Tom Horton, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy at Kaplan, Inc.

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Online education is not new. Back in 2010, Kaplan University already had 75,000 students in its online higher education program. It grew rapidly and was highly profitable since online schools have lower costs than face-to-face campus delivery-based education. 

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But because of the pandemic, the entire educational sector was forced to shift in this direction, increasing competition. There has been a 40% increase in acquisitions since the pandemic, and interest in the education sector has exploded. 

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In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Tom Horton, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy at Kaplan, Inc., talks about how M&A strategy evolves in education technology.

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Things you will learn in this episode:

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• The evolution of online education
• How Kaplan allocates resources for growth
• Five M&A criteria before Kaplan acquires companies
• Team alignment and how it evolved over the years 
• Biggest lessons learned through M&A experience

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