Friday Follow Up

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And thankfully my travel for 2025 is winding down at the same time as TSA staffing levels are. A few updates are in order from recent coverage.

Coursera’s New “Platform Fee”

Two weeks ago I reported that Coursera had introduced a platform fee of 15% (scare quotes intentional), which in reality ends up reducing the revenue share for universities that provide content for MOOCs, specializations, etc.

• The pushback from universities might have caught Coursera leadership off guard, and there is an ongoing effort to reach out and set up one-on-one conversations, although the emails don’t seem to indicate any willingness for Coursera to reconsider.

• This change might feel ground shaking to universities, but it didn’t even merit a mention in the company’s earnings call later that same day. In fact, investment analysts didn’t appear to know about the platform fee outside of the post. I was surprised, as this felt important enough to be material information required to be shared with investors, but after further research (and advice), it looks like the total impact to company margin is likely just below the SEC guidelines on materiality.

• From looking at Coursera follow up emails to disgruntled university “partners” (intentional again) and the additional research, it should not surprise anyone that Coursera appears to have done its research on contractual agreements. There is no sign yet that Coursera is breaking contract terms by effectively changing revenue share percentages.

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Accessibility Regulations

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