By Kevin McCauley
News Corp. is acquiring a 90 percent stake in Brooklyn-based Wireless Generation for $360M in a move that spearheads Rupert Murdoch’s foray into the $500B education market.
Ten-year-old WG provides software, data systems and professional services to help teachers use data to develop individual lesson plans and access student progress. It serves more than 200K educators and 3M students.
The company has partnered with New York City’s Dept. of Education on its Achievement Reporting and Innovation System and the City’s School of One initiative. News Corp, earlier this month, hired former NYC school’s chancellor Joel Klein to develop its educational business.
WG’s leadership team of founder/CEO Larry Berger, COO Josh Reibel and executive VP/chief product officer will retain a 10 percent interest and remain with the company.
Berger credits Murdoch for understanding the “transformative effect technology can bring to the process of learning.”
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