Best Of

I’m stunned. 

From this day forth I have to operate as though I will have no income from “Udemy” in 6 months (the alleged transition completion). 

Too many unanswered questions. 

I always look for MOTIVES in every decision made. The only reason Udemy goes this route is because either:

A) Coursera is beating them. Better to combine forces than to be destroyed.

B) BOTH Coursera and Udemy are losing to AI. Survival play by BOTH to fend off (and try to incorporate) that existential threat.

I'm not saying current instructors CAN'T be winners with this deal…but I would temper excitement because while the promise is "bigger audience!" the reality is probably more akin to "more instructors to compete against!" or "purging of courses and only offering the top 1% so every other instructor loses."

Always keep in mind that these big mergers are solely to benefit the stakeholders. Remember, Udemy already takes half of the revenue we make on their platform. Unless instructors make $ 70 off every $100 spent, this will only benefit the stakeholders. If the customer does not pay $100, the instructor should receive 70% of the purchase price, with no strings attached.

As Udemy is merging with Coursera, Coursera will hold a 59% stake, meaning it will own Udemy. This was a financial move; it was not meant to give instructors on the Udemy platform more money. We will see how it plays out, but more than likely, things will not get better for instructors; they will extort us the same way as Udemy does.

There should be no pricing match, price tier, etc. If I list my course for $100, I should get $70 off the deal, and the platform receives $30. These platforms make money off subscriptions, $30 or $50 per month, with lifetime access to a course. Instructors should be able to set their own access and pricing options with no strings attached. Instructors should get $70 off every $100 spent, and that's it. Any other structure is scamming the instructors.

Honestly, I don't know how to take this news. I hope it's for the best and that we instructors find a satisfactory ecosystem.

On the other hand, the last question in the FAQ (Will my status as an instructor on Udemy’s platform carry over to the combined platform?) seems a bit ambiguous.

It doesn't clearly state that all instructors/courses will be automatically transferred to the new platform.

Will there be some kind of filter, then? Could you be left out of the merger of the two companies? Or could some of your courses be?

Too many unknowns at the moment, which I hope will be resolved in the coming months.