Workday skyrockets 25% before trading halted on report of Silver Lake takeover

Workday shares popped more than 25% on a report that private equity firm Silver Lake is in talks to buy the human resources software maker.

Shares were briefly halted in late afternoon trading and the company's market value last topped more than $53 billion

Workday and Silver Lake did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Software companies like Workday have come under immense pressure in recent months on mounting concerns that artificial intelligence tools will upend their business models.

In March, co-founder Aneel Bhusri was renamed CEO after Carl Eschenbach stepped down. Bhusri has held various leadership roles at the company, including a stint as CEO and co-CEO.

"Aneel Bhusri, the CEO, and Egon [Durban] from Silver Lake know each other well through many connections. So we we think certainly this could make sense, and I think this goes back to how badly hit software's been," analyst Brent Thill told CNBC's "Power Lunch."

Workday shares pop on acquisition news