On January 18, 2011, Pearson, the world’s leading learning company and owner of the Financial Times and Penguin Books, has announced its acquisition of TutorVista, which is a fast growing Indian education company. As per sources, Pearson has 76% stake for a consideration of INR 577 crore.
Marjorie Scardino, Pearson’s Chief Executive, said that TutorVista is an innovative and effective education company that they have worked with and respected for several years. This acquisition - which they believe is the largest transaction in education in India by any company - signals their excitement about the vitality of India’s education sector, he added.
John Makinson, Chairman of Pearson India, said that today’s acquisition underlines Pearson’s commitment to education and skills development in India. The investment in TutorVista gives them control of the world’s largest online tutoring business and, crucially, a solid platform on which to build a leading presence in the Indian private schools sector, he added.
Further, Mr. Makinson said that as the future chairman of TutorVista, he look forward to working even more closely with Krishnan Ganesh and his extraordinarily talented team in Bangalore. Krishnan Ganesh, Founder and CEO TutorVista, said that they started TutorVista.Com to provide affordable education services and content globally.
Furthermore, Mr. Ganesh said that together with Pearson, the world’s leading education company, they can make this happen even faster and help millions of students achieve their educational goals. TutorVista.com is already the largest consumer online tutoring company and with the help of Pearson they will now have an opportunity to take their high quality tutoring to schools and colleges directly, he added.
As per sources, the achievement will backs Pearson’s goals of building significant education companies in selected fast-growing markets and applying its learning services and technologies to support governments and institutions in making educational opportunities more accessible and more effective.
