Coursera (NYSE:COUR) executives told investors the company ended 2025 with what they described as stronger execution, improving profitability, and accelerating product innovation tied to artificial intelligence, while also preparing for a proposed combination with Udemy announced in December.
On the company’s fourth quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call, President and CEO Greg Hart said Coursera has spent the past year “sharpening our execution” and embedding “faster AI-native product innovation and data-driven decision-making across the business.” CFO Mike Foley added that Coursera finished the year “in a position of financial strength,” highlighting margin expansion and cash flow generation alongside continued investment in platform capabilities.
Full-year 2025 results: revenue growth, margin gains, and record free cash flow
Foley said the company delivered double-digit year-over-year revenue growth for the last three consecutive quarters of 2025, while expanding gross and adjusted EBITDA margins. He reported full-year net income of $67 million (8.8% of revenue) and Adjusted EBITDA of $64 million (8.4% margin). Foley also noted the company began 2025 targeting 100 basis points of Adjusted EBITDA margin expansion to 7%, raised that target to 8% during the year, and ultimately exceeded both.
Coursera ended 2025 with approximately $793 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and no debt. Foley said the balance sheet provides capacity to invest in growth, move quickly, and create opportunities for shareholder returns. He also reiterated that following the close of the proposed Udemy transaction, the company anticipates executing a “sizable share repurchase program,” consistent with comments made during the December announcement call.
Q4 performance: consumer strength and steady enterprise growth
In the fourth quarter, Coursera reported total revenue of $197 million, up 10% year over year, driven by growth in both consumer and enterprise. On a non-GAAP basis, gross profit was $109 million (up 12%), representing a 55% gross margin, about 90 basis points higher than the prior-year period. Foley attributed the margin expansion primarily to continued improvement in the consumer segment, reflecting higher engagement with newer content produced under “more favorable production arrangements,” including lower revenue share and content costs.
Operating expense totaled $103 million, or 52% of revenue, which Foley said was consistent with the prior year as Coursera paced investments in R&D and go-to-market capabilities. Q4 net income was $11 million (5.6% of revenue), and adjusted EBITDA was also $11 million (5.7% of revenue).
Consumer segment: Q4 consumer revenue was $132 million, up 12% year over year. Foley said growth was driven by acceleration in subscription and courses, supported by enhanced marketing, localized pricing, and Coursera Plus subscription capabilities, partially offset by an anticipated decline in Degrees. Consumer gross profit was $81 million (up 15%), and consumer gross margin improved to 62% from 60% a year earlier.
Enterprise segment: Q4 enterprise revenue was $65.4 million, up 5% year over year. Growth was driven by Campus and Business verticals, with demand varying by customer, region, and use case. Coursera ended the quarter with 1,730 paid enterprise customers, up 7%, and net retention rate (NRR) of 93%. Foley said the NRR improvement was driven by Coursera for Campus and a large government expansion, but he emphasized the company remains focused on retention and expansion improvements over time, especially within Coursera for Business. Enterprise gross profit was $46 million, up 7%, with 70% gross margin, up 130 basis points.
Learner growth, catalog expansion, and rising AI-related demand
Hart highlighted growth in Coursera’s learner base and content catalog. The company added more than 29 million new registered learners during 2025, growing cumulative learners by 17% year over year. In Q4, Coursera added a record 6.8 million new learners, the highest fourth-quarter additions in company history.
By year-end, Coursera offered more than 13,500 courses, expanding the catalog by over 45% year over year, which Hart called the fastest pace in the past five years. He also pointed to increased demand for AI-related learning: in 2025, learners enrolled in Coursera’s generative AI catalog at a rate of 15 enrollments per minute, up from 8 per minute in 2024.
Hart cited content partnerships with companies including Google, DeepLearning.AI, AWS, Microsoft, Meta, and IBM, and said Coursera launched its first courses with new partner Anthropic in November, designed to give learners hands-on experience with Claude. He also said Coursera recently announced additional AI courses spanning roles beyond technical fields, including nursing and healthcare, business, legal, and communications. In January, the platform added Cleveland Clinic as a partner, with initial courses focused on applying AI in clinical settings and using machine learning to analyze medical images.
Product and platform initiatives: personalization, enterprise tools, and a new Platform Fee
On product, Hart said Coursera has been making focused improvements to search, discovery, and merchandising, including a redesigned homepage and new geo-pricing, marketing, and promotional capabilities that produced “early gains” in paid conversion and Coursera Plus adoption. He said the company has also been experimenting with natural language search and AI-powered discovery in Q4.
For enterprise customers, Hart highlighted a redesign of the enterprise admin home experience. In pilot deployments, he said the redesign improved admin-led engagement, and the company began rolling it out more broadly in January. He added that 2026 product priorities include verified skill pathways, “MCP-based discovery capabilities,” deeper HR and LMS integrations, and an expanding set of AI and collaboration tools.
Coursera also introduced a 15% Platform Fee, effective January 1, 2026, applying to eligible new sales across consumer subscriptions and courses and enterprise offerings. Hart and Foley emphasized that pricing for learners and customers remains unchanged and the fee is not retroactive. In Q&A, Foley described the fee as effectively coming “off the top” before calculating revenue share payments to content partners, and said it is ongoing for new eligible revenue. Management expects the margin impact to be gradual due to revenue recognition timing in subscriptions and multi-year enterprise contracts, with initial consumer margin expansion expected in the second half of 2026 and enterprise margin improvement expected in 2027.
2026 outlook: growth investments, consumer momentum, and a cautious enterprise view
Providing guidance on a standalone basis (excluding any impact from the proposed Udemy transaction), Coursera forecast Q1 2026 revenue of $193 million to $197 million (8% to 10% growth) and adjusted EBITDA of $11 million to $15 million, reflecting seasonality and early-year investment.
For full-year 2026, the company guided to revenue of $805 million to $815 million (about 6% to 8% growth) and adjusted EBITDA of $70 million to $76 million, implying an adjusted EBITDA margin of roughly 9% at the midpoint. Foley said results are expected to be weighted to the second half of the year due to early-year investment deployment and the timing of Platform Fee benefits.
By segment, management said the outlook assumes:
- Consumer growth of more than 10%, supported by subscriptions and courses, offset by an anticipated 100 basis point headwind from Degrees.
- Enterprise growth in the low single digits, with no assumption of a material change in the macro environment.
In Q&A, Foley said Coursera plans to continue investing in sales and marketing to drive learner acquisition while expecting additional efficiency, and also expects to invest more in R&D in 2026, including engineering and software tools. He said G&A should grow modestly.
Regarding the Udemy deal, Foley said there were no updates on timing beyond prior guidance pointing to the second half of the year, noting outcomes could be sooner or later. Foley also reiterated expected operating efficiencies tied to the transaction, including anticipated annual run-rate cost synergies of $115 million within 24 months of close, primarily from go-to-market optimization and streamlined G&A, with a majority expected within the first year post-close.
Coursera also provided visibility into transaction-related cash costs, forecasting approximately $14 million of cash payments in Q1 tied to transaction fees and planning expenses, excluding any additional costs contingent upon close or post-close integration expenses.
About Coursera (NYSE:COUR)
Coursera, Inc (NYSE:COUR) operates a leading online learning platform that delivers courses, specializations, professional certificates and fully accredited degree programs in collaboration with top universities and industry partners. Founded in 2012 by Stanford University professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, Coursera’s mission is to provide universal access to world-class education and bridge skill gaps in a rapidly evolving job market.
The platform features more than 6,000 offerings created by over 275 academic institutions and corporate entities, spanning fields such as data science, business, technology, health care and the arts.
