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Coursera Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results

January 30, 2025 8:30 AM

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Coursera, Inc. (NYSE: COUR) today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024.

“We made significant strides throughout 2024 in expanding our content catalog, launching new entry-level Professional Certificates, generative AI courses, and healthcare micro-credentials designed to meet the needs of learners and customers,” said Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda. “Together with our partners, we are laying the foundation for a new era of online learning with role-based pathways and enhanced platform experiences that equip learners and institutions with mission-critical skills.”

Financial Highlights for Fourth Quarter 2024

Financial Highlights for Full Year 2024

“Over the course of 2024, we drove sustainable growth and continued to demonstrate the strong financial and operating leverage in our model,” said Ken Hahn, Coursera’s CFO. “As a result of our efforts, we delivered our first full year of positive Adjusted EBITDA and generated more than $59 million of Free Cash Flow, while investing to bolster our return to higher growth.”

For more information regarding the non-GAAP financial measures discussed in this press release, please see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below.

Operating Segment Highlights for Fourth Quarter 2024

All key business metrics are as of December 31, 2024. For more information regarding the metrics discussed in this press release, please see "Key Business Metrics Definitions" below.

Content, Customer, and Platform Highlights

Content and Credentials:

Enterprise Customers:

Learning Platform:

Highlights reflect developments since September 30, 2024 through today’s announcement. For additional information on these developments, see the Coursera Blog at blog.coursera.org.

Leadership Transition

As announced in a separate release on January 29, 2025, Jeff Maggioncalda will retire as President and Chief Executive Officer of Coursera, and as a Member of the Board, following seven years of dedicated leadership. Greg Hart has been named President and CEO, and Member of the Board, effective February 3, 2025. In consideration of the leadership transition, the Company intends to provide more detailed full year 2025 outlook in the coming months.

Financial Outlook

Actual results may differ materially from Coursera’s Financial Outlook as a result of, among other things, the factors described under “Special Note on Forward-Looking Statements” below.

A reconciliation of our non-GAAP guidance measure (Adjusted EBITDA) to the corresponding GAAP guidance measure is not available on a forward-looking basis without unreasonable effort due to the uncertainty regarding, and the potential variability of, expenses that may be incurred in the future. Stock-based compensation expense-related charges, including employer payroll tax-related items on employee stock transactions, are impacted by the timing of employee stock transactions, the future fair market value of our common stock, and our future hiring and retention needs, all of which are difficult to predict and subject to constant change. We have provided a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures in the financial statement tables for our historical non-GAAP financial results included in this press release.

Conference Call Details

As previously announced, Coursera will hold a conference call today, January 30, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time). The call will include a discussion of fourth quarter and full year 2024 performance as well as the leadership transition.

A live, audio-only webcast of the conference call and earnings release materials will be available to the public on our Investor Relations page at investor.coursera.com. For those unable to listen to the broadcast live, an archived replay will be accessible in the same location for one year.

Disclosure Information

In compliance with disclosure obligations under Regulation FD, Coursera announces material information to the public through a variety of means, including filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), press releases, company blog posts, public conference calls, and webcasts, as well as via Coursera’s investor relations website.

About Coursera

Coursera was launched in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. It is now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with 168 million registered learners as of December 31, 2024. Coursera partners with over 350 leading universities and industry leaders to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations, Professional Certificates, and degrees. Coursera’s platform innovations enable instructors to deliver scalable, personalized, and verified learning experiences to their learners. Institutions worldwide rely on Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in high-demand fields such as GenAI, data science, technology, and business. Coursera is a Delaware public benefit corporation and a B Corp.

Key Business Metrics Definitions

Registered Learners

We count the total number of registered learners at the end of each period. For purposes of determining our registered learner count, we treat each customer account that registers with a unique email as a registered learner and adjust for any spam, test accounts, and cancellations. Our registered learner count is not intended as a measure of active engagement. New registered learners are individuals that register in a particular period.

Paid Enterprise Customers

We count the total number of Paid Enterprise Customers that are active on our platform at the end of each period. For purposes of determining our customer count, we treat each customer account that has a corresponding contract as a unique customer, and a single organization with multiple divisions, segments, or subsidiaries may be counted as multiple customers. We define a “Paid Enterprise Customer” as a customer who purchases Coursera via our direct sales force. For purposes of determining our Paid Enterprise Customer count, we exclude our Enterprise customers who do not purchase Coursera via our direct sales force, including organizations engaging on our platform through our Coursera for Teams offering or through our channel partners.

