2U
- 🦄Became a unicorn2014
- 📈Peak valuation$5 Billion ’18
- 💔Became a Unitard2022
- 💸Last valuationWiped out
How it happened
2U pioneered online program management, partnering with universities to build and run their degrees online, and paid $800M for edX in 2021. Its market value topped $5B in 2018, but mounting losses, scrutiny of the OPM model and roughly $945M of debt overwhelmed it; in July 2024 it filed for Chapter 11, was delisted from Nasdaq and went private, wiping out shareholders. Employees called it a sinking ship for years: Glassdoor reviews counted round after round of layoffs, some staff surviving five since 2023, alongside pay freezes and roles outsourced overseas. Reviewers described executives collecting millions in retention bonuses while front-line admissions staff, working what many called a high-pressure sales job, absorbed the extra workload.
Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.
Source: Bloomberg / CNBC / Harvard Crimson (peak market cap >$5B in 2018; worth <$35M by May 2024; ~$945M debt incl. $800M edX purchase; Chapter 11 July 2024, delisted to OTC as TWOUQ)
