Editing Pearson plc (section)

==== Pearson Education rebrands as Pearson (2011) and Pearson plc rebrands as education-only (2016) ====
Pearson Education was rebranded as simply Pearson in 2011.<ref name="About Us 2011">{{cite web |title=About Pearson |url=http://www.pearsoned.com/about-us/ |website=pearsoned.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013025843/http://www.pearsoned.com/about-us/ |archive-date=13 October 2011}}</ref>

In July 2011, Pearson announced the creation of [[Pearson College (UK)|Pearson College]], a British degree provider based in London.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gill |first=John |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=416714 |title=Royal Holloway to validate new Pearson degree |access-date=17 November 2012 |publisher=[[Times Higher Education]] |date=4 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/aug/14/ft-owners-pearson-plan-college?newsfeed=true |title=FT owners plan college for business degrees |access-date=17 November 2012 |publisher=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=14 August 2012}}</ref> Also in 2011, Pearson acquired [[Connections Academy|Connections Education]] and agreed to sell its 50% stake in FTSE International Limited to the London Stock Exchange for £450 million.<ref>{{cite web |last=Halliday |first=Josh |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/12/pearson-to-sell-ftse-stake-450m |title=Pearson to sell FTSE stake for £450m |publisher=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=12 December 2011 |access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref> In 2011, Pearson also increased its stake in TutorVista to 76%.<ref>{{cite web |author=Mark Sweney |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/jan/18/pearson-tutorvista-india |title=Pearson buys controlling stake in TutorVista for $127m |publisher=[[The Guardian]] |date=18 January 2011 |access-date=4 December 2016}}</ref>

In May 2012 Pearson announced its acquisition of GlobalEnglish Corporation, an American [[Business English]] software and solutions company, in an all-cash transaction.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pearson's world-leading English learning business strengthens its position in the corporate market |url=http://www.globalenglish.com/whoweare/newsroom/press_releases/782 |website=globalenglish.com |access-date=31 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707010743/http://www.globalenglish.com/whoweare/newsroom/press_releases/782 |archive-date=7 July 2012}}</ref>

In October 2012 Pearson entered into talks with rival conglomerate Bertelsmann, over the possibility of combining their respective publishing companies, [[Penguin Group]] and [[Random House]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eaf8eaaa-1eac-11e2-be82-00144feabdc0.html |title=Penguin and Random House in merger talks |publisher=[[Financial Times]] |date=25 October 2012}}</ref> and said it would merge Penguin Books with Bertelsmann's Random House to create the world's biggest consumer book publisher.<ref>{{cite web |last=Holton |first=Kate |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pearson-idUSBRE89S0C120121029 |title=Random, Penguin merging to form leading publisher |date=29 October 2012 |publisher=[[Reuters]] |access-date=1 July 2017 |archive-date=28 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128104202/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/29/us-pearson-idUSBRE89S0C120121029 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In February 2013, following government changes to apprenticeship funding rules, Pearson sold its Pearson in Practice, a UK vocational training business, to [[West Nottinghamshire College]], which renamed it Vision Workforce Skills.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wnc.ac.uk/About-Us/News-And-Events/Press-Release.aspx?PRID=629 |title=Training provider Pearson in Practice to transfer over to West Nottinghamshire College |date=21 February 2013 |website=wnc.ac.uk |publisher=[[Vision West Nottinghamshire College|West Nottinghamshire College]] |access-date=10 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402175647/http://wnc.ac.uk/About-Us/News-And-Events/Press-Release.aspx?PRID=629 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visionworkforceskills.co.uk/ |title=Vision Workforce Skills |website=visionworkforceskills.co.uk |access-date=10 June 2013}}</ref>

In May 2013, Pearson announced a new restructuring plan to invest in digital learning and emerging markets, after predicting weaker earnings.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Young |first1=Sarah |title=Pearson sees 2013 flat, begins restructuring plan |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-pearson-idUKBRE91O08I20130225 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108195815/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-pearson-idUKBRE91O08I20130225 |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 January 2016 |access-date=18 January 2015 |publisher=[[Reuters]] |date=25 February 2013}}</ref> The change supported the decoupling of the Penguin consumer publishing business into a separate entity with Random House (forming [[Penguin Random House]]). The new structure combined the separate education companies, Pearson International and Pearson North America under one Pearson company and Pearson reorganised around three global lines of business – School, Higher Education and Professional. The Financial Times Group and Pearson English formed part of Pearson Professional.<ref name="WSJ">{{cite web |last=Gordon |first=Kathy |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324659404578500433025096180 |title=Pearson details restructuring |publisher=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=23 May 2013 |access-date=26 June 2013}}</ref>

In July 2014, the company announced it had cut 4,000 jobs, representing 10% of the company's workforce.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Orihuela |first1=Rodrigo |last2=Schweizer |first2=Kristen |title=Pearson cutting 4,000 jobs as first-half sales decline |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-25/pearson-first-half-sales-drop-6-5-percent-on-strength-of-pound.html |access-date=18 January 2015 |website=bloomberg.com |publisher=[[Bloomberg News]] |date=25 July 2014}}</ref>

Pearson announced in July 2015 that it had agreed to sell the FT Group, which includes business daily ''[[Financial Times]]'', to Japanese media group [[Nihon Keizai Shimbun|Nikkei]] for £844 million, or $1.32 billion. The sale does not include FT Group's London property at One Southwark Bridge.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d7e95338-3127-11e5-8873-775ba7c2ea3d.html |title=Nikkei to buy FT Group for £844m from Pearson |author=Henry Mance, Arash Massoudi and James Fontanella-Khan |publisher=[[Financial Times]] |date=23 July 2015 |access-date=28 July 2015}}</ref> Pearson retained the publishing rights to FT Press and licensed the trademark from Nikkei.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pearson FT Press |url=https://www.informit.com/promotions/pearson-ft-press-141135 |access-date=8 March 2022 |website=informit.com}}</ref> In August 2015, Pearson's sold its 50% stake in ''[[The Economist]]'' to the [[Agnelli family]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Pearson sells Economist Group stake |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=12 August 2015 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33878566 |access-date=12 August 2015}}</ref> who previously held 4.7% of the group.<ref name="BrandRepublic 2015-07-28">{{cite web |url=http://www.brandrepublic.com/article/pearson-sell-economist-group-stake/1357659 |title=Pearson to sell Economist Group stake |author=Omar Oakes |publisher=[[Haymarket Media Group|Brand Republic]] |date=27 July 2015 |access-date=28 July 2015}}</ref> The remaining 50% of The Economist Group is owned by the [[Schroders]], [[Cadbury family|Cadburys]] and the [[Rothschild family|Rothschilds]].<ref name="BrandRepublic 2015-07-28"/>

Following the sale of its financial news publications ''Financial Times'' and ''The Economist'' in 2015, Pearson plc rebranded in January 2016 to focus solely on education, and the corporation adopted a new logo,<ref name="rebrand">{{Cite web |last1=Cowdrey |first1=Katherine |title=Pearson rebrand to reflect 100% focus on education |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/pearson-rebrands-reflect-100-focus-education-319864 |access-date=12 September 2023 |publisher=[[The Bookseller]] |date=7 January 2016}}</ref> the [[interrobang]] (‽), a combination of a question mark and an exclamation point, meant to convey a "combination of excitement, curiosity and individuality"<ref name="rebrand"/> and "the excitement and fun of learning".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Logo: The Interrobang |url=https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-com-v2/files/logos/Pearson_Guidelines_Logo.pdf |website=pearson.com |access-date=12 September 2023}}</ref>