Net Retention Rate (“NRR”) for Paid Enterprise Customers

We calculate annual recurring revenue (“ARR”) by annualizing each customer’s monthly recurring revenue (“MRR”) for the most recent month at period end. We calculate “Net Retention Rate” for a period by starting with the ARR from all Paid Enterprise Customers as of the 12 months prior to such period end, or Prior Period ARR. We then calculate the ARR from these same Paid Enterprise Customers as of the current period end, or “Current Period ARR”. Current Period ARR includes expansion within Paid Enterprise Customers and is net of contraction or attrition over the trailing 12 months but excludes revenue from new Paid Enterprise Customers in the current period. We then divide the total Current Period ARR by the total Prior Period ARR to arrive at our Net Retention Rate for Paid Enterprise Customers.

Number of Degrees Students

We count the total number of Degrees students for each period. For purposes of determining our Degrees student count, we include all the students that are matriculated in a degree program and who are enrolled in one or more courses in such a degree program during the period, including students enrolled within any wind-down or teach-out periods of any existing programs. If a degree term spans multiple quarters, the student is counted as active in all quarters of the degree term. For purposes of determining our Degrees student count, we do not include students who are matriculated in the degree but are not enrolled in a course in that period.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to financial information presented in accordance with GAAP, this press release includes non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per share, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, and Free Cash Flow, each of which is a non-GAAP financial measure. These are key measures used by our management to help us analyze our financial results, establish budgets and operational goals for managing our business, evaluate our performance, and make strategic decisions. Accordingly, we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management and board of directors. In addition, we believe these measures are useful for period-to-period comparisons of our business. We also believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in comparing our core business and results of operations over multiple periods with other companies in our industry, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors, and to analyze our cash performance. However, the non-GAAP financial measures presented may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies due to differences in the way that these measures are calculated. These non-GAAP financial measures are presented for supplemental informational purposes only and should not be considered as a substitute for or in isolation from financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools.

Non-GAAP Gross Profit, Non-GAAP Net Income, and Non-GAAP Net Income Per Share

We define non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP net income as GAAP gross profit and GAAP net loss excluding: (1) stock-based compensation expense; (2) amortization of stock-based compensation expense capitalized as internal-use software costs; (3) payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation; (4) merger and acquisition (“M&A”) related transaction costs; (5) costs and settlement (gains) losses related to significant and non-recurring legal matters, net of insurance recoveries; and (6) restructuring related charges. Non-GAAP net income per share is calculated by dividing non-GAAP net income by the diluted weighted average shares of common stock outstanding.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

We define Adjusted EBITDA as our GAAP net loss excluding: (1) depreciation and amortization; (2) interest income, net; (3) income tax (benefit) expense; (4) other expense (income), net; (5) stock-based compensation expense; (6) payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation; (7) M&A related transaction costs; (8) costs and settlement (gains) losses related to significant and non-recurring legal matters, net of insurance recoveries; and (9) restructuring related charges. We define Adjusted EBITDA Margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue.

Free Cash Flow

We define Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by operating activities, less purchases of property, equipment, and software, capitalized internal-use software costs, and purchases of content assets as we consider these capital expenditures necessary to support our ongoing operations. Current and prior period Free Cash Flow amounts reported herein reflect the previously disclosed change to our definition of Free Cash Flow to include purchases of content assets.

We believe the presentation of these adjusted operating results provides useful supplemental information to investors and facilitates the analysis and comparison of our operating results across reporting periods.

Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the Appendix.

Special Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as: “accelerate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “demand,” “design,” “estimate,” “expand,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “mission,” “need,” “objective,” “ongoing,” “outlook,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” or the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology intended to identify statements about the future. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: financial and operating leverage in our model; investing to bolster return to higher growth; our mission to provide universal access to world-class learning; the demand for online learning; anticipated features and benefits of our customer and educator partner relationships and our content and platform offerings; the anticipated utility of our non-GAAP financial measures; anticipated growth rates; our leadership transition; and our financial outlook, future financial and operational performance, and expectations, among others. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: our ability to attract, engage, and retain learners; our ability to increase sales of our offerings; our limited operating history; the relative nascency of online learning solutions and generative AI; risks related to market acceptance and demand for our offerings; our ability to maintain and expand our existing educator partner relationships and to develop new partnerships; our dependence on our educator partners’ content; risks related to our AI innovations and AI generally; our ability to compete effectively; adverse impacts on our business and financial condition due to macroeconomic or market conditions; our ability to manage our growth; regulatory and/or policy matters or changes impacting us or our educator partners; risks related to intellectual property; cybersecurity and privacy risks and regulations; potential disruptions to our platform; risks related to operations, regulatory, economic, and geopolitical conditions; current and future legal proceedings; the impact of actions to improve operational efficiencies and operating costs; our history of net losses and ability to achieve or sustain profitability; natural disasters, public health crises or other catastrophic events; our status as a certified B Corp; and risks and uncertainties discussed in our most recently filed periodic reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q and subsequent filings and as detailed from time to time in our SEC filings. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance, or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements relate only to events as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.

