TAL Education Group Takes Strategic Stake in Guokr

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Dec 21, 2014, 08:42 ET

BEIJING, Dec. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, announced today that TAL has invested approximately US$15 million in Guokr, Inc. ("Guokr"), a popular mobile and web-based community for science and technology education in China, for Guokr's minority equity interest.

"With our investment in Guokr we take another solid step towards transforming into a leading technology-driven education services provider in China. We are pleased with this opportune and complementary investment, which we continue to seek as we expand and innovate our core tutoring service offerings. Guokr and its Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) content will be an important addition to our blended learning approach across multi-media platforms, especially Internet and mobile Internet. We believe Guokr and TAL have great synergies, which will further strengthen as a rapidly increasing number of our students discover they can 'play-and-learn' on their mobile devices outside the traditional classroom setting," said TAL's co-founder and General Manager of Investment Unit, Mr. Yachao Liu. "Through Guokr we can also extend our reach to a complementary customer base, the mostly college-based technology enthusiasts. This extension will solidify Guokr and our common ground in building a social community through MOOC-based science and technology content for young demographics. In addition, we will leverage the Guokr MOOC platform to connect with world class education resources, which is consistent with our recent investment in the Minerva Project, a revolutionary new provider of undergraduate education in the US, as well as our angel investment in Sharkpark, a science education company. Our investment in Guokr is therefore an outstanding opportunity to share our vision and align our interests in building new education models for the future and incorporating self-education on Internet and mobile Internet."

Founded in 2010, Guokr has grown into a top science social networking service provider in China that fosters a community for people to learn and share scientific knowledge of every aspect of human life. Topics on Guokr range across various fields, such as biology, psychology, sociology, physics, astronomy, etc, and can be accessed through its website, Guokr.com as well as mobile applications. To date, Guokr's users mainly consist of high school and college students and young graduates.

Guokr also cooperates with various open education initiatives including Coursera, an international education platform which offers MOOC content in partnership with top universities and organizations worldwide. Guokr supports the translation of MOOC content into Chinese for Coursera and other MOOC providers and promotes such content to its user base through Guokr.com. To date, Guokr MOOC platform has accumulated a total of 800 thousand registered users.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, quotations from management in this announcement, as well as TAL Education Group's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: its ability to continue to attract students to enroll in its courses; its ability to continue to recruit, train and retain qualified teachers; its ability to improve the content of its existing course offerings and to develop new courses; its ability to maintain and enhance its brand; its ability to maintain and continue to improve its teaching results; and its ability to compete effectively against its competitors. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's reports filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and TAL Education Group undertakes no duty to update such information or any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

About TAL Education Group

TAL Education Group is a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China. The acronym "TAL" stands for "Tomorrow Advancing Life," which reflects our vision to promote top learning opportunities for Chinese students through both high-quality teaching and content, as well as leading edge application of technology in the education experience. TAL Education Group offers comprehensive tutoring services to students from pre-school to the twelfth grade through three flexible class formats: small classes, personalized premium services, and online courses. Our tutoring services cover the core academic subjects in China's school curriculum including mathematics, English, Chinese, physics, chemistry, and biology. The Company's learning center network includes 287 physical learning centers as of August 31, 2014, located in 19 key cities in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xi`an, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Suzhou, Shenyang, Jinan, Shijiazhuang, Qingdao and Changsha. We also operate www.jzb.com, a leading online education platform in China. Our ADSs trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "XRS." For more information, please see en.100tal.com.