Wikipedia

Chegg

Chegg, Inc.
Type of businessPublic company
Traded as
FoundedJuly 2006; 19 years ago (2006-07)
HeadquartersSanta Clara, California, U.S.
Founder(s)Aayush Phumbhra
Osman Rashid
Josh Carlson
Key peopleNathan Schultz, President & CEO
IndustryEducation
Online retailing
ProductsBook rental service
Digital textbooks
E-learning
Online tutoring
Social networking service
RevenueDecrease US$618 million (2024)
Operating incomeNegative increase -US$737 million (2024)
Net incomeNegative increase -US$873 million (2024)
Total assetsDecrease US$859 million (2024)
Total equityDecrease US$193 million (2024)
Employees1,271 (2024)
SubsidiariesBusuu
Notehall
URLchegg.com
[1]
Chegg headquarters in Santa Clara

Chegg, Inc., is an American educational technology company based in Santa Clara, California. It provides homework help, digital and physical textbook rentals, textbooks, online tutoring, and other student services, powered by artificial intelligence.[1] The company has 6.6 million subscribers.[1]

The company has been criticized for facilitating cheating by students.

The name Chegg is a combination of the words chicken and egg, and references the founders’ catch-22 feeling of being unable to obtain a job without experience, while being unable to acquire experience without a job.[2]

History

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2000s

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In October 2000, Iowa State University students Josh Carlson, Mike Seager, and Mark Fiddleke launched Chegg's forerunner, Cheggpost, a Craigslist-style message board for Iowa State students.[3][4]

Carlson teamed with Osman Rashid, an avid user of the site who recognized its potential to disrupt the textbook market.[5] The company was incorporated in 2005 by Carlson, Rashid, and Aayush Phumbhra. At that time, it offered scholarship searches, internship matching, and college application advice.[6] Some initial start-up funding was provided by Rashid.[7]

In 2005, the founders purchased 2,000 textbooks and launched Textbookflix.com, based on Netflix's rental-based model, concentrating on renting textbooks to students.[8][9]

In February 2006, Carlson left the company.[7] Phumbhra and Rashid rebranded, launching Chegg in December 2007 with Rashid as CEO.[2][10][11]

In 2008, revenues were over $10 million; revenues in the month of January 2009 alone surpassed that amount.[2]

2010s

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In June 2009, former Ask.com and Match.com CEO Jim Safka was name CEO of the company.[12]

In November 2009, the company raised $57 million in a financing round led by Insight Venture Partners.[13][14]

Former Guitar Hero CEO Dan Rosensweig was appointed CEO in February 2010.[15][16][17]

In March 2011, Chegg added features that allow students to select classes and ask for homework help on the Chegg site.[18]

In March 2012, the company raised $25 million from 17 investors.[19]

In November 2013, Chegg became a public company via an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, pricing shares at $12.50 each, raising $187.5 million, and valuing the company at $1.1 billion.[20][21][22]

In 2014, Chegg entered a partnership with book distributor Ingram Content Group to distribute all of Chegg's physical textbook rentals.[23][24]

In April 2017, Chegg and Pearson Education began a partnership whereby Pearson made 50 textbooks available only to rent and exclusively on Chegg.[25][26] The partnership ended in May 2021 after which Pearson sued Chegg for copyright infringement for selling answers to end-of-chapter questions included in Pearson textbooks.[27]

2020s

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In June 2021, Chegg unveiled Uversity, an educational platform that provides a space for professors and other educators to share content.[28]

By May 2023, ChatGPT was a serious competitor to Chegg and Chegg announced the launch of Cheggmate, an artificial intelligence platform.[29][30]

By late 2024, the company was losing subscribers, attributed to competition from ChatGPT.[31][32]

In February 2025, Chegg sued Google, claiming that its AI Overviews reduce traffic to Chegg.[33][34]

In May 2025, Chegg announced plans to lay off about 22% of its workforce, or 248 employees, due to the competition from Google and ChatGPT.[35]

Acquisitions

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In June 2010, Chegg acquired CourseRank in its first acquisition.[36] It was disabled in 2014.[37]

In December 2010, Chegg acquired Cramster.com, a provider of online homework help.[38]

In July 2011, Chegg acquired Notehall, an online marketplace for class notes.[39]