Coursera Inc.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited)

(In thousands, except shares and per share data)

Three Months Ended
December 31,

Year Ended
December 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Revenue

$

179,180

$

168,880

$

694,674

$

635,764

Cost of revenue(1)

83,672

79,551

323,261

305,993

Gross profit

95,508

89,329

371,413

329,771

Operating expenses:

Research and development(1)

32,122

37,366

132,048

160,077

Sales and marketing(1)

60,227

58,106

234,908

222,771

General and administrative(1)

26,860

22,416

108,734

98,325

Restructuring related charges(1)

6,797

8,942

(5,806

)

Total operating expenses

126,006

117,888

484,632

475,367

Loss from operations

(30,498

)

(28,559

)

(113,219

)

(145,596

)

Other income (expense):

Interest income, net

8,489

9,298

36,726

34,432

Other (expense) income, net

(1,921

)

212

(2,008

)

(19

)

Loss before income taxes

(23,930

)

(19,049

)

(78,501

)

(111,183

)

Income tax (benefit) expense

(2,319

)

1,308

1,029

5,371

Net loss

$

(21,611

)

$

(20,357

)

$

(79,530

)

$

(116,554

)

Net loss per share—basic and diluted

$

(0.14

)

$

(0.13

)

$

(0.51

)

$

(0.77

)

Weighted average shares used in computing net loss per share—basic and diluted

159,179,499

153,690,451

157,370,977

150,957,814

(1) Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:

Three Months Ended
December 31,

Year Ended
December 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Cost of revenue

$

694

$

563

$

2,657

$

2,593

Research and development

9,786

11,568

41,846

49,931

Sales and marketing

5,905

7,964

28,104

31,299

General and administrative

8,559

7,572

35,477

31,352

Restructuring related charges

(5,605

)

Total stock-based compensation expense

$

24,944

$

27,667

$

108,084

$

109,570

Coursera Inc.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited)

(In thousands)

December 31, 2024

December 31, 2023

Assets

Current assets:

Cash and cash equivalents

$

726,125

$

656,321

Marketable securities

65,746

Accounts receivable, net

59,685

67,418

Deferred costs, net

24,667

26,387

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

20,177

16,614

Total current assets

830,654

832,486

Property, equipment, and software, net

36,899

30,408

Operating lease right-of-use assets

2,967

4,739

Intangible assets, net

24,521

11,720

Other assets

35,233

41,180

Total assets

$

930,274

$

920,533

Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity

Current liabilities:

Educator partners payable

$

101,869

$

101,041

Other accounts payable and accrued expenses

21,375

23,456

Accrued compensation and benefits

31,627

22,281

Operating lease liabilities, current

43

6,557

Deferred revenue, current

159,741

137,229

Other current liabilities

12,818

7,696

Total current liabilities

327,473

298,260

Operating lease liabilities, non-current

3,021

39

Deferred revenue, non-current

1,555

2,861

Other liabilities

805

3,179

Total liabilities

332,854

304,339

Stockholders’ equity:

Common stock

2

2

Additional paid-in capital

1,506,654

1,459,964

Treasury stock, at cost

(49,029

)

(63,154

)

Accumulated other comprehensive income

59

Accumulated deficit

(860,207

)

(780,677

)

Total stockholders’ equity

597,420

616,194

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

$

930,274

$

920,533

Coursera Inc.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited)

(In thousands)

Year Ended December 31,

2024

2023

Cash flows from operating activities:

Net loss

$

(79,530

)

$

(116,554

)

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities:

Depreciation and amortization

25,082

22,270

Stock-based compensation expense

108,084

109,570

Accretion of marketable securities

(235

)

(13,811

)

Impairment losses

2,226

3,062

Other

788

1,496

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

Accounts receivable, net

7,210

(14,763

)

Prepaid expenses and other assets

2,472

(17,003

)

Operating lease right-of-use assets

4,810

4,868

Accounts payable and accrued expenses

(2,321

)

33,971

Accrued compensation and other liabilities

12,138

3,073

Operating lease liabilities

(6,569

)

