Apollo Education Group, Inc. is an American corporation based in the South Phoenix area of Phoenix, Arizona, with an additional corporate office in Chicago, Illinois. It is privately-owned by a consortium of investors including The Vistria Group, LLC and funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC.
The company owns and operates several higher-learning institutions, including the University of Phoenix, BPP Holdings in the United Kingdom, University for the Arts, Sciences, and Communication in Santiago, Chile, and Universidad Latinoamericana in Mexico.
History
Founding
Apollo Education Group, Inc. was founded in 1973 by John Sperling and John D. Murphy.
Apollo Group as a Publicly Traded Corporation (1994–2016) Corporate revenues for the year ending August 31, 2005 were $2.251 billion.
In 2008, Apollo Group formed a joint venture with Carlyle Group, called Apollo Global, to make international acquisitions. Apollo also purchased schools in Mexico and Chile
As of 5 October 2011, Apollo Group had a market capitalization of $5.36 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.22.
Declining revenues
The Apollo Group announced quarterly results on 30 June 2011. The company reported $1.45 in earnings per share for the previous quarter, exceeding the Thomson Reuters estimate of $1.33 by $0.12. Apollo Group's quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis.
In March 2011 the Apollo Group sold its corporate headquarters in Arizona and leased it back in order to raise $170 million in cash. The deal with Cole Real Estate Investments included a 20-year lease requiring Apollo to remain in the complex. "In our view, it does not change the view of the company. Apollo isn't hungry for cash: It carries little debt but generates $4 billion in revenue and has $650 million in net income and $1.5 billion in cash on its balance sheet", commented Peter Wahlstrom of Morningstar, an investment-research company.
Revenue of the company continued to fall: in the fiscal year ending on August 31, 2011, the net revenue was $4.7 billion; in 2012, $4.2 billion; in 2013, $3.6 billion. The operating income during this period fell from $956 million in 2011, to $676 million in 2012, to $427 million in 2013. The company attributed this to a decline in enrollment, with degreed enrollment declining from 380,000 in 2011, to 328,000 in 2012, to 269,000 in 2013.
In 2015, co-founder John D. Murphy argued that Apollo Group "lost its direction when it abandoned its roots, which were serving working adults, not recent high school graduates."
Asset under Apollo Global Management (2016–present)
On May 6, 2016, the shareholders of the company approved the sale of the firm for $1.14 billion to a group of private investors: Najafi Companies, a Phoenix firm, the New York-based Apollo Global Management and, the Vistria Group of Chicago. The offer amounted to $10 per share, compared to its high of $89/share in 2009. The delisting was completed on February 1, 2017.
In March 2022, Pearson rejected a £7bn takeover bid from Apollo Global Management.
Anthony W. Miller is Apollo Education Group's chairman.
Schools and subsidiaries
University of Phoenix
The University of Phoenix is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Apollo Education Group. The University of Phoenix is one of the largest higher education providers in North America. The university has approximately 40 campuses and confers degrees in over 100 degree programs at the associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. The University of Phoenix has an open enrollment admission policy only requiring a high-school diploma, GED, or an equivalent qualification. The school also provides associate or bachelor's degree applicants opportunity for advanced placement through its prior learning assessment, through which, aside from previous coursework, college credit can come from experiential learning essays, corporate training, and certificates or licenses.
University of Phoenix students owe more than $35 billion in student loan debt, the most of any US college. In 2014, University of Phoenix was highlighted in a Time.com article titled "The 5 Colleges That Leave the Most Students Crippled By Debt".
Apollo Global (later known as Vanta Education) Apollo Group formed Apollo Global to manage and form subsidiaries, assets, and holdings overseas. As part of their first acquisitions, Apollo Global acquired University for the Arts, Sciences, and Communication (UNIACC) in Chile as well as the now defunct Meritus University in Canada.