In September 2011, Chegg acquired Zinch, a scholarship search service for high school students and college recruiters.[40]

Chegg acquired software company 3D3R in November 2011 to develop its digital textbook product, kickstart its mobile product group, and open an engineering office in Rehovot, Israel.[41][42]

In June 2014, Chegg acquired online tutoring platform InstaEDU, for $30 million, which was renamed Chegg Tutors.[43][37][44]

In October 2014, Chegg acquired Internships.com for $11 million.[45][46]

In May 2016, Chegg acquired Imagine Easy Solutions, a provider of online bibliography and research tools, for $42 million.[47]

In February 2017, Chegg acquired RefME, a free citation management tool available on web, iOS and Android. It was shut down on March 7, 2017, and user accounts were transferred over to CiteThisForMe.[48]

In October 2017, the company acquired Cogeon GmbH, a German mathematics education provider, for €12.5 million in cash.[6][49]

In May 2018, Chegg acquired WriteLab, which uses artificial intelligence to analyze text and suggest improvements, for $15 million.[50][51]

In July 2018, Chegg acquired online flashcard tool StudyBlue for $20.8 million.[52][53]

In September 2019, Chegg acquired online coding, design, and data science school Thinkful for $80 million cash plus $20 million in cash or stock based on performance.[54][55]

In 2021, Chegg acquired Busuu, a computer-assisted language learning service, for $436 million in cash.[56][57][58]

Leadership

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Chegg's board of directors consists of:[1]

Controversies

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Academic misconduct

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Chegg has been accused of copyright infringement and facilitating cheating and academic dishonesty.[59] Chegg offers "homework help" where "Chegg experts" solve homework questions for students.[60][61] File-sharing, a form of academic dishonesty, also occurs in the form of students posting homework question sheets soliciting answers.[62]

In February 2019, Chegg formed a partnership with the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University to make online educational writing tools more accessible to its students.[63] The affiliation was met by some faculty criticism, alluding to Chegg helping students cheat,[59] even though the school guidelines explicitly prohibits using the service for such purpose.[64]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many students used personal computers that did not restrict the use of Chegg, leading to controversy.[61][65] Georgia Tech alerted students in a physics class that certain students in the class had cheated on their online final exam by using answers posted on Chegg,[65] certain students in a chemistry class at Boston University were found to have cheated on an online exam,[66] students from two chemistry classes at the University of British Columbia were accused of using Chegg for cheating on exams, including using two incorrect answers posted on Chegg,[67] and solutions to a physics exam at Washington University in St. Louis were posted on Chegg during the exam period.[68] Chegg cooperated with the investigations.[65][66][68]

A study published in 2020 found that Chegg answers student questions even though the questions have clear cues to indicate that the student is trying to cheat.[69] Some universities explicitly forbid students from using Chegg's homework help services.[70][71]

Some professors have posted fake answers to questions on Chegg to catch students who use Chegg to cheat.[72]

There are cases where students were subjected to blackmail by the Chegg employees who gave them answers.[73][74]

While Chegg shared information such as usernames, emails, or IP addresses to colleges in August 2022, Chegg changed its "honor code policy" to limit the information provided to universities and colleges. Chegg says that this change is to protect student privacy.[75]

Chegg was mentioned as an example of a website offering cheating services in the Higher Education Cheating Services Prohibition Bill, proposed in the UK.[76]

A lawsuit filed in 2022 accused the company of misleading investors, claiming that the growth of the company was "largely due to the facilitation of cheating—an unstable business proposition—rather than the strength of its business model or the acumen of its senior executives and directors".[77]

In a lawsuit filed in October 2024, Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) alleged that Chegg violated Australian laws by providing cheating services.[78]

Data breaches

[edit]

In September 2018, Chegg announced that a data breach had occurred in April 2018. The breach may have provided access to user names, Chegg passwords, email addresses, and shipping addresses of 40 million active and inactive registered users. Social security numbers and bank account information were not affected by the breach.[79][80] In January 2023, the company agreed to several requirements by the Federal Trade Commission including comprehensive security controls, enabling consumer data access, and minimizing data collection.[81][82]

Philanthropy

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In July 2022, Chegg partnered with Varkey Foundation to launch Global Student Prize, an annual $100,000 award for exceptional students worldwide who make a significant impact on learning, their peers, and society.[83][84]

