Publishing: Textbook Rental Company Chegg Files to Go Public

Worth Noting

Along with it’s textbook platform, Chegg offers a Homework Help/Q&A service. 
The company acquired Student of Fortune (student-to-student tutoring) and Cramster (Q&A), in 2011.
From Dow Jones (via NASDAQ):

Textbook-rental platform Chegg Inc. has filed plans to raise $150 million in an initial public offering, while separately disclosing a co-founder of the company will step down from its board.
Chegg is planning to raise proceeds to obtain additional capital, as well as fully repay $21 million of outstanding borrowings under the company’s revolving credit facility, fund general corporate purposes and facilitate future access to the public equity markets.
Separately, Chegg disclosed that Aayush Phumbhra, the company’s co-founder while a student at Iowa State, will step down from the company’s board.

From Bloomberg:

Founded in 2005, Chegg gained popularity as a Netflix Inc.- style service for textbooks, a model that attracted scores of students yet has struggled to make a profit. Former Yahoo! Inc. executive Dan Rosensweig, 52, joined Chegg as chief executive officer in 2010 and shifted the company to digital products, acquiring startups focused on e-textbooks, online homework help and question-and-answer forums.
While revenue climbed 24 percent last year to $213.3 million, the company’s net loss widened to $49 million, as Chegg bolstered spending on sales and marketing as well as research and development. Chegg said in its prospectus that it does “not expect to be profitable in the near term” as it continues to invest in products to help students.

Learn more about the IPO and textbook biz in this SEC S-1 filing.
See Also: During May, 2013 Chegg Announced a Strategic Partnership with Coursera
See Also: In January, 2013 Chegg Announced Partnership with OpenStax College to Provide Open Source eTextbooks

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