Washington Post 2004 Annual Report Download - page 11

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2004 ANNUAL REPORT
9
Alan Spoon’s and my decision to put Jonathan Grayer in charge of the business in
1994 was the start of a long, so far successful, process. (That Jonathan was there at
all was blind luck: a tip from a classmate of Alan’s.)
Kaplan has four major businesses: Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, Kaplan
Professional, Score! and Kaplan Higher Education.
The test prep business we bought from Stanley Kaplan is booming. Under John Polstein
(see number 2 above, but I’ll stop repeating myself), the test prep business had its best
year by far in 2004—until 2005.
Kaplan Professional, under Eric Cantor, has assembled important businesses that train
exam-takers in several fields, including real estate (booming), insurance (steady) and
securities (slumping). Investment in a new software platform for Kaplan Professional’s
businesses kept results flat for the year, but this business is well positioned for the future.
Eric also runs Score!, which provides high-quality tutoring for kids, pre-K through 10,
in its 166 after-school centers.
Kaplan Higher Education continued to grow and is Kaplan’s largest profit producer.
Under Gary Kerber, who was the chief executive officer of Quest Education when we
acquired it in 2000, operating income has more than tripled since the acquisition.
Kaplan University online, part of Kaplan Higher Education, is the fastest-growing business
within Kaplan — and that’s really saying something. Jonathan considered the business
important enough to Kaplan’s future that he asked Kaplan president Andy Rosen to
move to South Florida to run it. Revenue approximately doubled in 2004, and the
business, in which we invested for years, is now meaningfully profitable.
As the year went along, Kaplan’s global presence expanded. Managed by William
Macpherson, Kaplan International includes The Financial Training Company of
London, Dublin Business School and a promising start-up venture with Nottingham
Trent University.