Pearson selling some investments to be ‘100 percent’ focused on education
Pearson, the world’s largest education company, the one that testing critics love to hate, wants to get much, much bigger. It is selling other investments so that it can focus entirely on its education business.
The sales come at a time when the company has lost some big testing contracts in the United States and when its outlook from Moody’s, the credit-rating service, is negative. Still, Pearson is dominant in the education field. HBO’s John Oliver noted in a piece earlier this year that it is possible for American students to take Pearson-designed tests from kindergarten through at least eighth grade, use Pearson-designed curriculum and textbooks, and have teachers certified by a Pearson test. And that’s only part of its education reach.
The company is selling its stake in the Financial Times to Nikkei Inc., a leading Japanese media organization, for $1.3 billion, a move that Pearson chief executive John Fallon said was precipitated by the changing journalism business model and by Pearson’s desire to focus entirely on education,according to Financial Times. It is also in talks to sell its 50 percent stake in the Economist Group, which publishes the Economist magazine as well as the Economist Intelligence Unit and CQ Roll Call. The Financial Times said:
Selling the FT Group and the Economist Group stake would leave Pearson with nearly £1bn [nearly $1.5 billion] in net proceeds — strengthening its balance sheet at a time when its credit rating has a negative outlook from Moody’s, due to uncertainty in the education sector.
Fallon told reporters a few days ago, according to Nieman Labs: “In terms of the businesses that we actively manage and lead on a daily basis, everything in that category will now be 100 percent related to education.”
Fallon wrote an article in the Financial Times that said in part:
The world of education is now changing profoundly, through globalisation, the emerging middle class in countries including India, China and Brazil, and the revolution of digital technology. The number of students going to university around the world is expected to triple over the next 20 years.And that is what the future of Pearson is about: the ever-growing global demand for better education — whether that means learning real skills that lead to a career, access to better teachers and learning resources, or more affordable and effective higher education. It is a big and fragmented sector — annual globalPearson selling some investments to be ‘100 percent’ focused on education - The Washington Post: