Pearson acquires GlobalEnglish

Pearson, one of the world's leading learning resources companies, recently announced that it has acquired GlobalEnglish for $90 million in cash.

GlobalEnglish was founded in 1997 in California and provides cloud-based, on-demand business English learning software. The company serves more than 450 corporate customers, which include 20 percent of Forbes' Global 2000 companies.

"This transaction is a wonderful endorsement of the value of GlobalEnglish's unique focus on enabling the productivity and high performance of global professionals with innovative, cloud-based business English software," said John Fallon, chief executive of Pearson's International Education business. "GlobalEnglish's solutions are perfectly aligned with Pearson's dedication to digital transformation and international expansion, and a strong complement to Pearson's existing portfolio of offerings."

The transaction is subject to approval by GlobalEnglish's shareholders, but it supports Pearson's efforts to become a bigger player in the market for business English products. The market is substantial, with an estimated 2 billion people worldwide learning English.

Through its foundation, Pearson also recently launched an interactive portal, which provides direct access to data sets to support The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Skills Strategy. This is an initiative to help countries develop and supply skilled workers to improve economic conditions globally.