With a debt of $3.2 billion, facing the impact of AI, the century-old education giant McGraw-Hill (MH.US) strives to make it to the New York Stock Exchange.

McGraw Hill Inc. plans to publicly issue stocks in the US stock market to raise approximately $537 million, signaling the education-focused company's high-profile entry into the midsummer IPO boom in the US. According to documents submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, the company, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, will issue 24.4 million shares of stock at a price range of $19 to $22 per share. At the upper end of the range, with the shares listed in the documents, McGraw Hill's market value will reach $4.2 billion. The documents show that Platinum Equity purchased the education company for $4.7 billion from alternative asset management giant Apollo Global Management Inc. in 2021. After the stock issuance, Platinum Equity is expected to control nearly 87% of McGraw Hill. McGraw Hill is headquartered in Columbus and has a total debt of approximately $3.2 billion. Following President Donald Trump's announcement of tariff policies, the US IPO market paused in April for the first time but is now rapidly recovering. Bloomberg compiled data shows that excluding financial market instruments like blank check companies, US IPOs raised $4.3 billion in June, the highest monthly total since September 2023. NIQ Global Intelligence Plc, the former consumer intelligence business unit of Nielsen Holdings, also submitted an IPO application to the US stock market on Monday, planning to raise up to $1.2 billion. The documents show that in the fiscal year ending March 31 of this year, McGraw Hill had revenues of approximately $2.1 billion, with a net loss of $85.8 million; in the prior fiscal year, revenues were $1.96 billion with a net loss of $193 million. Established in 1888, the textbook publisher has embraced digital educational tools, including an AI-based math teaching program and an AI Reader trained on high-quality course content. Its products cover K-12, college, and professional learning fields, with approximately 26 million paying digital users as of the fiscal year ending March 31, offering digital and paper textbooks, adaptive learning software, and teaching assessment services in K-12, college, and professional training markets. McGraw Hill's digital learning platform includes: ALEKS, an AI-based adaptive math and chemistry learning system that dynamically diagnoses knowledge gaps and provides personalized practice and explanations; Connect and e-Book, providing interactive courseware, automatic assessments, and learning progress analysis for higher education courses; and AI Reader, which uses generative AI to convert course content into audio and intelligent tutoring materials for a barrier-free reading experience. The documents point out that generative AI is also one of the potential risks facing McGraw Hill's overall business, as it may make it easier for competitors to create educational materials and make high-quality learning materials more easily accessible to student groups. AI may significantly lower the threshold for producing alternative educational materials, collectively weakening the company's pricing power and market share, and significantly affecting market demand. McGraw Hill had previously secretly submitted an IPO application in 2022 and withdrew an earlier IPO plan in 2018. Thirteen major Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of Montreal, JPMorgan, Macquarie Capital, and Morgan Stanley, are participating in this underwriting. The company plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "MH." Overall, McGraw Hill is an old-fashioned education company transitioning from traditional paper textbooks to digital learning technology, striving to solidify its presence in the North American market with new AI technology and raise funds for digital expansion through an IPO to alleviate private debt burdens. However, its high leverage structure and competition sparked by generative AI create uncertainty about its future growth model.