Dec 17 (Reuters) – Online education platform Coursera said on Wednesday it would buy rival Udemy in an all-stock deal, valuing the ​combined company at $2.5 billion, as the industry consolidates after a post-pandemic ‌slowdown and heightened investor scrutiny.

Udemy shareholders would receive 0.8 shares of Coursera for each held, ‌valuing the company at about $930 million, according to Reuters calculations. Coursera shares were up about 8%, while Udemy jumped nearly 28%.

The deal unites two of the largest U.S.-based online learning platforms at a time when consumer course enrollment growth ⁠has cooled from pandemic ‌highs, prompting companies to seek scale and pursue enterprise clients and more predictable subscription revenue.

Coursera and Udemy bet that a ‍combined platform will be better positioned to capture corporate demand for workforce training, particularly in artificial intelligence, data science and software development, as employers invest in reskilling ​workers amid rapid advances in generative AI.

Based on Coursera’s last close, the ‌offer implies a price of $6.35 per Udemy share, a premium of roughly 18.3%. The companies said the deal is expected to close in the second-half of next year, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Coursera, which partners with universities and institutions to offer degree programs and professional certificates, has increasingly ⁠focused on enterprise customers, while Udemy operates a ​marketplace of independent instructors selling individual courses ​and subscriptions to businesses.

Despite companies pitching AI upskilling as a major growth opportunity, investors have remained cautious on the sector. Shares ‍of online education ⁠companies have lagged broader markets amid concerns over competition, pricing pressure and uncertain returns from AI-related investments.

Udemy shares have fallen about 35% so ⁠far this year, while Coursera is down roughly 7% over the same period, leaving ‌both companies trading well below their post-IPO highs.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram ‌in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)