News Corp to sell Amplify, its much watched foray into the EdTech market
Recently News Corp officially announced it would wind down production of Amplify educational tablets and that it is also in the late stages of a negotiation to sell off the entire education unit. The decision will result in a $371m write-down for News Corp, which acquired Amplify five years ago in a high profile move into the education technology business. Amplify offered classroom resources, including digital curriculum, however the decision to begin offering its own tablets resulted in a host of problems, including glitchy devices, mediocre sales, and the same school infrastructure issues other tablet providers have run into with device deployments.
Dive Brief:

Bloomberg reports that Amplify, media company News Corp.'s high profile foray into education, is winding down its tablet program and has discontinued orders for new tablets with its Asian supplier.

The program originally supplied tablets custom designed for educator uses like tracking student performance but few districts purchased them.

The head of Amplify's tablet division departed earlier this year, followed by the head of the testing unit.

Dive Insight:

The news of the possible end to the tablet division comes amidst former New York schools chancellor Joel Klein's overhaul of Amplify. News Corp. has reportedly invested $1 billion in its education division, which has posted losses the last two years. Amplify has been plagued by technical glitches during its product launches, particularly in the tablet division, and an overly complicated internal structure. At one time, the division listed over a dozen high-level executives who oversaw a wide array of programs that often failed to work together.

Klein has aggressively streamlined the company, in an initiative known as "One Amplify" within the company. In internal memos obtained by EdSurge in April, Klein indicated his desire to see more of the company's products working in concert. "We have several groundbreaking products in early literacy instruction, assessment and intervention….How much more transformative could it be if they all worked together?" he wrote.

With the likely end of Amplify's foray into the tablet market, it's not clear what Klein's next step will be in carving out Amplify's niche.