Gakken Holdings vs Kumon
Gakken Holdings sits in the stronger spot because its elderly-care and publishing businesses give it a buffer that Kumon, a pure tutoring franchise already losing students to free AI tutors, does not have.
Gakken Holdings
Japanese publisher running cram schools, education franchises, and elder-care residences
Kumon
Global franchise network teaching math and reading through daily worksheet drills
Dimension by dimension
| Dimension | Gakken Holdings | Kumon |
|---|---|---|
| Staying power of the core product | Gakken spreads revenue across textbooks, tutoring schools, and elderly care, so a decline in one line does not sink the group. | Kumon's entire model rests on paper worksheet drills done in person, with no other major business line to fall back on. |
| Exposure to AI | Gakken's tutoring and publishing arms face AI competition, but its elderly-care unit is largely untouched by AI substitution. | Kumon has documented proof of AI pressure: US enrollment dropped from about 410,000 to 290,000 between 2018 and 2024 as families moved to free AI tutoring apps. |
| How easily a giant could copy them | Gakken's mix of physical schools, elder-care licensing, and textbook relationships is hard for an outside tech firm to replicate quickly. | Kumon's franchise network and instructor relationships are also difficult to copy wholesale, even though the worksheet content itself is simple. |
| Pressure from rivals | Gakken faces competition from Benesse and Kumon in tutoring plus a wave of AI learning apps, spreading pressure across multiple rivals rather than one direct threat. | Kumon faces the most direct pressure of the two, having already lost enrollment in its largest overseas market as families switched to free AI tutoring apps. |
| Financial footing | Gakken's FY2025 net profit jumped 58.3% year over year to 3.58bn yen, but the following quarter saw profit fall 50.4% year over year, showing volatility. | Kumon posted a steadier 16,717 million yen in ordinary income on 94,039 million yen in sales, a stronger and more consistent margin than Gakken's recent numbers. |
| Scale and reach | Gakken's operations are concentrated mainly in Japan across its three business segments. | Kumon serves 3.57 million students worldwide, giving it a much larger global footprint despite regional enrollment losses. |
Questions people ask
- Is Kumon losing students to AI tutors?
- Yes, Kumon's own numbers show US enrollment falling from about 410,000 to 290,000 between 2018 and 2024, a period that overlaps with the rise of free AI tutoring tools like Khanmigo. Gakken does not report a similarly specific enrollment drop tied to AI, partly because tutoring is only one of its three business lines.
- Gakken Holdings vs Kumon which has steadier finances?
- Kumon's ordinary income of 16,717 million yen on sales of 94,039 million yen looks steadier than Gakken's, whose net profit swung from a 58.3% jump one year to a 50.4% drop the very next quarter. Kumon's numbers suggest a more predictable earnings pattern even with its enrollment problems.
- Can a big tech company copy Kumon or Gakken's business?
- Both companies are marked as blocked from easy copying by giants. Kumon's advantage comes from its franchise network of local instructors, while Gakken's comes from its mix of publishing relationships, school operations, and elderly-care licensing that a single tech company could not assemble quickly.
- Which company is more exposed to AI, Gakken or Kumon?
- Kumon is more exposed because its entire business is tutoring, which is the segment most directly challenged by AI apps. Gakken faces the same tutoring and publishing pressure but has its elderly-care business as a separate source of revenue that AI does not threaten in the same way.
- Does Gakken Holdings do more than education?
- Yes, Gakken runs textbook publishing, tutoring schools, and an elderly-care business, while Kumon focuses entirely on its worksheet-based tutoring franchise. This spread is a key difference between the two companies when it comes to handling pressure in any single segment.
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