Chegg sponsors music instruction contests for colleges through its Music 101 program, which include live classroom instruction by notable musicians and a $10,000 grant from the David B. Goldberg Music Scholarship fund for the winning school music department. Events have featured Yungblud, U2, Imagine Dragons, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, Steve Aoki, and Liam Payne.[85][86]

Awards and recognition

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In 2021, Chegg was declared the "most valuable edtech company in America" by Forbes.[5]

In 2022, Chegg was ranked 20th on the list of "Best Small and Medium Workplaces for Women" by Fortune.[87]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Chegg, Inc. 2024 Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 24, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c Helft, Miguel (July 4, 2009). "We Rent Movies, So Why Not Textbooks?". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Cohen, Jacob (May 14, 2021). "How Chegg built a multibillion-dollar education tech platform". TheHustle.com.
  4. ^ Adams, Susan (March 31, 2021). "Cheat for profit: How Chegg became the most valuable edtech company in the US". Forbes.
  5. ^ a b Girard, Lisa (January 18, 2012). "Fast-Growing Chegg Aims for High Marks with Students". Entrepreneur.
  6. ^ a b Sharma, Asit (March 22, 2018). "Is It Time to Take a More Serious Look at Chegg, Inc.?". The Motley Fool.
  7. ^ a b Parker, Garrett (November 7, 2016). "How Chegg Has Turned Education Upside Down". MoneyInc.
  8. ^ Empson, Rip (January 30, 2013). "As It Moves Beyond Rentals To Become A Student Hub, Chegg Brings 2.5M Textbook Solutions To iOS". TechCrunch.
  9. ^ Penenberg, Adam L. (August 9, 2012). "How Chegg Found A Textbook Rental Goldmine In A College Classifieds Haystack". Fast Company.
  10. ^ Schmit, Julie (January 13, 2009). "Chegg CEO Rashid applies Netflix concept to textbooks". ABC News.
  11. ^ Coster, Helen (January 25, 2012). "Apple Creates New Wrinkle In Start-Up's Plan To Disrupt Textbook Industry". Forbes.
  12. ^ "Online textbook rental startup Chegg names Jim Safka as CEO". American City Business Journals. May 31, 2009.
  13. ^ Tam, Pui-Wing (November 19, 2009). "Textbook-Rental Service Chegg Raises $57 Million". The Wall Street Journal.
  14. ^ "Chegg Raises $57 Million". Venture Capital Journal. November 19, 2009.
  15. ^ Helft, Miguel (February 3, 2010). "Rosensweig Lands at Textbook Renter Chegg.com". The New York Times.
  16. ^ McNicholas, Kym (August 18, 2011). "Dan Rosensweig: His Journey From Yahoo To Guitar Hero Then Chegg". Forbes.
  17. ^ Adams, Susan (January 28, 2021). "This $12 Billion Company Is Getting Rich Off Students Cheating Their Way Through Covid". Forbes.
  18. ^ Ha, Anthony (March 24, 2011). "Chegg moves beyond textbooks with course selection, homework help". VentureBeat.
  19. ^ "Cha-ching! Chegg raises $25M more for textbook and education platform". VentureBeat. March 9, 2012.
  20. ^ De La Merced, Michael (12 November 2013). "Chegg Prices Its I.P.O. at $12.50 a Share". The New York Times.
  21. ^ Schubarth, Cromwell (November 12, 2013). "Chegg stock stumbles after IPO tops targets". American City Business Journals.
  22. ^ Empson, Rip (November 13, 2013). "In $187.5M IPO, Chegg Debuts On NYSE In Twitter's Shadow, As Shares Slump 15 Percent". TechCrunch.
  23. ^ de la Merced, Michael J. (August 4, 2014). "Chegg Finds Partner to Handle Its Textbooks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  24. ^ Buhr, Sarah (August 4, 2014). "Chegg Strikes Distribution Partnership With Ingram Books, Announces 15% Boost In Earnings From Digital Services". TechCrunch.
  25. ^ Cowdrey, Katherine (April 11, 2017). "Pearson to partner with Chegg on textbook rentals". The Bookseller.
  26. ^ Paige, Ashley (April 11, 2017). "Pearson Partners With Chegg for Cheaper Textbooks". Teen Vogue.
