Chegg acquires language learning platform Busuu for $436 million
Chegg announced on Monday that it is acquiring language learning platform Busuu for approximately $436 million in an all-cash transaction. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.
Finance
Busuu offers 12 different language courses to more than 500,000 paying subscribers and said it has serviced 120 million users since its founding in 2008. The company has offices in London and Madrid.
Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig said the acquisition would allow the company to drive further into international markets and increase Busuu's growth in the US market.
"The addition of Busuu gives Chegg the unique opportunity to expand our business while also adding tremendous value to our existing users. Busuu's team, who we have known for many years, are a great cultural fit," Rosensweig said. "They have built an incredible learning service for the serious language learner, and we are excited to have them as part of Chegg."
According to Busuu's internal statistics, they have more than 20,000 new registrations daily, and Chegg said it expects the language education site to bring in about $45 million in revenue for 2021, a year-over-year growth of more than 20%.
Busuu makes significant portions of its revenue through monthly, annual and bi-annual paid subscriptions while also offering corporate language training for a number of larger organizations. The site melds traditional self-paced language courses with feedback provided by native speakers.
The company has added live language tutoring, offering live group lessons and one-to-one sessions with language teachers in the last year.
Bernhard Niesner, CEO and co-founder of Busuu, said the partnership with Chegg would offer them an opportunity to leverage the edtech company's reach to fuel its expansion in the US.
"Our vision is to empower everyone in the world through languages, and we believe our relationship with Chegg will enable us to achieve this goal even faster," Niesner said.
Chegg, president of learning services Nathan Schultz added that Busuu has been able to develop its own curriculum and foster a community of native speakers that can help reinforce learning.