Is Anthology still a company?

Not as a unified entity. Anthology filed Chapter 11 on September 29, 2025 and its plan became effective February 27, 2026, splitting it into three pieces: the LMS business re-emerged debt-free as Blackboard Inc, while SIS/ERP went to Ellucian and student-success tools went to Encoura.

Who owns Blackboard now that Anthology went bankrupt?

As of February 27, 2026, the reorganized Blackboard Inc is owned by a group led by Oaktree Capital Management and Nexus Capital Management, which put in roughly 50 to 70 million dollars of new preferred equity and eliminated about 1.6 billion dollars of Anthology's funded debt.

Did Anthology go bankrupt?

Yes. Anthology filed Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Texas on September 29, 2025, after skipping interest payments in December 2024 and March 2025 and drawing down its full 100 million dollar revolver. It reported 1 to 10 billion dollars in both assets and liabilities.

Is Blackboard losing market share to Canvas?

Yes. Per Phil Hill's Edutechnica LMS tracker for year-end 2024, Canvas holds roughly 41 to 50 percent of North American higher-ed enrollment share, more than the next three competitors combined, while Blackboard sits at about 12 percent enrollment share as the number 3 player.

Could AI replace Blackboard's LMS features?

Not directly; a June 19, 2026 third-party market analysis found LMS AI is 'a feature race, not a product differentiator' across Canvas, D2L, Moodle and Blackboard, since Blackboard's AVA assistant and AI Playground are built on Azure OpenAI and AWS models like everyone else's.

What happened to Anthology's revenue before the bankruptcy?

Anthology's revenue fell from roughly 530 million dollars in FY2023 to about 450 million dollars in FY2025, an 80 million dollar (15 percent) two-year decline, while adjusted EBITDA collapsed from 33 million to just 4 million dollars over the same period.

Education companies · subsidiary of Oaktree Capital Management / Nexus Capital Management (co-owners of surviving Blackboard Inc. post-restructuring; Ellucian and Encoura separately own former Anthology business lines) · United States

Anthology

anthology.com ↗

Higher-ed learning management software, now the debt-free Blackboard Inc. after Anthology's 2025 bankruptcy.

Protection under test

Assessed 22 July 2026 · Evidence as of 22 July 2026

Something worth protecting exists and is being tested right now.

On the recordSince 22 July 2026 · Checkable from June 30, 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: AVA license cliff, where Blackboard tests whether schools pay for AI features previously bundled free

The call

Blackboard exits bankruptcy with clean books but sits third in a market Canvas dominates and D2L is gaining, with AI features doing nothing to change that order.

Blackboard is software that colleges and universities use to manage courses, grades, and student learning online. The company is hard to replace because schools already use it and switching costs money and time, but that protection is leaking: the company lost customers to rivals Canvas and D2L even before bankruptcy, and Canvas now controls roughly half the market while Blackboard fell to third place. The one thing that could change the picture is whether the company's new AI course-building tools actually lock in customers or whether its recent bankruptcy recovery fails to stick, which will become clear over the rest of 2026 when watchdog Phil Hill publishes his next market report.

Why

AI pressure: Generic AI course-authoring add-ons (Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock) shipped by every LMS vendor including Blackboard's own AVA. AI features are identical wrappers across Canvas, D2L, and Blackboard, so AI adds cost without giving Blackboard anything to sell that rivals lack. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.

Bigger players: Canvas (Instructure, KKR-backed). Canvas holds 41 to 50 percent of North American enrollment, more than the next three vendors combined, and keeps winning migrations. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. Deep integrations with campus SIS, gradebooks, and course content slow migrations even when schools are unhappy with price or support.

What would change this call

Phil Hill's Edutechnica LMS tracker (Spring 2027) shows Blackboard enrollment-share change. Reveals whether customer losses to Canvas and D2L stopped or continued post-bankruptcy.
Customer response to AVA AI license unbundling after June 30, 2026 cliff. Shows whether institutions accept paid AI pricing or repeat prior backlash against hikes.
Any published win-back deals moving Canvas customers to Blackboard after Canvas's 2026 breach. Would show whether the ransomware incident actually shifted institutions away from Canvas.