  27. ^ Whitford, Emma (September 14, 2021). "Pearson Sues Chegg, Alleging Copyright Infringement". Inside Higher Ed.
  28. ^ Greig, Jonathan (June 2, 2021). "Chegg unveils new 'Uversity' content platform for US teachers". ZDNet.
  29. ^ Turner, Nick (May 2, 2023). "ChatGPT Threat Sparks 38% Selloff in Homework-Help Firm Chegg". Bloomberg News.
  30. ^ Dave, Paresh (June 5, 2023). "Chegg Embraced AI. ChatGPT Ate Its Lunch Anyway". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028.
  31. ^ Kruppa, Miles (November 9, 2024). "How ChatGPT Brought Down an Online Education Giant". The Wall Street Journal.
  32. ^ Mahadik, Karan (November 18, 2024). "Chegg vs ChatGPT: How an edtech giant lost its business to AI". The Indian Express.
  33. ^ Wiggers, Kyle (February 24, 2025). "Chegg sues Google over AI search summaries". TechCrunch.
  34. ^ Novet, Jordan; Elias, Jennifer (February 24, 2025). "Chegg sues Google for hurting traffic with AI as it considers strategic alternatives". CNBC.
  35. ^ Hale, Craig (May 13, 2025). "Chegg announces move to reduce workforce by 22% as students turn to AI". TechRadar.
  36. ^ "TC Teardown: Chegg Is A Money Machine". TechCrunch. June 5, 2018.
  37. ^ a b Cao, Vincent (November 10, 2014). "CourseRank to be taken down at the end of the month". The Stanford Daily.
  38. ^ Swisher, Kara (December 8, 2010). "Exclusive: Chegg Buys Cramster". All Things Digital.
  39. ^ Kelly, Meghan (July 8, 2011). "SEC filing cracks the egg on Chegg's Notehall purchase". VentureBeat.
  40. ^ Swisher, Kara (September 15, 2011). "Chegg Buys Zinch in Another Move Toward a "Social Education Platform"". All Things Digital.
  41. ^ "Chegg Acquires Software Company Flux / 3D3R, SEC Filing Reveals". TechCrunch. November 14, 2011.
  42. ^ Kelly, Meghan (November 14, 2011). "Chegg acquires web design team 3D3R, potentially beefing up Facebook app". VentureBeat.
  43. ^ Kolodny, Lora (June 4, 2014). "Chegg Acquires Tutoring-On-Demand Site InstaEDU in $30M Cash Deal". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660.
  44. ^ Griffith, Erin (June 3, 2014). "Chegg buys InstaEDU in transition away from book rentals". Fortune.
  45. ^ "Chegg Acquires Internships.com" (Press release). PR Newswire. October 2, 2014.
  46. ^ "Chegg Buys Internships.com for $11M". EdSurge. October 2, 2014.
  47. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (May 2, 2016). "Chegg acquires Imagine Easy Solutions, the company behind EasyBib, BibMe and Citation Machine". TechCrunch.
  48. ^ "RefME is changing". University of Brighton. February 20, 2017.
  49. ^ "Chegg Acquires Math Technology" (Press release). PR Newswire. October 18, 2017.
  50. ^ Sternlicht, Alexandra (May 25, 2018). "His Company WriteLab Was Acquired by Chegg Before He Turned 30". Forbes.
  51. ^ "Chegg Cuts $15 Million Check to Buy AI-Feedback Tool, WriteLab". EdSurge. May 16, 2018.
  52. ^ "Chegg Nabs Online Flashcard Tool, StudyBlue in $20.8 Million All-Cash Acquisition". EdSurge. July 3, 2018.
  53. ^ "Chegg Acquires StudyBlue". Vista Point Advisors (Press release). July 2, 2018.
  54. ^ "Chegg to Acquire Coding Boot Camp". Inside Higher Ed. 5 September 2019.
  55. ^ "Chegg to Buy Coding Bootcamp Thinkful for $80 Million". EdSurge. September 4, 2019.
  56. ^ "Chegg to Enter Rapidly Expanding Digital Language Learning Market with Acquisition of Busuu" (Press release). Business Wire. November 29, 2021.
  57. ^ Butcher, Mike (November 29, 2021). "Student media giant Chegg acquires language learning startup Busuu for $436M". TechCrunch.
  58. ^ Greig, Jonathan (November 29, 2021). "Chegg acquires language learning platform Busuu for $436 million". ZDNet.
  59. ^ a b Mckenzie, Lindsay (March 12, 2019). "The Wrong Partnership?". Inside Higher Ed.
