Princeton Review is changing hands again. The iconic test prep company, founded in 1981 and acquired in 2012 for $33 million by private equity firm, Charlesbank Capital, has agreed to be sold to Tutor.com. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal will greatly expand Tutor.com's reach in the consumer tutoring market. Tutor.com started offering online tutoring services to institutional clients such as military families, libraries and companies in 1998. In January 2013, the company was acquired by IAC (InterActiveCorp), after which it focused on providing its services directly to consumers. (IAC owns some very popular consumer Internet companies, including OKCupid, Vimeo and The Daily Beast.) Today, Tutor.com has an estimated 3,000 tutors and facilitates an average of 6,000 tutoring sessions during a school night.
With this acquisition, Tutor.com will offer services that cover elementary through graduate school. Currently it covers 40 popular academic subjects for grades 4 to 12, while Princeton Review has a collection of test prep materials for admission to college and graduate programs.
"From a big picture, the college process is starting much earlier. Kids come to us by the time they reach middle school with subjects like algebra, and in high school, they're looking for great grades to get ready for college," Jennifer Kohn, a Tutor.com spokesperson, tells EdSurge. With Princeton Review's offerings, "we're looking forward to serve a continuum of students from middle school to college admissions and post-graduate careers."
The deal is set to close on August 1. Tutor.com will roll its consumer-facing tutoring business under the Princeton Review brand; the institutional businesses with the U.S. military, college, libraries and companies will retain the Tutor.com name. Both companies will be run by current Tutor.com CEO, Mandy Ginsberg.
Princeton Review currently boasts a network of over 4,000 teachers in the U.S. and Canada, along with international franchises in 14 countries. Kohn says there are no plans for any personnel changes at Princeton Review.