Key numbers

Revenue fell 15% from $530M to $450M in two years (2025-06-30)
Adjusted EBITDA dropped 88%, from $33M to $4M (2025-06-30)
Eliminated $1.6B in debt during Chapter 11 (2026-02-27)

Named risks

Post-bankruptcy turnaround unproven; only emerged debt-free 2026-02-27 with no track record yet. Severity: high
Continued enrollment-share erosion to Canvas and D2L despite restructuring. Severity: high
AVA AI license cliff on 2026-06-30 could trigger customer pushback like prior price-hike backlash. Severity: medium
Unscheduled CEO transition from Bruce Dahlgren to Dr. Matthew Pittinsky creates strategic uncertainty. Severity: medium
Preserved litigation over lenders allegedly failing to honor ~$18.5 million revolver funding. Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Canvas (Instructure)	losing to	Canvas holds 41-50% enrollment share, more than the next three rivals combined, as of 2025-02
D2L (Brightspace)	losing to	D2L overtook Anthology/Blackboard for #2 enrollment position in 2024 via SUNY/CUNY migrations
Ellucian	contesting	Ellucian acquired Anthology's SIS/ERP business in the 2025-11-24 asset sale, becoming an adjacent incumbent
Instructure (Canvas)	contesting	Canvas's 2026 ShinyHunters ransomware breach (275M+ records) offers a possible win-back opening for Blackboard

Questions people ask

Is Anthology still a company?: Not as a unified entity. Anthology filed Chapter 11 on September 29, 2025 and its plan became effective February 27, 2026, splitting it into three pieces: the LMS business re-emerged debt-free as Blackboard Inc, while SIS/ERP went to Ellucian and student-success tools went to Encoura.
Who owns Blackboard now that Anthology went bankrupt?: As of February 27, 2026, the reorganized Blackboard Inc is owned by a group led by Oaktree Capital Management and Nexus Capital Management, which put in roughly 50 to 70 million dollars of new preferred equity and eliminated about 1.6 billion dollars of Anthology's funded debt.
Did Anthology go bankrupt?: Yes. Anthology filed Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Texas on September 29, 2025, after skipping interest payments in December 2024 and March 2025 and drawing down its full 100 million dollar revolver. It reported 1 to 10 billion dollars in both assets and liabilities.
Is Blackboard losing market share to Canvas?: Yes. Per Phil Hill's Edutechnica LMS tracker for year-end 2024, Canvas holds roughly 41 to 50 percent of North American higher-ed enrollment share, more than the next three competitors combined, while Blackboard sits at about 12 percent enrollment share as the number 3 player.
Could AI replace Blackboard's LMS features?: Not directly; a June 19, 2026 third-party market analysis found LMS AI is 'a feature race, not a product differentiator' across Canvas, D2L, Moodle and Blackboard, since Blackboard's AVA assistant and AI Playground are built on Azure OpenAI and AWS models like everyone else's.
What happened to Anthology's revenue before the bankruptcy?: Anthology's revenue fell from roughly 530 million dollars in FY2023 to about 450 million dollars in FY2025, an 80 million dollar (15 percent) two-year decline, while adjusted EBITDA collapsed from 33 million to just 4 million dollars over the same period.

Timeline

2026-07-15Blackboard holds first post-restructuring user conference, 'Building Blackboard Together,' in Dallas
2026-06-30Free bundled access to AVA AI assistant expires; separate AVA license required thereafter
2026-03-23Blackboard March 2026 release notes ship new AI features including AI-generated Knowledge Checks
2026-02-27Bankruptcy plan effective; LMS business re-emerges debt-free as Blackboard Inc under Oaktree/Nexus
2025-11-24Court approves sale of SIS/ERP business to Ellucian and student-success tools to Encoura
2025-09-29Anthology files Chapter 11 in Southern District of Texas
2025-03-31Anthology skips interest payments, draws down full 100 million dollar revolver
2024-12-31Instructure (Canvas) acquired by KKR and Dragoneer for 4.8 billion dollars
2021-10-25Anthology completes ~1.9 billion dollar merger with Blackboard Inc
2020-07-07Anthology founded by Veritas Capital and Leeds Equity Partners from three ed-tech firms

Revision history

22 July 2026

First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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