Is Manhattan Prep still an independent company or part of Kaplan?

Manhattan Prep was acquired by Kaplan, Inc. in December 2009 and by mid-2025 its GMAT course was formally merged with Kaplan's into 'Manhattan Prep Powered by Kaplan,' signaling deepening absorption rather than independence.

Who owns Manhattan Prep?

Manhattan Prep is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kaplan, Inc., which itself is wholly owned by Graham Holdings Company (formerly The Washington Post Company) since 1984. Manhattan Prep has no independent funding or ticker.

Is Manhattan Prep's LSAT prep still available under its own brand?

No. As of December 2025, standalone LSAT tutoring under the Manhattan Prep brand was discontinued and rerouted to Kaplan Test Prep, following the earlier 2025 merger of Manhattan Prep's GMAT line into Kaplan's.

How many people work at Manhattan Prep?

Estimates vary widely by data vendor and year: ZoomInfo cited 96 employees (2024-06-05) and 84 employees (2024-05-07), while PitchBook cited 60 employees as of 2019, all self-reported, non-filing estimates.

Who is Manhattan Prep's biggest competitor?

Its most direct rival is arguably its own parent Kaplan Test Prep, which absorbed Manhattan Prep's GMAT line by mid-2025; other cited competitors include Princeton Review, Magoosh, and PowerScore for LSAT.

Is Manhattan Prep profitable?

As a private Kaplan subsidiary, Manhattan Prep does not report standalone financials. Third-party estimates put its revenue at roughly $8.2M (2022, Growjo) to $13.2M (2024, Datanyze), both unverified vendor estimates.

Education companies · subsidiary of Kaplan, Inc. (subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company) · United States

Manhattan Prep

manhattanprep.com ↗

Kaplan-owned test prep brand teaching GMAT, GRE, and LSAT courses.

Protection under test

Assessed 24 July 2026 · Evidence as of 24 July 2026

Something worth protecting exists and is being tested right now.

On the recordSince 24 July 2026 · Checkable from 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Possible GRE course consolidation into Kaplan brand, following the GMAT and LSAT pattern

The call

Manhattan Prep sits between an AI tutoring wave that undercuts its price and a parent company steadily absorbing its product lines into its own name.

Manhattan Prep teaches students for standardized tests like the GMAT and LSAT through online lessons, practice problems, and personalized study plans. It is getting harder to replace because Kaplan owns it and can use its brand and teachers, but this advantage is fading fast: AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude already score as high as Manhattan Prep's best students do, and cheaper AI tutoring services are starting to replace $2,000 courses with $20-per-month subscriptions. The question is whether Kaplan will speed up combining Manhattan Prep into its own brand name, and whether students will switch to AI tutors before the old company finishes disappearing into its parent.

Why

Bigger players: Kaplan, Inc. (parent company). Kaplan folded Manhattan Prep's GMAT line into its own brand in 2025 and discontinued standalone LSAT tutoring. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. Brand recognition and instructor-led courses still draw students who want structured, human-guided prep over generic AI tools.

What would change this call

Manhattan Prep GRE brand folds into Kaplan within 12 months, following GMAT and LSAT. Would confirm the parent is dissolving Manhattan Prep as a distinct brand.
Graham Holdings quarterly filings on Kaplan's Supplemental Education segment. Would show whether this unit still gets separate strategic weight or is treated as immaterial.

Key numbers

~$13.2M revenue, ~84 employees (2024-05-07)
Acquired by Kaplan, Inc. in December 2009 (2009-12-01)
GMAT courses merged into Kaplan brand by mid-2025 (2025-07-02)

Named risks

Continued brand absorption into Kaplan following GMAT (2025) and LSAT (2025) precedent, possibly next for GRE. Severity: high
Frontier LLMs and AI tutoring apps replicating core lesson/drilling/explanation workflow at far lower price. Severity: high
Recurring GMAT/GRE/LSAT format changes (Focus Edition 2023, GRE shortening 2023) forcing repeated curriculum rewrites. Severity: medium
No standalone financial reporting means true revenue/headcount trend is unverifiable from public sources. Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Kaplan, Inc. (parent)	losing to	GMAT course merged into 'Manhattan Prep Powered by Kaplan' by mid-2025; LSAT tutoring folded into Kaplan by Dec 2025
Princeton Review	contesting	Regularly benchmarked head-to-head in GMAT/LSAT comparison content as of 2026
Magoosh	losing to	Positioned by reviewers as the low-cost self-study leader across GMAT/GRE, undercutting Manhattan Prep's $1,400-$2,500 course pricing
AI test-prep tools (Jenova and similar)	losing to	Marketing $20/month AI tutoring directly against traditional prep firms as of 2026-05
PowerScore	contesting	Named top LSAT-prep competitor by ZoomInfo after Manhattan Prep exited standalone LSAT tutoring

Questions people ask

Is Manhattan Prep still an independent company or part of Kaplan?: Manhattan Prep was acquired by Kaplan, Inc. in December 2009 and by mid-2025 its GMAT course was formally merged with Kaplan's into 'Manhattan Prep Powered by Kaplan,' signaling deepening absorption rather than independence.
Who owns Manhattan Prep?: Manhattan Prep is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kaplan, Inc., which itself is wholly owned by Graham Holdings Company (formerly The Washington Post Company) since 1984. Manhattan Prep has no independent funding or ticker.
Is Manhattan Prep's LSAT prep still available under its own brand?: No. As of December 2025, standalone LSAT tutoring under the Manhattan Prep brand was discontinued and rerouted to Kaplan Test Prep, following the earlier 2025 merger of Manhattan Prep's GMAT line into Kaplan's.
How many people work at Manhattan Prep?: Estimates vary widely by data vendor and year: ZoomInfo cited 96 employees (2024-06-05) and 84 employees (2024-05-07), while PitchBook cited 60 employees as of 2019, all self-reported, non-filing estimates.
Who is Manhattan Prep's biggest competitor?: Its most direct rival is arguably its own parent Kaplan Test Prep, which absorbed Manhattan Prep's GMAT line by mid-2025; other cited competitors include Princeton Review, Magoosh, and PowerScore for LSAT.
Is Manhattan Prep profitable?: As a private Kaplan subsidiary, Manhattan Prep does not report standalone financials. Third-party estimates put its revenue at roughly $8.2M (2022, Growjo) to $13.2M (2024, Datanyze), both unverified vendor estimates.

Timeline

2025-fallCurriculum overhaul: shorter lessons, AI-adjusting calendar, AI Explainer tutor launched
2025-12Standalone LSAT tutoring under Manhattan Prep brand discontinued, rerouted to Kaplan Test Prep
2025-07Manhattan Prep and Kaplan GMAT courses merged into 'Manhattan Prep Powered by Kaplan'
2024-01GMAC introduced proctored Business Writing Assessment to counter AI-assisted writing
2023-11GMAT updated to Focus Edition: three 45-min sections, 205-805 scale, no essay
2023-09GRE shortened to under two hours
2009-12Manhattan Prep acquired by Kaplan, Inc.
2000-01Manhattan Prep founded in New York City by Zeke Vanderhoek

Revision history

24 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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