In October, Class Central wrote about CreativeLive shutting down on December 31, 2025. That article led to a series of events that actually saved the platform. Just two weeks before the deadline, on December 15, CourseHorse, an online marketplace of live classes, workshops, and experiences, acquired it for an undisclosed amount. The website is no longer closing at the end of the year. In 2021, Fiverr acquired it for $11 million. Four years later, in May 2025, the platform stopped accepting new

The future of Coursera’s only credible alternative for universities rests in the hands of 2U’s creditors.

TL;DR Duolingo is targeting 100 million DAUs by 2028. It took the company 13 years to get its first 50 million DAUs. The new strategy includes more AI features for free users, deeper language courses, and growth of Chess, Math, and Music. But the strategy sacrifices short-term growth for long-term results, and von Ahn is calling 2026 its investment year without significant results.   It took Duolingo 13 years to get 50 million DAUs. CEO Luis von Ahn wants to double it in three years. For yea

Swayam is India’s national online course platform, designed to support the country’s National Education Policy, which entails improving access to quality education in India. At Class Central, we’ve been paying attention to Swayam since the very beginning. It launched in beta in 2016, and has now reached over 56 million enrollments with over 5.2 million certificates issued. It’s been growing rather fast. Swayam offers courses in a wide variety of disciplines, including from prestigious institut

Both Coursera and Udemy started 2025 with new CEOs. Greg Hart took over at Coursera in February. Hugo Sarrazin started at Udemy in March. Less than a month into the job, both CEOs were in conversations to sell their companies. On April 8, Hart and Sarrazin met for the first time at ASU+GSV. The rest, as they say, is history. In my 5,000-word analysis of Coursera’s acquisition of Udemy, I called the deal rushed. Two new CEOs, both less than a year into the job, merging two public companies. I w

On April 9, shareholders of both Coursera and Udemy voted to approve the merger. The votes weren’t close. At Coursera, 99.4% of votes were in favor of issuing new shares to complete the acquisition. At Udemy, 99.9% voted to adopt the merger agreement. Out of more than 228 million shares that voted across both companies, fewer than 500,000 voted against. Coursera shareholders also approved doubling the company’s authorized shares from 300 million to 600 million, which is needed to issue the sto