Bright Scholar Education
- 🦄Became a unicorn2017
- 📈Peak valuation$1.54 Billion ’17
- 💔Became a Unitard2021
- 💸Last valuation~$46.2M
How it happened
Bright Scholar Education was the largest operator of international and bilingual K-12 schools in China, spun out of property developer Country Garden, and listed on the NYSE in May 2017 at a market value around $1.5B. China's 2021 crackdown on for-profit education — including new restrictions on private schools teaching compulsory-education grades — devastated its business model and investor confidence. The stock collapsed roughly 97% to about $52M, and in December 2025 Bright Scholar was taken private at just $2.30 per ADS, ending its run as a public company far below the $1B line.
Source: Renaissance Capital / stockanalysis / StockTitan (largest operator of international and bilingual K-12 schools in China, spun out of Country Garden; May 2017 NYSE IPO at $10.50/ADS, ~$1.5B market value; China's 2021 education crackdown crushed the stock ~97% to ~$52M; went private Dec 2025 at $2.30/ADS)
