additional product modules, with the average customer subscribing to more Workday products over time as Workday extended from initial HCM-only deployments into Financial Management, Planning and other suite components. Third, pricing growth aligned with product value expansion, with average revenue per customer trending upward across fiscal years as enterprise customers expanded modules and headcount. The international revenue contribution grew from a single-digit percentage at the time of the IPO to more than 25 percent of total revenue by fiscal year 2025, supported by regional sales offices and the international acquisitions of European HR technology firms. Major enterprise customer additions including Walmart, Salesforce and Royal Bank of Canada anchored multi-year revenue acceleration.
Workday's market capitalization has fluctuated significantly across the post-2012 listing period reflecting both fundamental business expansion and the cyclical valuation patterns affecting enterprise software multiples broadly. The October 12, 2012 initial public offering valued the company at $4.5 billion at $28 per share. The stock crossed $100 per share within the first year of trading and continued upward through the 2010s, surpassing $200 by 2018 and reaching all-time highs above $300 per share during the 2020 to 2021 enterprise software valuation peak when low interest rates and pandemic-driven cloud adoption pushed multiples to extreme levels. The market capitalization reached approximately $80 billion at the late 2021 peak. The 2022 enterprise software multiple compression reduced the market capitalization significantly with the stock trading near $150 per share at the trough. Recovery across 2023 and 2024 brought the market capitalization back to approximately $50 billion to $70 billion range depending on the trading window. Workday joined the S&P 500 index in December 2024, a milestone reflecting the company's enterprise software incumbent status. The shares trade under the ticker WDAY on Nasdaq Global Select Market with average daily volume of several million shares. Comparison to enterprise software peers including Salesforce, ServiceNow, SAP and Oracle shows Workday with revenue scale below the leaders but margin trajectory and growth profile competitive with the cohort.
Workday's stock-based compensation expense has historically been a significant component of total operating expense and a meaningful driver of the gap between GAAP and non-GAAP profitability measures, a pattern common across high-growth enterprise software companies that compensate engineering and sales talent partly through equity grants. Stock-based compensation reached approximately $1.6 billion in fiscal year 2025, representing roughly 17 percent of total revenue and a meaningful portion of operating expenses across research and development, sales and marketing and general administrative line items. The GAAP operating margin near 19 percent in fiscal year 2025 compares with a non-GAAP operating margin near 26 percent, with the approximately 7 percentage point difference primarily attributable to stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquired intangibles and restructuring charges. The stock-based compensation pattern has been a persistent investor focus across the post-IPO years, with some institutional investors and analysts criticizing the practice of excluding stock-based compensation from non-GAAP profitability measures while including the diluted share count impact in earnings per share calculations. Workday has progressively narrowed the gap between GAAP and non-GAAP profitability across recent fiscal years through both stock-based compensation discipline and operating margin expansion. Free cash flow generation has exceeded GAAP net income, supporting the share repurchase programs deployed across recent fiscal years to offset the dilution from stock-based compensation grants.
Using these figures? Please credit CorpDigest with a link.
CorpDigest. "Workday, Inc. Revenue & Financials." CorpDigest, https://corpdigest.com/company/workday/financials.<div style="font-family:system-ui,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-radius:8px;padding:12px 16px;max-width:520px"><strong>Workday, Inc. reported $10B in revenue (FY2026).</strong><br>Source: <a href="https://corpdigest.com/company/workday/financials" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CorpDigest — Workday, Inc. financials</a></div>