In 2021, 10 years after it burst on the scene, the MOOC ecosystem has reached 220M learners and 19.4K courses.

Update (April 2026): On April 9, shareholders of both companies voted overwhelmingly to approve the merger — 99.4%% at Coursera, 99.9%% at Udemy. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026. I also dug into the 300-page merger prospectus and found that Coursera approached Udemy three times over two years before getting a yes, and that Pluralsight’s owner made a competing cash offer. Read the full merger history. TL;DR Coursera is acquiring Udemy in an all-stock deal worth ~$1.8 b

Some companies are exploring entirely new markets: from hardware sales to TikTok e-commerce.

In October, Class Central wrote about CreativeLive shutting down on December 31, 2025. That article led to a series of events that actually saved the platform. Just two weeks before the deadline, on December 15, CourseHorse, an online marketplace of live classes, workshops, and experiences, acquired it for an undisclosed amount. The website is no longer closing at the end of the year. In 2021, Fiverr acquired it for $11 million. Four years later, in May 2025, the platform stopped accepting new