SANTA CLARA, Calif.,
May 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/
-- Chegg, Inc. (NYSE: CHGG), a Smarter Way to Student,
announced today that it has acquired WriteLab, Inc. ("WriteLab"),
an AI-enhanced writing platform that teaches students grammar,
sentence structure, writing style, and offers instant feedback to
help students revise, edit, and improve their written work. This
acquisition will strengthen Chegg's existing writing service, with
the addition of new tools, features, and functionality.
"Nearly 75% of high school seniors are deficient in writing
competenciesi," said Nathan
Schultz, Chief Learning Officer at Chegg. "Developing strong
writing skills is essential for students while in school, and as
they move into the workforce. WriteLab's technology will enrich our
existing writing service and their team brings deep linguistic
expertise to Chegg."
Chegg acquired WriteLab for approximately $15 million, in an all cash transaction. An
additional payment of $5 million may
be paid to key employees over the next three years, in cash or
stock at Chegg's sole discretion, contingent upon the continued
employment of such key employees.
Writing deficiencies continue to be a challenge at all levels of
education, impacting people well in to their careers.
- 40% of high school students who took the ACT writing exam in
2016 lacked the reading and writing skills necessary to
successfully complete a college-level English composition
class.ii
- In a recent analysis, which analyzed millions of job postings,
writing was the third overall most important baseline skill across
all job occupations, behind organizational and communication
skills.iii
- A recent survey by the AACU showed that only 27% of employers
think that recent college graduates are well prepared in the area
of written communication.iv
WriteLab analyzes writers' drafts and not only offers revisions
and edits, but also poses questions and suggestions, encouraging
students to learn by making decisions about what they want to say
and how they want to say it.
"We created WriteLab to empower students to write with
confidence," said Matthew Ramirez,
CEO and Co-Founder of WriteLab. "By becoming a part of the
Chegg family, who shares our student-first mission, we will reach
more students and accelerate our work to support learners all
around the world."
As a result of this acquisition, Chegg does not expect any
material effect on operations, Q2 guidance, or full year 2018
guidance issued on April 26, 2018.
About Chegg
Chegg puts students first. As the leading student-first
connected learning platform, Chegg strives to improve the overall
return on investment in education by helping students learn more in
less time and at a lower cost. Chegg is a publicly-held company
based in Santa Clara, California
and trades on the NYSE under the symbol CHGG. For more information,
visit www.chegg.com.
About WriteLab
WriteLab is an online writing tool offering immediate, objective
and constructive responses to help people learn to write better.
With WriteLab, users can type, copy-and-paste, or upload drafts for
the tool to analyze and provide specific feedback, suggest
revisions and ask questions to help users improve their writing.
Drawing on the latest developments in machine learning and natural
language processing, WriteLab's tool blends data-driven analysis
with proven pedagogical principles to address specific writing
features such as grammar, clarity, concision and logic. WriteLab
was founded in 2013 and is located in Berkeley, CA.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may be deemed to contain forward-looking
statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including Chegg's
belief that the acquisition of WriteLab will strengthen, accelerate
and enrich Chegg's existing writing service, Chegg's contingent
payments and equity issuances to WriteLab over the next three
years, Chegg's belief that acquisition of WriteLab will not have
any material effect on operations in 2018 or full year guidance
issued on April 26, 2018, and the
belief that the acquisition by Chegg will enable WriteLab to reach
more students and accelerate its work to support learners all over
the world. Statements regarding future events are based on
management's current expectations and are necessarily subject to
associated risks related to, among other things, the potential
impact on the business of WriteLab due to the acquisition, general
economic conditions, competition, and integration risks, among
others. Therefore, actual results, performance or achievements may
differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any
forward-looking statements. For information regarding other related
risks, see the "Risk Factors" section of Chegg's Annual Report on
Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2018 filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission ("SEC") on April 26,
2018 and Chegg's other SEC filings. You can obtain copies of
Chegg's SEC filings on the SEC's website
at www.sec.gov or at Chegg Investor Relations website
at investor.chegg.com. The forward-looking statements included
herein are made only as of the date hereof, and Chegg undertakes an
obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for
any reason except as required by law.
i
https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pubs/main2011/2012470.asp#section1
ii
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/education/edlife/writing-education-grammar-students-children.html
iii
https://www.burning-glass.com/research-project/baseline-skills/
iv
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/20/study-finds-big-gaps-between-student-and-employer-perceptions
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SOURCE Chegg, Inc.