Pearson acquires GlobalEnglish, strengthens its position in Business English learning

Pearson acquires GlobalEnglish, strengthens its position in Business English learning

Mumbai / New Delhi, 11^th October, 2013: Pearson, world’s leading learning company, today announced the acquisition of GlobalEnglish, foremost international provider of cloud-based, on-demand Business English Learning Software through its corporate assessment arm Pearson TalentLens. Through this acquisition, Pearson will be offering this unique software product suite to businesses across India and enhance Business English skills of professionals to help them gain competitive advantage.

The acquisition is in line with Pearson’s strategy to become the leading player in English language training business worldwide through expansion into corporate markets. GlobalEnglish currently serves more than 450 corporate customers, including 20 percent of the Forbes Global 2000 companies such as General Electric, HSBC and Tata Consultancy Services and is well poised to further penetrate the India market. GlobalEnglish’s content is focused on the application of Business English to real life workplace situations such as composing e-mails and participating in conference calls and its effectiveness is highly rated by global companies and their employees.

On the occasion of announcement, Mr. Sushil Eapen, Managing Director of Pearson TalentLens said, “Pearson is now offering the award-winning GlobalEnglish online training program in India under the TalentLens umbrella of Pearson talent assessment division. This acquisition shall help us in meeting the emerging demand for improving Business English communication skills among employees in India. Pearson is delighted to offer both assessment and Business English training solutions to corporate customers in India.”

Mr. Mahesh Ram, Chief Executive Officer of GlobalEnglish, added, “The acquisition strengthens both businesses. It positions Pearson as a leader in providing the highest quality enterprise software offerings in Business English communications via cloud. With Pearson English's commitment to ongoing investment in GlobalEnglish, we will be able to expand our unique strengths and competitive advantages, and ultimately better serve our clients.”

The GlobalEnglish product suite comes equipped with formal Business English learning coursework, informal and social learning capabilities, performance support tools, an enterprise collaboration platform, a mobile app, assessments and a premium one-on-one coaching service. Approximately 75 percent of GlobalEnglish’s more than 200,000 active subscribers are in fast growing economies in Latin America and Asia.

About Pearson:

Pearson is the world’s leading Education Company, present in over 70 countries and educating more than 150 million people worldwide. Pearson in India provides educational content, materials, technologies, assessments and related services to institutions, educators and learners of all ages. Pearson in India has diverse offerings across school, higher and professional education.

About Pearson TalentLens

Pearson TalentLens is a world leader in developing assessment and consulting services for recruitment, selection and development of the twenty-first century workforce. As a comprehensive assessment solution provider, Pearson TalentLens offers scientific and research-based assessments that are relevant for all businesses and at all levels of employment - entry, middle and top - under the brand Talentlens. Pearson TalentLens’s assessments fall in three broad categories: Ability and Aptitude; Personality, Leadership and Teamwork; and Communication Skills. With more than 80 years of experience in the field of employee assessment, Pearson offers award-winning products and has a growing presence across the globe.

About GlobalEnglish

GlobalEnglish offers cutting-edge Business English solutions that blend the latest technology innovations with research on how adults effectively acquire language. Its cloud-based suite of products and services produces immediate productivity and performance gains enterprise-wide through formal and informal learning, and on-demand performance support. GlobalEnglish is owned by Pearson, the world’s leading learning company.