  60. ^ Lancaster, Thomas; Cotarlan, Codrin (2021). "Contract cheating by STEM students through a file sharing website: a Covid-19 pandemic perspective". International Journal for Educational Integrity. Vol. 17. doi:10.1007/s40979-021-00070-0.
  61. ^ a b Eaton, S. E. (July 12, 2020). "Academic Integrity During COVID-19: Reflections from the University of Calgary". International Studies in Educational Administration. 48. University of Calgary: 80–85.
  62. ^ Blau, Ina; Goldberg, Shira; Friedman, Adi; Eshet-Alkalai, Yoram (July 22, 2020). "Violation of digital and analog academic integrity through the eyes of faculty members and students: Do institutional role and technology change ethical perspectives?". Journal of Computing in Higher Education. 33 (1): 157–187. doi:10.1007/s12528-020-09260-0. ISSN 1042-1726. PMC 7375033. PMID 32837125.
  63. ^ Pratt, Kati (February 6, 2019). "The Purdue University Online Writing Lab and Chegg Partner to Make World-Class Writing Education Tools More Accessible" (Press release). Purdue University.
  64. ^ "Everyday Examples of Academic Dishonesty". Purdue University.
  65. ^ a b c Downey, Maureen (May 4, 2020). "Georgia Tech warns physics students who cheated: Admit it or risk failing". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  66. ^ a b Pirog, Allison (April 28, 2020). "Chemistry and physics departments looking to limit cheating". The Daily Free Press.
  67. ^ Gul, Monika (December 19, 2020). "UBC professors accusing students of cheating, warning them of consequences". CityNews.
  68. ^ a b Butler, Jayla (April 15, 2020). "Arts & Sciences investigates Physics 192 academic integrity breach". Student Life.
  69. ^ Manoharan, Sathiamoorthy; Speidel, Ulrich (December 2020). "Contract Cheating in Computer Science: A Case Study" (PDF). 2020 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE). IEEE Xplore. pp. 91–98. doi:10.1109/TALE48869.2020.9368454. ISBN 978-1-7281-6942-2.
  70. ^ "Contract cheating". Curtin University.
  71. ^ "Academic Integrity at the School of Computer Science". University of Auckland.
  72. ^ Archana, KC (December 13, 2019). "To Catch Students Cheating in Exam, Professor Comes up with a Fake Question Trap & Succeeds!". India Times.
  73. ^ Isai, Vjosa (October 3, 2020). "Dishonour system". Winnipeg Free Press.
  74. ^ Quintana, Chris (November 9, 2021). "Millions of college students use Chegg, which professors say enables cheating – and possibly blackmail". USA Today.
  75. ^ Learmonth, Caera (October 13, 2022). "Chegg no longer sharing student information". The State Press.
  76. ^ "Higher Education Cheating Services". UK Government. 25 June 2021.
  77. ^ "Chegg Accused of Cheating Investors". Inside Higher Ed. January 5, 2022.
  78. ^ "TEQSA commences legal proceedings against Chegg". Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. October 8, 2024.
  79. ^ "CURRENT REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. September 25, 2018.
  80. ^ Whittaker, Zack (September 26, 2018). "Chegg resets 40 million user passwords after data breach". TechCrunch.
  81. ^ "FTC Finalizes Order with Ed Tech Provider Chegg for Lax Security that Exposed Student Data" (Press release). Federal Trade Commission. January 27, 2023.
  82. ^ Page, Carly (November 1, 2022). "FTC schools edtech giant Chegg over 'careless' cybersecurity practices". TechCrunch.
  83. ^ "Global Student Prize". Varkey Foundation.
  84. ^ "UK Finalists for 2022 Global Student Prize". FE News. 21 July 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-07-21.
  85. ^ "Chegg Looking For A Come-Up In School Contest". InsideRadio. September 1, 2015.
  86. ^ "Vote to bring Chegg Music 101 with YUNGBLUD to your school" (Press release). PR Newswire. September 16, 2019.
  87. ^ "Best Small and Medium Workplaces for Women". Fortune.
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  • Business data for Chegg, Inc.: