Dive Brief:

• Education powerhouse Pearson, which has its hands in publishing, technology, and testing in K-12 and higher ed, has announced it is selling several investments in order to focus exclusively on education.
• The company recently lost several big money testing contracts and saw its credit outlook deemed negative by Moody’s.
• The investments Pearson has sold or plans to include stakes in several media groups, such as the Financial Times and the Economist Group.

Dive Insight:

Although Pearson has recently faltered, losing seven- and eight-figure contracts with New York and Texas, the company remains a large player in the education field. It provides tests for kindergarten through at least eighth grade, develops curriculum, and even provides teacher certification tests, according to a summary by John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight.  According to Pearson CEO John Fallon, the company currently brings in $7.75 billion in annual sales and will get a considerable boost to its bottom line, if all the planned sell-offs go through.

“Parents the world over say that the single most important goal for their children is to gain the skills that will help them forge successful careers and lives,” Fallon wrote recently in the Financial Times. “This is the promise of education — and the future of Pearson.”