CIW Cert Owner Faces Financial Woes, Seeks Buyer
11/20/2002 -- Publicly traded ProsoftTraining, best known for its Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) certification program and related courseware, announced in a 10-K annual report filed with the SEC last week that it's operating with a "very limited cash flow" and has entered into negotiations to sell part or all of the company to an unnamed prospective buyer.
According to the filing, the process started in July when the company hired an investment banker to "explore strategic options for the company, including a sale of some or all of its assets."
The exclusive negotiation period with the unnamed buyer ends Nov. 29. If the negotiations fall through, ProsoftTraining said it will open the process to other prospects.
It may not have much time, however; in the same statement, the company wrote: "Based on current operations, management believes that cash on hand will be sufficient...only until approximately the end of [2002]."
In the filing, ProsoftTraining said that it's also exploring other options for improving its financial outlook, including further reducing expenses, raising capital and/or discontinuing some operations.
In October, the company announced a net loss for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2002 of $34.92 million ($1.45 per share), compared to a net loss of $4.17 million ($0.18 per share) for fiscal 2001. It ended fiscal 2002 with $3.5 million in assets.
ProsoftTraining owns and operates three certification programs (CIW plus two telcom-related titles), two courseware imprints, and also manages the jCert.org cross-vendor Java certification initiative.
According to ProsoftTraining, there are currently 45,000 CIW certified professionals worldwide.
A representative for ProsoftTraining declined our request to comment on this story, stating that everything that could be said publicly was made in the 10-K filing.
For more information on this company and its certifications, click here.  -B.N.
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There are 53  user Comments for “CIW Cert Owner Faces Financial Woes, Seeks Buyer”
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| 12/2/02: Becky Nagel from Editor, CertCities.com says: |
Hey all -- CIW did file a revised 10-K filing last week, but the basic news is still the same. No word on how the three-week exclusive negotiation period went (or who with), but sucessful or not, these types of things are not usually things that companies will comment on (there's all sorts of NDAs, etc.) I will try to find out. In the meantime, keep in mind that while the company is looking for a buyer, it might be for only part of the company, such as the publishing side. Or it may be able to restructure its financing. A lot can happen here; i'm sure we'll find out soon enough. |
| 12/3/02: Rohit from India says: |
Hello i am currently persuing my CIW Master Site designer and while resarching for some study notes and exam crams i came across this information which has shocked me all this while i was feeling very good and heard great things about ciw and i found ciw to be my kind of cert as well at this point of time the only thing i can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope that things work out for ciw and people who have already acquired ciw certs and people persuing the same are able to safe guard thier intrests. I am eagerly waiting to see some good news on this board so please someone throw ligght on the current situation at the earliest possible. Also friends who have done good load of certs i would want ur opinion on wht do u think would be a good alternate cert to ciw and if anyone has any resources on ciw and other certs that would be a great help u can mail me on [email protected] or post ur comments on this board for the benefit of others as well thanks |
| 12/3/02: Becky Nagel from Editor,CertCities.com says: |
UPDATE: Just FYI: Because of the speculation here, I talked with CompTIA. The spokesperson told me that they are not the party that was in exclusive negotiations with Prosoft, nor are they currently in any negotiations. -- Becky Nagel, Editor, CertCities.com, [email protected] |
| 12/3/02: Dave from Florida says: |
I had a feeling that the CIW was going to be a bust. I am going to seek my Security Plus Certification instead. Boy I am sure glad that I did not waste my money. I believe that the Security Plus Certification will more valuable. CompTIA Rocks!! |
| 12/5/02: Anonymous says: |
Everything will work out in the end, it usually does. Of course that is easy for me to say since I do not hold the CIW. |
| 12/7/02: R. Porfavorny from Charleston SC says: |
I am the Corporate Webmaster managing the websites located on 5 continents for a 2.6 billion dollar company in the southeast US. I found the CIW Master Designer and Master Admin certs valuable in helping me get to where I am. I'm sorry that ProSoft is having problems with their revenue stream, but it seems to me to be a symptom of the senior-level management and sales/marketing weasles rather than any symptom of the program itself. Let's hope the sale and change in management saves CIW. |
| 12/8/02: Ian Poon from Hong Kong says: |
Dear all, What can I do now? I have prepared my first exam of CIW. Would you please give me some direction or suggestion? Join the exam or not? Thanks! Ian |
| 1/25/03: D from Redneck Territory says: |
As of last week, all Prosoft will say (at least to me when I call) is that they have restructured and that this will allow them to deliver better services blah blah blah. I hope so. I have all the CIW Master certs except Enterprise Developer. I make my living, such as it is these days, as a CIW Certified Instructor. As a contractor, it is very dead out there right now (so I am using the time to study Perl and Java). Who's fault is that? Welcome to the business cycle and the dot bomb. I can't blame Prosoft for it all. They could improve their courseware material, though (but so could others). I learned a lot in the process, and this has made me a MUCH better web designer. The classes and exams are only the beginning. They may seem superficial, but as I like to say, the primary responsibility for learning lies with the student; if you are serious, it is YOUR job to dig deeper into the areas that CIW covers and become an expert. CIW is also a very new program. How popular was MCSE after 1 or 2 years? CIW, unlike MCSE, was unfortunate enough to be new at the same time the bottom fell out of IT. This story isn't over yet. |
| 1/27/03: RJE from Ohio says: |
BRAVO! to D from Redneck territory! I too am a CIW Certified Instructor. I'll argue anyone who claims the course does not prepare you for the exam. What these whiners want is to take a one week course and blast through the exam without knowing a damn thing. You have to study and practice to become good at what you do. Not only do I hold several of the CIW certs but I am A plus, MCSE, MCT, CCNA, (should I keep going?) Stop whining and start working for a cert that is very much worth keeping and working for! |
| 4/1/03: ricky from london says: |
HELP HELP HELP. What the hell is going on here. I am due to sign up for an Internet Profesional Training programe at EXP Solutions tomorow, which will consist of the CIW Master site designer, and site manager certs. I am a recent graduate in Music Technology and thought Web Design would be a good route to go down and another notch to my belt to make me more employable. This course is gunna cost me 6000 pounds and i aint doin it because i wanna be an instructor, i want to design web sites. Is the CIW series of certifications a waste of time and money and more importantly, is the certification provider gunna go bust??? Someone please help me [email protected] |
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