Pearson buys learning firm Schoolnet for $230m

Publishing group Pearson said it had agreed to buy US education technology firm Schoolnet for $230 million in cash to expand further its digital learning footprint. Schoolnet's data-based tools serve more than five million US students from pre-kindergarten through to secondary education in about a third of America's largest cities, Pearson said in a statement on Tuesday.

The British company, which owns the world's largest education business, said it expected the deal to be broadly neutral to earnings per share (EPS) in 2011, including integration costs, and to boost its adjusted EPS in 2012. New York City-based Schoolnet was founded in 1998 by Jonathan D Harber, who will retain his position as chief executive of the firm, and Denis P Doyle.