Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

And so, that’s one of the reasons why we continue to broaden the portfolio of certificates. In a really dynamic labor market, you don’t really necessarily know all the time which ones are going to be the most €“ the jobs with the most upside. So, I think that the diversification and the broadening of the portfolio as we started the call is an important part of the strategy so that we can really cover our bases and make sure that whatever those high demand entry level jobs are, we could be training for them. I will say though that we believe that credentials are going to become more important and credentials from trusted brands will become more important. The ability to just learn a skill is going to be, I think, more straightforward in terms of, sort of bite size up skilling.

But I think employers are going to be looking for more than just have you developed a bunch of small skills, I think they’re going to be looking for, have you really developed a deeper understanding with the deeper conceptual ability to, whatever the current tool is, transfer those skills to the emerging tools, whatever those might be. So, I think that there’s going to be a bigger premium put on credentials and those credentials are going to be highly associated, I believe, with the kinds of brands that we’ve been working with. So, I think AI, to a large degree, will help more people get into our programs. They’ll make those programs more interactive and more personalized, but at the end of the day, the premium will be, I think, remaining on credentials because I think the credentials will be an important part of the employment equation.

Terry Tillman: Yes. That’s great. Thanks for that Jeff. And then Ken, in terms of €“ just so I understand it, because I was curious because you all have talked about reductions of expense run rate. And then when I saw the guidance, I was confused, but I think it really is explainable now with this updated partnership with one of your key content providers. But what I’m curious about is because I don’t know if I got this in the prepared remarks, so the gross margin in consumer is going to take a large step down, is that right? And did you say what that would be?

Ken Hahn: We did. The guidance is €“ yes, we’ll be up roughly 1,000 basis points. The guidance is 52% margin, both overall and for consumers. So, we’re pretty specific on both those accounts.

Terry Tillman: Okay. Well, the one €“ so I’ll end it with this. I’m getting some questions in terms of like the 25 million additional OpEx. I mean partners like what do you want to get out of the incremental 25 million of OpEx? I mean what does it help you with in your business? And I don’t want to sound shortsighted, but like what could you get out of that? Thank you.

Ken Hahn: So, the €“ firstly, we’ve extended our most important strategic relationship that we’re pretty excited about from a job ready as you hear thematically what’s important to us from a job-ready standpoint. There will be incremental investment in the program overall that we do. We’re excited about the growth that’s going to drive. And I think we may see some additional opportunity there over the course of the year. Overall, yes, does it slow down the path to EBITDA breakeven that we were moving pretty quickly on. It does, but over the long-term, we’re still improving 200 basis points, and we’re excited to extend this contract for several years. And I think it’s going to be an important part of what we’re talking about to the previous question, a year from now as we look backwards and some of the growth we think we’re going to achieve.

But it is a 2-way street exactly to your point, and we’re excited about it. It’s actually a big positive over the next couple of years.

Terry Tillman: Understood. Thank you.