[Education Industry in the AI Era] Fighting for Survival by Targeting Digital Textbooks and Overseas Public Education

④Visang Education Reports 13.1 Billion KRW Loss in First Half of This Year
Aggressive Investment in Edutech... Seeking Business Turnaround
"Providing Personalized Learning with AI"

Editor's NoteTraditional education companies, which have grown centered on workbooks, are pouring company-wide efforts into digital transformation using the know-how they have accumulated in response to 'Edutech.' Emerging edutech companies are threatening existing companies with their unique technological capabilities. We looked into what changes education companies are making in the edutech era.

Yang Tae-hoe, CEO of Visang Education.

Bisang Education, an on- and offline learning material sales company, is a mid-sized education company led for 25 years by its founder CEO Yang Tae-hoe. CEO Yang, a graduate of Korea University’s Department of French Language and Literature, established 'Giljabi Academy' in 1992 and worked as a Korean language instructor. In December 1997, he officially entered the education business by founding 'Biyu wa Sangjing,' a Korean language specialized publishing company and the predecessor of Bisang Education.

Bisang Education knocked on the door of the domestic private education market in 1998 by publishing the middle school Korean language book 'Finish with One Book.' At that time, there were no academy textbooks, so it gained high popularity in the academy market. Subsequently, it succeeded one after another with academy textbooks and self-study books such as the science workbook 'O2,' the math workbook 'Concept + Type,' and the self-study material 'Wanja,' emerging as a dark horse in the private education market. Bisang Education has sold over 100 million learning materials to date and holds six mega brands with sales exceeding 10 million copies each.

Riding on high educational enthusiasm and standing out in the private education market, Bisang Education entered the public education textbook market by filing for the first certified textbook at the end of 2007. In March 2008, 11 types of middle and high school textbooks were approved, and in 2009, it pushed out existing strong players such as Cheonjae Education, Doosan Dong-A, and Geumseong Publishing, achieving first place in the number of adoptions per subject and overall print volume. Based on this growth, Bisang Education was listed on the KOSPI market in June 2008 and changed its company name to Bisang Education in April 2009.

Leveraging its high recognition, in March 2016, Bisang Education was selected as a publisher for national curriculum elementary subjects. Publishing national curriculum textbooks is considered the highest honor in the educational publishing industry because it recognizes a company’s ability to produce large volumes on time and develop high-quality textbooks. The bidding and inspection processes are also stringent. At that time, Bisang Education, a relatively new company compared to existing national textbook publishers such as MiraeN, Cheonjae Education, and Jihaksa, was selected as the publisher for the 2016 academic year elementary science and integrated subjects, followed by elementary science for 2017?2019, elementary math for 2020?2022, and elementary ethics for 2023?2025, establishing a solid position in the public education market. Bisang Education, which recorded its highest-ever sales of 253 billion KRW last year, is firmly established as a sound mid-sized education company in terms of scale.

At the '2023 EduTech Korea Fair' held last September at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, Visang Education showcased its EduTech services.

However, it was not without crisis. Bisang Education experienced significant ups and downs during COVID-19. Operating profit, which hit an all-time high of 35.5 billion KRW in 2016, turned into a loss of 14.9 billion KRW in 2020. This was due to increased R&D spending on educational content and fierce competition in advertising and marketing amid the acceleration of the IT industry and the edutech boom in the education sector. Compared to other companies’ edutech, Bisang Education lacked so-called 'killer content' and worsened its financial soundness by aggressively spending on advertising, hiring actors Jung Woo-sung and Park Eun-bin as models. Although it returned to profitability in 2021?2022, it posted a loss of 13.1 billion KRW again in the first half of this year.

Bisang Education also faces the major challenge of second-generation succession. As of the first half of this year, CEO Yang, born in 1964, holds 42.81% of the shares. His spouse, Jung Yang-ok, CEO of Terabooks (1.45%), eldest son Yang Seung-min (1.63%), eldest daughter Yang Se-rin (1.63%), and youngest daughter Yang Se-min (1.19%) also hold shares respectively. In April 2021, CEO Yang divided and gifted 2.35% (306,000 shares) of his shares to his three children for the first time since the company’s listing, marking the first step in the succession process. Although the children are still in their twenties and the succession process has not yet fully begun, there is a possibility that the children will soon appear on the management front line, which is necessary for a change in atmosphere at Bisang Education.

Currently, Bisang Education is betting its life on strengthening its edutech competitiveness. It is conducting behind-the-scenes work to secure leadership in the AI digital textbook sector, which the government plans to introduce in 2025. In May, it partnered with the educational practice platform company ELIS Group to develop an 'AI Digital Textbook Platform.' A Bisang Education official said, "Building the platform will bring positive effects such as improving the overall quality of education and expanding the textbook market," adding, "AI will enable personalized learning for students, creating changes that bring education closer to its essence."

It is also actively targeting overseas markets. In 2019, Bisang Education signed a supply contract with Paraguayan education company 'Zoles Technology' to use the elementary and middle school English learning brand 'English Eye' as a regular program in Paraguayan public education institutions. In 2021, it supplied the edutech English learning program 'ELIF' to four elementary schools in the UK. Additionally, Bisang Education has supplied edutech-based math, English, and Korean programs across the globe, including Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt. As of the end of last month, Bisang Education provides edutech programs in 28 countries. A Bisang Education official said, "We are actively promoting 'K-Edu' in overseas educational sites through data-based interactive classes and individualized AI education platform construction," adding, "We will convey the values of closing educational gaps and raising the overall level of education both domestically and internationally."