Udemy To Go Public With an Initial Public Offering (IPO)
Udemy, an online learning platform that has served as the starting point for many newcomers to the world of web design, is preparing to file an initial public offering so that its shares can be listed on Wall Street. The platform has been bolstered by a watershed year during which revenue jumped by more than 55%, and this had a lot to do with the coronavirus pandemic and the shift towards virtual learning.
Even though Udemy is still going through net loss periods, profits seem to be just over the horizon, and this will likely attract prospective investors. One area of business that has significantly boosted Udemy revenue is corporate training. More than 40% of companies listed on the Fortune 100 index have chosen Udemy as a partner, and this responds to a burgeoning trend of enterprises willing to invest in education as a means to sharpen their competitive edge on the market.
It is perhaps for this reason that a handful of business schools have begun to consider the offering. But is there any real substance in the idea of a business school using Udemy? It is certainly true that, in a world of dwindling public spending, there is plenty of money available for an entrepreneurial education sector that does not involve degrees in physics or organic chemistry. And yet, there are serious reservations about this. For a start, most Udemy courses are taught by the platform’s teachers. For a fee, the teacher gets to choose the learning style and the pace of delivery. This is not necessarily a problem, and the Udemy platform does have a large pool of talent that has been cultivated in the course of providing tutorials and online courses. But the potential issue is that the courses are not necessarily designed to meet an industry-specific education need.
In many cases, Udemy teachers may simply be delivering what is in demand, rather than reflecting a genuinely existing need. As a result, the final product may be less than impressive. It’s also important to consider the financial implications of training corporate managers with Udemy. For more information click here https://www.reuters.com/technology/online-learning-platform-udemy-files-us-ipo-2021-10-05/.