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A
Early birds always rise to the occasion for summer vacation planning because early gets you closer to the action. So don't be late. Book your next vacation early on VRBO and save over $120. Rise and shine average savings $141 select homes only at Charmin we heard you shouldn't talk about going to the bathroom in public, so we decided to sing about it.
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Light a candle, pour some wine, grab a roll, the soft kind for a little me time. Shaman Ultra Soft Smooth Tear Wavy edges for my rear so let the softness caress your soul. Just relax, you're on a roll.
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Let her rip.
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B
Charmin Ultra Soft Smooth Tear Charmin Ultra.
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Soft Smooth Tear has the same softness you love now with weighty edges that tear better than the leading one ply brand. Enjoy the Go with Charmin.
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C
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News this is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Massar.
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A
And Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Rad.
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The Department of Justice Probing Netflix tactics amid the Warner Brothers Discovery deal investigation this according to the Wall Street Journal. The Justice Department investigating whether Netflix engaged in anti competitive taxes. It's probing the streaming network's proposed acquisition of Warner Discovery Studios and HBO Max streaming service. The department looking at whether Netflix's planned Warner deal could enrich or entrench its market power or lead to monopoly in the future. It's also reviewing Paramount's proposed acquisition.
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C
Yeah, stock off its earlier highs. It just still up though about 5.10of a percent here in the Friday trade. Hey, we want to get to Coursera Co. Did report earnings last night. Forecast revenue for 2026 with the guidance beating the average analyst estimate. Stock has swung quite a bit today, up about 7% at its highs, off more than 4.4percent at its lows. KeyBank and RBC both lowering their price targets on the stock today. And we just mentioned about this Warner Brothers Discovery waiting to deal done. There is also an M and A story to Coursera as well. It is about a $1 billion market cap company online education company is down about 19% year to date 12%. Tim of the float is short.
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D
I want to bring in Greg Hart, President and CEO of Coursera. Greg joins us from San Francisco. Greg, I want to start with the merger. Carol mentioned it in December. An all stock merger between Coursera and Udemy. What is the status of that right now? We understand it's going to close in the second part of the year. The integration, how does it go? What does it mean in terms of the customer and user experience and who's the boss?
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B
Thank you Tim, for the question. So we are going through the regulatory approval process right now. Nothing to share on that front, but we're moving through the paces and then we'll hope to move through that and then go through shareholder approval. In terms of who's the boss, first of all, the customer is always the boss in terms of the actual governance of the company. I will be the CEO of the combined company and we are excited about that combination because of the opportunity to bring together, you know, two businesses that are really quite complementary. Udemy. The companies are roughly the same size in revenue, so the combined revenue of the companies would be about $1.5 billion for 2025 with about 10% adjusted EBITDA margins. Three synergies. We also announced at signing that we would deliver $115 million of synergies post close within the first two years. And so a nice improvement in the operating margin that we have as a combined company. We are focused as we go through the planning process on exactly what that integrated company and platform will look like. So how do we think about pricing and packaging and promotions? Of course, how do we think about the leadership team and then how do we bring the together to really drive not only, you know, better margins through the synergies, but also really over time drive much higher revenue growth and do a better job of addressing the massive market opportunity in front of the companies.
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D
Greg, there, there have been many examples of mergers that have been announced that haven't actually gone through for a whole multitude of reasons. Some of them have been regulatory, some of them have involved other factors. What happens if this doesn't go through?
- [04:27]
B
Well, I'm very confident that it will. I mean, we operate in the education space, which is a massive space, you know, 2 trillion plus dollars that encompasses physical education, so K through 12 universities, vocational schools, it encompasses the online sector that we happen to be a part of and Udemy also is a part of. And then of course, it encompasses all the other ways that people learn today. And increasingly that is through things like LL or YouTube or TikTok. We believe we have a very differentiated offering, but we are a very, very small player within that massive space. And we believe that the combination actually delivers more value to every one of our constituents, to our learners. They'll get access to more content. Not only the 375 different university and industry partners that Coursera has, But, but the 85,000 plus subject matter experts that Udemy's content creator community has. And so it'll bring more choice, more learning opportunity. It'll be Better for our content creators because they'll have access to a worldwide learner audience that's approaching 300 million registered learners across the two companies. And it's better for our enterprise customers because we're able to deliver them the breadth of that content coming from that content creator network across Udemy and Coursera.
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C
Hey, listen, one of the things, well, first of all, I have to just follow up on the deal. The combination with you and Udemy. Is it still though you said you're pretty confident about regulatory Greg, so maybe still on track to close this deal in the second part of 2026.
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B
Yes, we've heard nothing that would change our belief that it will close, you know, by the second half of 2026 and remain confident in getting all the regulatory approvals we need to do. So.
- [06:18]
C
One of the things I thought is interesting, I always think about your business. You mentioned university industry partners. You've got these subject experts. How are people most using it? Is it your corporate partnerships where people want retraining for their employees? Is it people on their own? Is it people who are just interested about different topics like tell us where the growth is, Is it all of it or certain parts of it?
- [06:41]
B
Fantastic question, Carl. So our business, of course, they're an independent company. We are 2/3 consumer, 1/3 enterprise. From a revenue perspective, you me is the inverse. They are 2/3 Enterprise, 1/3 Consumer. For both companies, there is a huge focus on and growth in technology and specifically AI right now. And so for Coursera, last year we saw enrollments in Gen AI related content at a rate of 15 enrollments per minute. In 2024, that was only 8 enrollments per minute. And so a real burgeoning interest that I believe will continue in 2026. And we are really focused on delivering not just learning, but delivering skills so that people can advance their careers. 86% of the learners who come to Coursera come here to advance their careers. And so we are very focused on delivering them skills that they can use to advance their careers and that they can demonstrate, you know, real mastery of as they are in the workforce.
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C
Hey, Greg, really quickly, 30 seconds are people in it train and then that's it. You don't see them again or how much of it is return business that you that the platform is sticking. They're constantly coming back to learn more and forgive me, only about 25 seconds.
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B
Well, more than 50% of our consumer revenue is around Coursera plus, which is our monthly or annual subscription. It's the best value for learners because they get access to all of that content. And those learners tend to stay, obviously, for longer than a single course learner might.
- [08:16]
C
Cool stuff. As always, stay in touch. Love talking with you, Greg Hart, president and CEO, of course, Sarah joining us from the West Coast.