Workday stock jumped on Thursday after a published report that private-equity firm Silver Lake is in talks to acquire the enterprise software company.

According to the Reuters report, which cited people familiar with the matter, Silver Lake and Workday have held discussions about a possible deal in recent months. While the discussions are ongoing, however, it isn't guaranteed that a deal will be formalized.

Barron's has reached out to Workday and Silver Lake for comment.

Workday stock soared 23% to $215.22 after the Reuters report was published and was on pace for its largest percentage increase on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data. This shot the stock up to be the best performer in the S&P 500 on Thursday, while the index gained 0.7%.

Workday is one of many enterprise software stocks that have been heavily affected by investor concerns around the future of the industry amid the increasing capabilities of artificial intelligence. The worry is that improving AI tools can eventually replace critical software functions. Workday stock has declined 2.5% over the past 12 months.

But shares have rallied 91% from their 52-week closing low of $112.50 on April 10. Fiscal first-quarter earnings reported on May 21 were better-than-expected. The company, which is mostly known for its human resources software, has also integrated AI agents into its offerings to try to offset shareholder concerns about the evolving tech.

As of the stock market close on Wednesday, Workday had a market cap of $43.3 billion. That jumped up to $51.2 billion in afternoon trading on Thursday.