Pearson plc

Pearson is a British multinational education and assessment company headquartered in London. It provides learning materials, assessments, qualifications, virtual learning, English-language learning, higher-education products and enterprise learning and skills services. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, and has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange through American depositary receipts. In 2025, Pearson reported revenue of £3.6 billion and had an average of about 17,000 employees.

The company originated as S. Pearson & Son, a Yorkshire building and civil-engineering contractor founded in the nineteenth century. Under Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, it became one of the world's largest engineering contractors and developed interests in Mexican oil, electricity, finance, coal, aviation and publishing. In the twentieth century Pearson shifted towards publishing and media, acquiring the Financial Times and a stake in The Economist in 1957, Longman in 1968 and Penguin Books in 1970. The company changed its name from S. Pearson & Son plc to Pearson plc in 1984.