Education Technology · Profile from Education Technology Research Companion
McGraw Hill, Inc.
The 135-year-old US textbook publisher that was carved out of McGraw-Hill (now S&P Global) in 2013 and passed through two private-equity owners, Apollo and Platinum Equity. In between, a merger with Cengage was blocked. It returned to the public market in 2025 as a ~$2.1bn-revenue K-12 and higher-education digital-learning company built on adaptive products such as ALEKS and Connect.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1888 (James H. McGraw's first publication); McGraw-Hill Book Company formed 1909; education business carved out as McGraw-Hill Education in 2013
- Founders
- James H. McGraw and John A. Hill
- Headquarters
- Columbus, Ohio (K-12 operations); corporate offices in New York and Columbus (verify)
- Ownership / structure
- Public company since July 2025: NYSE ticker MH; Platinum Equity retained ~84.6% of shares after the IPO
- Leadership (2026)
- Philip Moyer, President and CEO (since February 9, 2026; ex-Google Cloud, verify); Simon Allen, Chair (CEO 2020–2026)
- Segment and buyer
- K-12 (core curriculum, ALEKS, Achieve3000 literacy; districts and states), Higher Education (Connect, ALEKS, inclusive access; students and institutions), Global Professional (medical, AccessMedicine, professional books), International
- Scale
- Fiscal 2026 (year to March 31, 2026) revenue $2,102.8m (+0.1%); re-occurring revenue $1,541.0m (73%); K-12 revenue $884.5m (−8.9%); fiscal 2027 guidance $2,115–2,175m revenue and $750–790m adjusted EBITDA; serves tens of millions of students (company claims)
- Capital raised / valuation / market cap
- Apollo carve-out 2013 (~$2.4bn); Platinum Equity buyout 2021 (~$4.5bn including debt, reported); IPO July 2025 at $17 per share, raising ~$415m and valuing the company at ~$3.25bn; ~$3.2bn of debt before the IPO (reported)
- Signature moves
- Apollo carve-out (2013), ALEKS acquisition (2013), SmartBook/Connect adaptive push, inclusive access (2016–), failed Cengage merger (2019–20), Platinum buyout (2021), Achieve3000 (2022), generative-AI tools (2024), NYSE IPO (2025). Misses: abandoned Apollo-era IPO (2016, verify), blocked merger, a downsized IPO priced below range
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2013
Acquires ALEKS
Acquisition
2013
Apollo Carve Out
Divestiture / private-equity acquisition
2016
Inclusive Access
Pricing change / distribution
2019
Cengage Merger Attempt
Acquisition / merger (failed)
2021
Platinum Equity Buyout
Private-equity acquisition (secondary buyout)
2022
Acquires Achieve3000
Acquisition
2024
Generative AI Tools
AI launch
2025
NYSE IPO
IPO