Prepare yourself fellow Cengagers. Just when you thought the layoffs were over for the year - surprise! Get those resumes updated and expect the axe to fall again. The scent of cuts is in the air. The fun never ends! Cengage is bleeding talent by the boatload and the hacks in charge don't care. Slash slash slash! It's a rush to the bottom. It's the Cengage way. IYKYK. What lies ahead is worse than anything Freddie, Michael, Jason, Chucky and Pennywise can do. The Hannibal Lecters at the top have no remorse in making the company worse by the minute. Keep cutting the workforce and no one knowledgeable will be left to run the store. Gross dereliction of duty anyone? Shouldn't sales be better this time of year? Are educational institutions losing confidence in Cengage? Will Cengage even be around in the future to honor existing paid digital product fulfillment?
Artificial Intelligence could do a better job managing the company than those at the top because there is certainly no intelligence coming from these short sighted decisions. The competition doesn't have to do a thing when top leadership is destroying Cengage from within. It's like watching a train wreck in person. Great job! IPO anyone? Nobody is going to buy a sinking ship. Strap yourselves in and grab the popcorn folks. It's going to be a bumpy ride!
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https://www.linkedin.com/posts/eleanor-rummer_after-135-ish-years-i-am-leaving-cengage-activity-7498071285462249472-Lgxh?utm_source=li_share&utm_content=feedcontent&utm_medium=g_dt_web&utm_campaign=copy
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/christinejburns_after-an-incredible-chapter-its-time-for-activity-7471226193199976449-m2o-?utm_source=li_share&utm_content=feedcontent&utm_medium=g_dt_web&utm_campaign=copy
Be sure to posts the URL link of any departures.
@qr yup I already saw a couple this weekend
@qz NK listened to exactly no one the last 2-3 years. He did it his way. So smug. He’s going to wonder where all the millions went from Gale since he apparently thought it was simple for Humanities reps to casually pick up those product lines and start selling to libraries in addition to textbooks. He was told the customer base is not even remotely the same and now he has huge R1’s as inside accounts since they don’t buy Cengage textbooks. Those customers are not happy to say the least.
@qr SO many these last couple of weeks and all Cengage management comments to congratulate them for damage control- it’s so embarrassing for them.
You can already see the shift happening at the top. For the past three years it’s been nothing but ‘takeaways’ and ‘growth,’ but now the new Customer Success teams are posting too many lost adoptions to hide. They can’t even calculate the Spring losses that are coming — and everyone knows they’re going to be ugly.
And now we’re seeing the desperation move: massive price hikes.
This isn’t strategy.
This is panic.
This is the Executive Team trying to force customers into Cengage Unlimited by making individual MindTap pricing unbearable.
Apollo isn’t going to tolerate a back‑to‑school season this chaotic, with adoption losses piling up and customers furious about pricing.
NK still doesn’t understand sales.
SW has sales experience, but she doesn’t understand our market.
Relationships matter in Higher Ed.
They always have.
But this Executive Team thinks they can rewrite the fundamentals of the industry.
They act like MindTap is an Apple iPhone — like hiring someone from Apple magically turns our platforms into Apple‑level products. It doesn’t. MindTap, WebAssign, Spark — they’re not competitive. They’re not modern. They’re duct‑taped platforms pretending to be premium.
NK keeps chasing fantasies instead of fixing the basics. He’s getting closer and closer to the end because everyone can see he’s too inexperienced and too immature to be in charge. No backbone, just smiles and silence. Everything behind closed doors. Then he calls it ‘transparency.’
Nobody respects that.
Nobody believes he should be leading this company.
And yes, he graduated from MIT — but that doesn’t magically make someone qualified to run a Higher Ed publisher. Honestly, we’d be better off if he were in a lab somewhere figuring out how to use AI to fix the broken platforms we’re forced to sell.
The Executive Team keeps making decisions that hurt the business, hurt the people doing the work, and hurt the customers who rely on us. And now the cracks are showing everywhere — pricing chaos, adoption losses, exhausted teams, and a back‑to‑school season that’s already falling apart.
Apollo wanted a clean runway into an IPO.
Instead, they’re watching leadership set the runway on fire.
I can't wait to see these sales numbers,...... transparency? I would bet there wont be any with these terrible numbers. Come on October , Apollo make your move. last year in Sept. and Oct. SVP ER got his walking papers along with others. The next 60 days are going to be fun to watch.
@qr Any posts from linkedin. be sure to copy the URL and paste it on here so we all see them. they allow URL links even if it has the persons name in the link. Thanks!
totally one of his heirs, maybe all 3 are on here posting. Their deflection posts can't save daddy.
So many "I'm leaving Cengage" posts popping up already on linkedin.
Judging by some of the comments, this post has hit a nerve and the Cengage media team is trying to do damage control for something that is not defensible. We see you and we are not fooled. Remember there were others before you who were better at it. You're not one of the 'good ones'. Your time in the unemployment line is assured and for that we can celebrate your downfall.
@OP said like you a writing from within the MH household.
@hn if you think layoffs and more restructuring are over we can’t help you.
@OP+1m1n296nn - It is dire for sure. Not sure if your October predictions are correct but more layoffs at SOME point certainly will happen. Train is going off the rails…
@OP said like someone who doesn’t even work for the company anymore. Why don’t you spout some IPO nonsense while you are at it? Continue the Fake News trolling my friend…
K12 are returning their cars this month and we can finally take this expense of the books. No more cars. finally! now the reps can get to campus faster in their red convertibles.
Yes it is really really bad right now. Has anyone paid attention to the huge price hikes? Sales are so awful, the executive team has decided to increase some pricing by 100% , yes I said it... 100% .
Go to www.cengage.com and look at the Sellnow Comm title. 12 months ago, the price was $56 for MindTap. Now look at the price.... $105. Desperation is NOT a good look. Pricing like this will not entice customers to move to Cengage Unlimited, it will only anger our customers, but NK is betting his whole career on this decision. It is going to backfire and Apollo is going to serve him his walking papers. Losing NK would actually be a great thing for us all. ,, NK has no clue what he is doing. It is doubtful that NK will still be here for the beginning of 2027. Now that slippery bald headed guy, may slip through to 2027.
Bring on my severance. Sounds good and I can enjoy the holidays.