Wiley expands education solutions offerings with mthree acquisition

Global leader in research and education John Wiley & Sons, Inc recently acquired education solutions provider mthree to expand its educational service offerings and to fill the growing skills gap in the technology sector. 

This acquisition will enable Wiley to expand its educational services offerings by utilising mthree’s resources to address the IT skills gap by finding, training and placing job-ready technology talent in roles with leading corporations. 

mthree shareholders received approximately US$129 million in cash at the 1 January closing. 

“Wiley is committed to bridging the gap between education output and industry need,” said Wiley President and CEO Brian Napack. 

“The acquisition of mthree advances Wiley’s leadership in powering the high-demand, high-potential careers that are fueling the global knowledge economy. CEO Alex Headley and his team have built a great company with extremely high customer and client satisfaction — mthree is putting people in great IT jobs with great companies, and these people are succeeding. We are very pleased to welcome them to the Wiley family.”

mthree sources, trains and prepares aspiring students and professionals to meet the latest skill needs required by most tech-related careers today. 

The company not only matches students and professionals with some of the world’s largest financial institutions, technology companies, and government agencies, but they also deal with retaining and retraining existing employees so they can continue to meet the changing landscape in the technology industry. 

By adding mthree to the team, Wiley will broaden its scope of services to serve beyond traditional university degrees, targetting credential-oriented training programmes as well. It reinforces the company’s commitment to driving outstanding career outcomes by delivering high-quality education content, platforms and services that target high-demand careers and disciplines. 

The acquisition proves to be a strategic move on Wiley’s part as it is expected that there will be over 1.8 million unfilled computer-related job opportunities in the US and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa). 

“The last five years have seen tremendous growth for mthree. We have been on a journey from a start-up to a global corporation that includes partnerships with the world’s largest banks and disruptive tech businesses,” said mthree CEO and founder Alex Headley.

“Wiley will enable mthree’s strategic growth plans to be realized, helping more graduates navigate the changing world of work and our clients grow their businesses with the right talent.”

“mthree is a terrific company that extends Wiley’s unmatched portfolio of education services right into the workplace. They effectively eliminate the friction that exists in the labour market when students leave higher education and try to enter the workforce and, in doing so, they create a win-win-win for the university, the corporation and, most of all, the student,” added Wiley Education Services President Todd Zipper. 

According to a report by Education Dive, Wiley has been expanding its education solutions offerings over the past couple of years. 

In 2018, Wiley acquired OPM Learning House for US$200,000, making the company one of the largest providers of open programme management services with around 65 university partners at the end of the financial quarter that year. 

The deal also expanded Wiley’s non-degree offerings through Learning House’s Software Guild, a boot camp and short course provider which was acquired in 2015. 

Other business acquisitions for the publisher-turned-education solutions provider includes a deal in May last year with Knewton, a provider of adaptive learning technology that helps pinpoint sections of educational materials that students struggle to learn in.