Predictions?
Drinking game every time the following are mentioned:
Covid: 1 drink of wine or beer
Underpinned: 1 shot
Headwinds: 1 shot
Decisive: 2 shots
Optimize: 1 shot
Delta: 2 shots
Recovery: 1 shot
Offset: 1 shot
Mary it's nice to hear your voice. Chug the entire bottle
Staff cuts and price increases are the main formula to make Cengage's balance sheet and income statements look attractive enough for an acqusition or merger.
Once they find a bottom, look for significant price increases. It's the only way the business grew in the 1990s-2000s. History repeats itself.
I think the business, in general, is a complete dog but other than being slowly eaten by small competitors, it's not going to go away overnight. It's not like Pearson or MGH is out there taking appreciable share from Cengage. Nor is Cengage taking it from them.
Staff cuts and price increases. That's the mantra for the foreseeable future. Possibly a merger or acquisition but there is zero organic growth.
So we are down 3 to 4% each year and losing millions monthly and talking about capital restructuring again? What the He-l!?! So basically the company is screwed, no one is going to buy it to maintain it, why would they?
Especially don't need reps in the field when really good free books are online...
That would be eBooks to you cengage reps, you geniuses the real innovators. Be your own ceo, you go girl pretend like you're the author of these books just like you pretended you were an educated pharmacist when you were pushing pills in your high heels.
So true. And sales will be next. Covid has proven you don’t need reps wandering around campus.
The person who posts here talking about all the inside reps making goal just proves the point. They are the canary in the coal mine if you are in field based sales.
It works for private equity vultures and the Stockholm Syndrom suffering employees who still don't realize their number is next on the spreadsheet.
Hubris.
It looks like Cengage is getting close to finding the bottom. My guess is that revenue and profits will move backward for the whole fiscal year of 2022.
At this point, they may have some ability to raise prices on digital products. Back to the standard 6 to 8% a year increases. Along with this, they will continue to reduce headcount. This is a formula that could work.
I agree that it's wild that MH is still employed after 10 years of steady revenue decline. My best guess is he's setting the company up for another merger/sale so the private equity investors can get paid. I don't think they have much hope for the company ever growing on its own.
@8clw+1dFMfgPg Both revenue and profit were down $30mm for the qtr. Higher Ed led this decline and Cengage didn't even show how bad the 2Q numbers were for Higher Ed. They only presented the 1H numbers. Smoke, meet mirror.
2022 FY 1st half revenue was $757mm
2021 FY 1st half revenue was $733mm
2019 FY 1st half revenue was $850mm
2018 FY 1st half revenue was $892mm
2022 1st half profit was $247mm
2018 1st half profit was $295mm
Since 2018 revenue 1st half revenue has declined by $135mm and profit has declined by $48mm. In five years the entire business has gone backwards in terms of revenue and profit by 17%.
To put it in Squid Game terms if 100 people were in the game in 2018, 17 would now be "eliminated."
If that is your definition of success I want some of what you are smoking!
Cengage is death by a thousand cuts. But it is wildly interesting to watch MH spin his yarns. He must have pictures of someone because any CEO of a company the size of Cengage who posts numbers like this would be fired.
Funny how the bitter haters flee after another successful quarter is reported. Going to be a sweet bonus year.
"Returned to growth." Now thats a good one.
“Return(ed) to growth.”
Outperformed the industry
How many for Full Stop?
Greetings,
What are the penalties for “unmitigated success”, “increase in activations” and “digital growth”?
Full stop!
Add some more bitters to that drink? Except to the Old Fashion's. They’re already full of it.