Capella Education Company is an education services holding company

Holding company

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

 which owns for-profit, online Capella University

Capella University

Capella University is a for-profit co-educational university with partial residency requirements during the course of study, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.The school is owned by the publicly traded Capella Education Company...

 and other assets.

What is now the Capella Education Company was founded in 1991 by Stephen Shank, former CEO of Tonka Corporation. In 1993, it opened The Graduate School of America (TGSA). In 1999, the company and university were renamed to their current, Capella Education Company and University. In 2003, the Company was named to Inc.

Inc. (magazine)

Inc. magazine, founded in 1979 and based in New York City, is a monthly publication focused on growing companies. The magazine publishes an annual list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., the "Inc...

magazine's Inc. 500 Hall of Fame after being named one of America's 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies for the fifth year in a row. Prior to going public the company raised more than $67 million from private investors, including Maveron

Maveron

Maveron is a venture capital firm with offices in Seattle and San Francisco that invests in consumer-focused businesses. The firm was founded by Dan Levitan, a former managing director at Schroder Wertheim & Co., and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz....

.

The company announced its intentions to go public with an initial public offering

Initial public offering

An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...

 in April 2005. It reported 2005 earnings of $10.2 million on sales of nearly $150 million. On November 9, 2006, it completed a public offering that raised $80 million.

In March 2008, Capella Education Co., longtime occupant the 225 South Sixth

225 South Sixth

Capella Tower is a skyscraper in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. The building opened in 1992 with the First Bank Place being the headquarters for First Bank System. In 1997, First Bank System acquired US Bancorp and changed the name of the building to US Bancorp Place...

skyscraper in downtown Minneapolis, signed a new lease that will change the name of the building to Capella Tower. The expanded facility will house all of the company's 1,150 downtown Minneapolis employees Capella; as the online school does not have classrooms, the space houses administrative staff and faculty. The name change is scheduled to take place on March 2009.

In July 2011, Capella Education Company acquired the UK based Resource Development International Ltd, gaining them access to the fast-growing international higher education market, with a significant presence in the UK and Commonwealth countries. Wall Street Journal Online Edition http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110715-705702.html Capella Education Company News Release http://www.capellaeducation.com/news/news_releases_index.aspx

External links

• Company Website
• Mark Reilly, Capella jumps after $80M IPO, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, November 10, 2006