As noted in a prior post, virtual schools in Ohio are currently
a $218 million dollar (per year) experiment.
Pretty soon you are talking about real money and real millionaires.
It is not the teachers or administrators who are getting rich.
Pearson bought Connections Education which includes the Connections Academy Schools and Nexus Academy for $400 million. They have since branched out to international schools and are marketing all over the world. They are also a major force behind the common core standards.
Pearson bought Connections Education which includes the Connections Academy Schools and Nexus Academy for $400 million. They have since branched out to international schools and are marketing all over the world. They are also a major force behind the common core standards.
Private equity firm Apollo Management LP is
selling Baltimore online schooling company Connections Education LLC to U.K.
publishing giant Pearson plc for $400 million, Pearson said Thursday, Sept. 14.
Apollo and Sterling Partners, the target's minority owner, will pocket nearly the entire amount because Connections Education has little debt, a person familiar with the company said.
The two PE firms evidently will turn a profit. In September 2004, according to a financial filing, they paid $12 million to buy the business from Educate Inc., a K-12 education services provider Apollo had purchased for $283 million the previous year.
It isn't known how much additional capital, if any, New York-based Apollo and Baltimore-based Sterling have put into Connections Education since then.
Apollo executives were unavailable for comment. Sterling did not return a message seeking comment.
Connections Education has enjoyed spectacular growth over the past seven years. It posted less than $6 million in revenue the year Apollo and Sterling bought it.
This year, revenues are likely to hit $190 million, Sterling said.
Through its Connections Academy business, the company provides online instruction to more than 40,000 students in grades K-12. It operates "virtual" accredited public school in 21 U.S. states.
"Virtual schooling is an attractive choice for a growing group of American parents, and in the next decade it will take off in other countries," Pearson chief executive Marjorie Scardino said in a statement.
Apollo and Sterling Partners, the target's minority owner, will pocket nearly the entire amount because Connections Education has little debt, a person familiar with the company said.
The two PE firms evidently will turn a profit. In September 2004, according to a financial filing, they paid $12 million to buy the business from Educate Inc., a K-12 education services provider Apollo had purchased for $283 million the previous year.
It isn't known how much additional capital, if any, New York-based Apollo and Baltimore-based Sterling have put into Connections Education since then.
Apollo executives were unavailable for comment. Sterling did not return a message seeking comment.
Connections Education has enjoyed spectacular growth over the past seven years. It posted less than $6 million in revenue the year Apollo and Sterling bought it.
This year, revenues are likely to hit $190 million, Sterling said.
Through its Connections Academy business, the company provides online instruction to more than 40,000 students in grades K-12. It operates "virtual" accredited public school in 21 U.S. states.
"Virtual schooling is an attractive choice for a growing group of American parents, and in the next decade it will take off in other countries," Pearson chief executive Marjorie Scardino said in a statement.
There are some justifiably angry folks as
to the privatization of public schools, control of testing, and the pushing of
private curriculums by Pearson. An
effort is underway to boycott Pearson.
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