Skillsoft, a global leader in corporate digital learning announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Codecademy, the US-based online learning platform for technical skills for $525 million in cash and stock,
Following the deal, the Codecademy team will join Skillsoft to help further build out the leading technical skills training solution for learners globally.
With the acquisition, Skillsoft bolsters its technical skills offerings by adding expertise in programming languages aimed at developers and other types of technology workers.
Codecademy shareholders will receive total consideration of approximately $525 million. The consideration for the transaction is approximately 40% cash and 60% equity. In connection with the transaction, Skillsoft has secured committed financing from Barclays and Citigroup.
Boston-based Skillsoft, founded by Charles E Moran, offers customers software that provides training and classes in leadership development, workplace harassment prevention, and coursework to qualify as a system engineer. Its library of 180,000 courses, books, and videos is offered in 29 languages and customers include the US Air Force, Siemens AG, and United Parcel Service Inc.
The platform also provides enterprise learning solutions designed to prepare organizations for the future of work, overcome critical skill gaps, drive demonstrable behavior change, and unlock the potential in their people. With access to a broad spectrum of learning options (including video, audio, books, bootcamps, live events, and practice labs), organizations can meaningfully increase learner engagement and retention.
Speaking about the acquisition, Founder and CEO of Codecademy, Zach Sims, said, “Since our founding, Codecademy has been focused on empowering our learners to build inspiring careers in technology,” said Zach Sims, founder and CEO of Codecademy. “We have helped tens of millions of people around the world learn new technology skills. Together with Skillsoft, we will have the opportunity to rapidly increase the size of our content library and scale Codecademy across the millions of learners and thousands of companies – including approximately 75% of the Fortune 1000 – that work with Skillsoft worldwide. With additional resources and opportunities to drive growth, we are excited to embark on this important next chapter.”
Codecademy, started in 2011 by Zach Sims, is an innovative and popular learning platform providing high-demand technical skills to approximately 40 million registered learners in nearly every country worldwide. The platform offers interactive, self-paced courses and hands-on learning in 14 programming languages across multiple domains such as application development, data science, cloud, and cybersecurity.
In addition, the Codecademy platform can rapidly expand to deliver new skills at scale, making it highly adaptable to the evolving technical needs of learners and their employers.
Chief Executive Officer of Skillsoft, Jeffrey R. Tarr added, “Codecademy will significantly expand Skillsoft’s capabilities in the high-growth Tech & Dev segment. Strategic acquisitions are an important part of our growth strategy. We acquired virtual instructor-led training capabilities with Global Knowledge and coaching with Pluma earlier this year. With the addition of Codecademy’s innovative capabilities, we will create an even more immersive online learning experience. When we combine Skillsoft’s enterprise customer base of more than 12,000 corporate customers and over 46 million learners with Codecademy’s 40 million learners, sophisticated digital marketing capability and influential brand, we expect to unlock significant revenue synergies.”
Earlier in February, New York-headquartered Codecademy had raised $40 million in new funding, seeking to expand into markets such as India where a high percentage of people are pursuing engineering degrees.
