Online education platform Coursera has announced the acquisition of its competitor Udemy. The combined company is valued at $2.5 billion, as it tries to adapt to slower growth after the pandemic and stricter investor demands for profitability.
Online education platform Coursera has announced the acquisition of its competitor Udemy. The combined company is valued at $2.5 billion, as it tries to adapt to slower growth after the pandemic and stricter investor demands for profitability.
According to Reuters calculations, Udemy shareholders will receive 0.8 shares of Coursera for each share they hold, and the value of Udemy in this transaction is about $930 million.
The deal brings together two of the largest online platforms in the US at a time when user acquisition has slowed compared to the peak of the pandemic, forcing the companies to scale, focus on enterprise customers and strive for more predictable subscription revenue.
Coursera and Udemy are betting that the combined platform will better meet corporate demand for training, especially in the areas of artificial intelligence, data science and software development, as employers invest in reskilling workers due to the rapid development of generative AI.
The companies expect the deal to close in the second half of next year, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
