Coursera’s flagship credentials may carry big brand names, but who’s actually creating the content?

Both Coursera and Udemy started 2025 with new CEOs. Greg Hart took over at Coursera in February. Hugo Sarrazin started at Udemy in March. Less than a month into the job, both CEOs were in conversations to sell their companies. On April 8, Hart and Sarrazin met for the first time at ASU+GSV. The rest, as they say, is history. In my 5,000-word analysis of Coursera’s acquisition of Udemy, I called the deal rushed. Two new CEOs, both less than a year into the job, merging two public companies. I w

This is the first major move by Udemy’s new McKinsey-veteran CEO, who is prioritizing enterprise efficiency over the founder’s product vision.

On April 9, shareholders of both Coursera and Udemy voted to approve the merger. The votes weren’t close. At Coursera, 99.4% of votes were in favor of issuing new shares to complete the acquisition. At Udemy, 99.9% voted to adopt the merger agreement. Out of more than 228 million shares that voted across both companies, fewer than 500,000 voted against. Coursera shareholders also approved doubling the company’s authorized shares from 300 million to 600 million, which is needed to issue the sto