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PeopleSoft founder seeks windfall in Workday IPO

PeopleSoft founder seeks windfall in Workday IPO

By Associated Press | Updated: 3 September 2012 10:31 IST

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The billionaire who founded business software maker PeopleSoft is looking to strike it rich again by taking his latest startup public.

The startup, called Workday, is looking to raise $400 million in its initial public offering of stock. The figure listed in papers filed Thursday could change as Workday's bankers gauge the demand for its shares. It usually takes three to four months for companies to complete their IPOs.

PeopleSoft founder David Duffield started Workday Inc. in 2005, shortly after PeopleSoft was sold to rival Oracle Corp. for $11.1 billion. Duffield tried to fend off Oracle's takeover attempt before finally relenting.

Duffield, 71, is Workday's co-CEO and largest stockholder with 73.5 million shares. He was PeopleSoft's CEO when that company went public 20 years ago.

Workday's other co-CEO, Aneel Bhusri, is another former PeopleSoft executive. Bhusri, 46, owns 27.4 million Workday shares.

The upcoming IPO could also enrich Workday's more than 1,400 employees through the stock options that they have received as part of compensation packages.

Like PeopleSoft, Workday specializes in software that helps companies manage their personnel departments. Workday provides its software from data centers that distribute programs to any device with an Internet connection. The delivery mechanism has become known as "cloud computing," a rapidly growing field that has become a hot commodity on Wall Street.

Salesforce.com Inc., a cloud computing pioneer, boasts a market value of $20 billion a decade after its IPO.

Although its revenue has been steadily growing, Workday still isn't profitable. The company has lost nearly $330 million since its inception. Workday's' loss during the first half of this year totaled $47.3 million on revenue of $119.5 million, according to its IPO documents.

Workday is based in Pleasanton, Calif., like PeopleSoft was.

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