The Adecco Group, a global staffing company, is acquiring digital training firm General Assembly =- widely known for its coding bootcamps -- for $412.5 million. The deal is expected to close this quarter.
General Assembly was founded in 2011 and now operates 20 facilities around the world. The company offers technical skills training and development in business-critical areas like coding, data science, user experience design, and digital marketing.
In recent years, thousands of millennials have skipped or dropped out of college, signed up for General Assembly courses, and pursuing careers in programming, Web development and more.
Clearly, Adecco Group likes that business model. The Zurich-based company recruits temporary and full-time employees for large businesses. Acquiring General Assembly complements Adecco's existing services and is consistent with the Group’s strategy to expand into high-growth, high-margin adjacent markets, the company says.
Staffing Meets Training
As Adecco’s CEO Alain Dehaze points out, automation is creating a critical need to re-skill workers, with as many as 375 million employees around the world needing to transition to new roles by 2030. This deal will ostensibly bring career transition training and professional staffing solutions under one roof.
Adecco believes General Assembly’s business model is highly scalable, pointing to the training firm’s 30 percent compound annual revenue growth over the last three years and 2017 revenues around US$100 million. Among its clients, General Assembly lists Viacom, Pearson, and L’Oreal on its website.
General Assembly will continue to operate as a separate division within the Adecco Group under founder and CEO Jake Schwartz and his team.