(7,853

)

Deferred revenue

21,206

21,313

Net cash provided by operating activities

95,361

29,639

Cash flows from investing activities:

Purchases of marketable securities

(121,756

)

Proceeds from maturities of marketable securities

66,000

530,000

Purchases of property, equipment, and software

(1,585

)

(1,147

)

Capitalized internal-use software costs

(17,219

)

(15,254

)

Purchase of minority interest

(1,701

)

Purchases of content assets

(17,295

)

(5,344

)

Net cash provided by investing activities

29,901

384,798

Cash flows from financing activities:

Proceeds from exercise of stock options

9,377

27,315

Proceeds from employee stock purchase plan

5,644

6,031

Payments for repurchases of common stock

(36,705

)

(58,453

)

Payments for tax withholding on vesting of restricted stock units

(33,260

)

(54,122

)

Net cash used in financing activities

(54,944

)

(79,229

)

Net increase in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash

70,318

335,208

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash—Beginning of period

658,086

322,878

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash—End of period

$

728,404

$

658,086

Coursera Inc.

RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (Unaudited)

(In thousands, except share and per share data)

Three Months Ended
December 31,

Year Ended
December 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Gross profit

$

95,508

$

89,329

$

371,413

$

329,771

Stock-based compensation expense

694

563

2,657

2,593

Amortization of stock-based compensation capitalized as internal-use software costs

1,275

1,328

5,473

5,039

Payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation

8

15

89

115

Non-GAAP gross profit

$

97,485

$

91,235

$

379,632

$

337,518

Three Months Ended
December 31,

Year Ended
December 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Net loss

$

(21,611

)

$

(20,357

)

$

(79,530

)

$

(116,554

)

Stock-based compensation expense

24,944

27,667

108,084

115,175

Amortization of stock-based compensation capitalized as internal-use software costs

1,275

1,328

5,473

5,039

Payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation

218

815

2,991

3,957

M&A related transaction costs

3,369

Significant and non-recurring legal matters

1,657

6,258

Restructuring related charges

6,797

8,942

(5,806

)

Non-GAAP net income

$

13,280

$

9,453

$

55,587

$

1,811

Weighted-average shares used in computing net loss per share—basic

159,179,499

153,690,451

157,370,977

150,957,814

Effect of dilutive securities

3,802,517

15,238,006

7,050,544

15,626,795

Weighted-average shares used in computing non-GAAP net income per share—diluted

162,982,016

168,928,457

164,421,521

166,584,609

Net loss per share—basic and diluted

$

(0.14

)

$

(0.13

)

$

(0.51

)

$

(0.77

)

Non-GAAP net income per share—diluted

$

0.08

$

0.06

$

0.34

$

0.01

Three Months Ended
December 31,

Year Ended
December 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Net loss

$

(21,611

)

$

(20,357

)

$

(79,530

)

$

(116,554

)

Depreciation and amortization

6,350

5,768

25,082

22,270

Interest income, net

(8,489

)

(9,298

)

(36,726

)

(34,432

)

Income tax (benefit) expense

(2,319

)

1,308

1,029

5,371

Other expense (income), net

1,921

(212

)

2,008

19

Stock-based compensation expense

24,944

27,667

108,084

115,175

Payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation

218

815

2,991

3,957

M&A related transaction costs

3,369

Significant and non-recurring legal matters

1,657

6,258

Restructuring related charges

6,797

8,942

(5,806

)

Adjusted EBITDA

$

9,468

$

5,691

$

41,507

$

(10,000

)

Net loss margin

(12

)%

(12

)%

(11

)%

(18

)%

Adjusted EBITDA Margin

5

%

3

%

6

%

(2

)%

Three Months Ended
December 31,

Year Ended
December 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Net cash provided by operating activities(2)

$

19,215

$

11,568

$

95,361

$

29,639

Less: purchases of property, equipment, and software

(1,081

)

(121

)

(1,585

)

(1,147

)

Less: capitalized internal-use software costs

(3,640

)

(3,791

)

(17,219

)

(15,254

)

Less: purchases of content assets

(7,113

)

(1,966

)

(17,295

)

(5,344

)

Free Cash Flow

$

7,381

$

5,690

$

59,262

$

7,894

(2)

Includes cash payments for restructuring related charges made during the three months and years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 of $2.7 million, $0, $4.8 million, and $5.1 million, respectively.

Source Code: COUR-IR

For investors: Cam Carey, [email protected]



For media: Arunav Sinha, [email protected]

Source: Coursera

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