Pearson - M&A Summary and Business Overview

PublishingCompany

Pearson M&A Summary

Pearson has acquired 30 companies, including 7 in the last 5 years. A total of 9 acquisitions came from private equity firms. It has also divested 16 assets.

Pearson’s largest acquisition to date was in 2000, when it acquired National Computer Systems for $2.6B. It’s largest disclosed sale occurred in 2015, when it sold Financial Times Group to Nikkei for $1.3B. Pearson has acquired in 12 different US states, and 8 countries. The Company’s most targeted sectors include education (45%) and internet software and services (25%).

Pearson Business Overview

Where is Pearson headquartered?

Pearson is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

What is Pearson’s revenue?

Pearson disclosed revenue of 3,674M GBP for 2023 and 3,841M GBP for 2022.

How many employees does Pearson have?

Pearson has 17,612 employees.

What sector is Pearson in?

Pearson is a publishing company.

When was Pearson founded?

Pearson was founded in 1844.

M&A Summary

  • M&A Total Activity45
    • M&A Buy Activity29
    • M&A Sell Activity16
  • Total Sectors Invested 7
  • Total Countries Invested 8
  • M&A Buy/Sell Connections 28
  • M&A Advisors 8

Pearson

Pearson Plc

80 Strand,
London, WC2R 0RL
United Kingdom,
+ 44 (0)20 7010 2000
plc.pearson.com

Pearson is a multinational publishing and education company. Pearson combines educational content and assessment, powered by services and technology, to enable more effective teaching and personalized learning at scale. Pearson was founded in 1844 and is based in London, United Kingdom.


M&A Summary

Buy vs Sell

Year ≤ '19 '20 '21 '22 '23 '24 T
Buy (1.2/yr) # 23 1 2 3 - - 29
vol $6.2B $25M $390M $6.6B
Sell (0.8/yr) # 12 - - 3 1 - 16
vol $2.9B $2.9B
  45

Most Recent M&A

Company Date Value Type
Pearson Online Learning Services 2023-03-21 - Divestiture
London, United Kingdom
Personnel Decisions Research Institutes LLC 2022-12-19 190M USD Divestiture
Arlington, Virginia · www.pdri.com
Editions du renouveau pedagogique, Inc. 2022-06-13 - Divestiture
Montreal, Quebec · www.pearsonerpi.com
ATI Studios SRL 2022-04-29 - Add-on Acquisition
Brasov, Romania · www.mondly.com
Mentes do Amanhã 2022-02-03 - Divestiture
, Brazil
Pearson Global School 2022-02-03 - Divestiture
, Brazil · www.bilingue.pearson.com.br
Credly, Inc. 2022-01-31 200M USD Add-on Acquisition
New York, New York · www.Credly.com
Faethm Holdings Pty Ltd. 2021-09-07 - Add-on Acquisition
Sydney, Australia · www.faethm.ai
Opinion Interactive LLC 2021-02-26 - Add-on Acquisition
Davis, California · www.spotlight-education.com
Smart Sparrow - Interactive Learning Technology 2020-01-16 25M USD Divestiture
Sydney, Australia
View All >>

Business Unit M&A

Company Acquired Add-On/Sale Date #
Pearson Education, Inc.    - Fronter AS 2015-11-10 1
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey · www.pearsonschool.com Oslo, Norway · www.fronter.com
Pearson Education, Inc.    - America's Choice School Design, Inc. 2010-09-07 10
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey · www.pearsonschool.com Washington, District of Columbia · www.americaschoice.org
Pearson Education, Inc.    - SEB’s School Learning Systems Business 2010-07-22 9
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey · www.pearsonschool.com , Brazil
Pearson Education, Inc.    - eCollege.com, Inc. 2007-07-31 8
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey · www.pearsonschool.com Denver, Colorado · www.ecollege.com
Pearson Education, Inc.    - AGS Publishing 2005-06-23 7
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey · www.pearsonschool.com Circle Pines, Minnesota

M&A by Sector

Sector Buy # Value Sell # Value
Education 13 (45%) 2.5B (37%) 5 (31%) 250M (9%)
Internet Software and Services 7 (24%) 3.6B (54%) 3 (19%) -
Publishing 3 (10%) 116M (2%) 4 (25%) 46M (2%)
Business Services 2 (7%) 232M (4%) 2 (13%) 686M (24%)
Information Technology 2 (7%) 25M (< 1%) - -
Information Services 1 (3%) 192M (3%) 1 (6%) 588M (20%)
Consumer Services 1 (3%) - - -
Media - - 1 (6%) 1.3B (45%)
Total 29 $6.6B 16 $2.9B

By Geo

State/Country Buy Value Sell Value
United States 17 4.7B 7 982M
  Massachusetts 3 100M 1 -
  New York 3 430M - -
  California 2 90M 1 -
  Virginia 1 190M 2 600M
  Illinois 1 42M - -
  District of Columbia 1 - - -
  Texas 1 29M - -
  Missouri 1 - - -
  Minnesota 1 2.6B - -
  Maryland 1 92M - -
  Indiana 1 116M - -
  New Jersey - - 1 250M
United Kingdom 5 345M 5 1.9B
Brazil 1 777M 2 -
Australia 2 25M - -
Canada 1 650M 1 -
  Ontario 1 650M - -
  Quebec - - 1 -
India 1 127M 1 -
Germany 1 - - -
Romania 1 - - -
Domestic 5 (17%) 345M (5%) 5 (31%) 1.9B (66%)
Cross-border 24 (83%) 6.2B (95%) 11 (69%) 982M (34%)
Total 29 $6.6B 16 $2.9B

Top M&A Advisors

Financial Deals
Evercore Group
2
J.P. Morgan Securities
2
Citigroup Investment Banking
2
Legal Deals
Morgan Lewis
1
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin
1
K&L Gates
1

Deal Values

buy # Total
> $1B 1 $2.6B
$100M to $1B 10 $3.6B
< $100M 6 $378M
TOTAL $6.6B
Largest National Computer Systems, Inc.
$2.6B (2000-07-31)
sell # Total
> $1B 1 $1.3B
$100M to $1B 3 $1.4B
< $100M 2 $132M
TOTAL $2.9B
Largest Financial Times Group Ltd.
$1.3B (2015-07-23)

M&A Connections

Deals
Acquired from
Investor(s)
28%
8 (28%)
Strategic(s)
14%
4 (14%)
Divested to
Investor(s)
25%
4 (25%)
Strategic(s)
75%
12 (75%)

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