About Cengage Group

We are proud of our deep heritage, which dates back to the early 1900s. During the last 100 years, Cengage Group has evolved into one of the largest edtech companies in the world. Today, we provide quality digital products and services to millions of students, equipping them with skills and competencies needed to advance their education and careers and improve their lives. 

Our story has many chapters. Read through our history to understand where we've been, and more importantly, where we're going. 

Employee Racheal types on computer about Cengage's mission to provide quality digital products and services to millions of students. Employee Nancy sits on the stairs in the Cengage Group Boston office Employee Sidney, speaks to another employee on Zoom about Cengage Group's scale and evolution to an education technology company.

Our History

2021 – Present

We are focused on helping millions more learners achieve their education and career goals and lead choice-filled lives. At the close of fiscal 2024, our momentum and confidence continue to grow with three consecutive years of revenue and profitability growth achieved.  Enabled by technology and synergies across our portfolio of businesses, we have a clear growth strategy to power the next phase of our growth. 

 2017 – 2020

Digital-First Innovation & AccelerationResolute in the belief that education delivered and supported by technology creates an immersive, engaging experience for the student, we accelerate transformation from traditional publisher to digital-first innovator.
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 2008 – 2016

Amid Challenges, a New Company EmergesThe world is changing. We recognize that we must think differently and act differently, while never wavering from our longstanding focus on the learner.
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 2000 – 2007

Crossing the Digital FrontierThis chapter is about enabling a new generation of learners with innovative technology. It’s in this era that we develop our DNA in technology and digital innovation.
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 1903 – 1999

Diversifying Ideas Through the First 100 YearsWe evolve out of newspaper, textbook and media companies, fully arriving on the scene as a family of academic publishers in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
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2021 – Present
Tech-Forward, Growth Focused

We are focused on helping millions more learners achieve their education and career goals and lead choice-filled lives. At the close of fiscal 2024, our momentum and confidence continue to grow with three consecutive years of revenue and profitability growth achieved. Enabled by technology and synergies across our portfolio of businesses, we have a clear growth strategy to power the next phase of our growth. Cengage Group continues to leverage innovation to enhance the learning experience for all learners, launching its first GenAI solution for the Higher Education market. The Student Assistant launches in beta in fall 2024, providing up to 5,000 students the opportunity to test the study companion technology. Cengage Group receives a $500 million investment from Apollo Global Management. This investment infuses capital into the business, allowing for greater optionality and flexibility to invest in our portfolio of growing businesses.

Additionally, the Cengage Work business introduces Ready to Hire to address the skilled labor gap. This solution creates new talent pipelines for employers through dedicated train-to-hire programs, upskilling of current talent and connecting employers to pre-qualified candidates from a network of local workforce and academic partners. Cengage Group acquires Infosec, a leading cybersecurity education provider, to expand our reach in the non-coding IT training market and position our growing Cengage Work business to support the millions of un- or under-employed adults in the US and beyond. Cengage rebrands as Cengage Group symbolizing the important role each portfolio business plays in our go-forward strategy.

2017 – 2020
Digital-First Innovation & Acceleration

Resolute in the belief that education delivered and supported by technology creates an immersive, engaging experience for the student, we accelerate transformation from traditional publisher to digital-first innovator. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands of instructors and students transition to hybrid learning models seemingly overnight. Cengage’s edutech portfolio companies respond quickly with differentiated service and support as well as free access to content, tools, resources and course materials. Without a doubt, the pandemic changes the trajectory of education, forever. A year after launch, more than one million Cengage Unlimited subscriptions have been sold. A text at 4 a.m. leads to a game-changer: Cengage Unlimited. The first-of-its-kind subscription for students is announced, cementing our commitment to access and affordability for all.

2008 – 2016
Amid Challenges, a New Company Emerges

The world is changing. Students begin to question why they must buy textbooks. The internet brings not just visibility but transparency, giving customers information and empowerment. We recognize that we must think differently and act differently, while never wavering from our longstanding focus on the learner. Through the development of our Ethos, the entire organization is reminded of what drives us. Now, our mission is to use 21st century tools to aggressively address the issues of affordability and access. Believing that education delivered digitally is the most powerful way to teach and learn, we acquire three additional student/instructor-focused online companies – Learning Objects, Pathbrite and WebAssign. A new CEO and executive team take the helm. Their first critical piece of work as a new team is developing our Credo – our statement of purpose. Cengage Learning is rebranded as Cengage meaning “Center of Engagement.” We emerge from Chapter 11. In the race to transform the company, we accumulate substantial debt. Cengage Learning files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, allowing the company to continue operating and providing an opportunity for a turnaround. At the annual TED conference, we unveil MindTap, a collection of digital products and services that engages students through interactivity and offers instructors choice in content, platforms, devices and learning tools. Also, we acquire National Geographic Society's school publishing unit, combining it with the global English Language Teaching business and branding it National Geographic Learning. To push for greater integration of content and technology, we expand our portfolio with the acquisition of Houghton Mifflin’s college publishing division, as well as PAL Publications, Gatlin Education Services and HighBeam Research, and reorganize our Academic, Professional, Gale and International businesses.

2000 – 2007
Crossing the Digital Frontier

This chapter is about enabling a new generation of learners with innovative technology. It’s in this era that we develop our DNA in technology and digital innovation. It’s also a chapter in which we face existential threats and uncertainty and learn new resilience. Through this period, we bring new urgency in our mission to make education more accessible to everyone. Beginning at the turn of the 21st century, a company restructuring results in the creation of Thomson Learning. More investment in new technologies and customer solutions leads to the acquisition of Aplia – an education company dedicated to improving learning outcomes by increasing student effort and engagement. Later this year, Apax Partners and OMERS Capital Partners buy Thomson Learning and the company is renamed Cengage Learning. Seeing opportunity for millions of adults to upskill and reskill, Thomson acquires Education to Go (now ed2go), a provider of online adult education courses. We begin to feel the force of demand for alternate channels of distribution from online retailers and resellers, leading to price resistance from consumers and the rise of customization.

1903 – 1999
Diversifying Ideas
Through the First 100 Years

The first chapter for Cengage Group starts when we're known by the name International Thomson Publishing. We evolve out of newspaper, textbook and media companies, fully arriving on the scene as a family of academic publishers in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

Just as we do today, we promise to change our industry. And just like today, we believe in better – by challenging standard practices and ineffective conventions. The company begins to invest in digital. Throughout this time, our businesses begin to adapt to the rise of courseware, internet accessibility, IT systems and the introduction of electronic books and readers. During this decade, Thomson acquires South-Western Publishing, Gale, Delmar (adding Milady to our portfolio), Heinle, Brooks/Cole, Course Technology and other companies. The initial portfolio of companies starts to come together in 1979 when Thomson Corporation purchases Wadsworth Publishing from Prentice-Hall, providing Thomson its first entry into college and professional textbooks. The roots of Cengage Group can be traced back more than one hundred years. South-Western Publishing, one of the original companies that contributes to what is now Cengage Group, starts in 1903 when a bookkeeping teacher at a local business college decides he can write a better text for his students.

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