Key Takeaways
- • Etoos shut its public student Q&A board after star instructor Yi Do stopped teaching three weeks before the CSAT, and has not disclosed refund amounts or the criteria for calculating them.
- • As of end-2025, Etoos held 13.4 billion won in advance student payments across all courses, with 5.9 billion won set aside for expected refunds, according to its audit report.
- • Etoos Education's largest shareholder, EDU EDISON LTD. (59.44%), is ultimately controlled by Anchor Equity Partners Fund I, L.P., a Hong Kong-based PE fund that has yet to exit after 11 years.
- • Anchor PE refinanced 100 billion won in May 2025 on a 1.5-year maturity at roughly 7.3% senior and 10.8% mezzanine rates, after its acquisition debt neared default.
- • Etoos has a record of regulatory sanctions and governance issues, including a 2011 KFTC fine for withholding negative reviews and a 2023 KFTC sanction for misstated CSAT committee credentials.
Summary
Etoos has closed its student question-and-answer board after instructor Yi Do, who teaches Korean Geography and World Geography, informed the company on October 29 that deteriorating health made normal teaching difficult. The company said in a statement posted on the 9th, reported by the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, that the decision made final exam preparation courses and remaining new courses difficult to produce. Etoos said it would handle course-related inquiries through customer service and one-on-one channels. On refunds, the company said only that tuition for individual courses and textbook costs for unfinished courses would be handled "swiftly and rigorously." It did not disclose refund amounts, calculation criteria, or whether replacement lectures would be provided.
The financial exposure is material. According to last year's audit report for ETOOS Edu, the company held 13.4 billion won in advance customer payments across all courses and separately recorded 5.9 billion won in expected refunds. Revenue for the year was 156.2 billion won, down 5.2% from 164.8 billion won, and the company posted a 4.6 billion won net loss, its second consecutive annual loss. Borrowings from former CEO Kim Hyeong-jung stood at 2.8 billion won at a 4.6% annual rate, down from 5.8 billion won a year earlier. Students claim lectures, textbooks and question responses were delayed from August. Yi Do attended a press conference for a variety show on the 5th and opened a personal YouTube channel on the 7th, and apologized in a handwritten post on the 10th, saying "It was my fault, for which there is no excuse." The company's statement did not address when it first learned of the earlier delays.
The episode follows prior scrutiny of Etoos's handling of student feedback and marketing. The Korea Fair Trade Commission fined Etoos 6 million won in 2011 for selectively withholding unfavorable student reviews, and sanctioned it in December 2023 for advertising a textbook author as a CSAT question-setting committee member seven times rather than three. In October 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of former CEO Kim Hyeong-jung over a viral marketing campaign that posted fake student comments between 2012 and 2016; he received a suspended sentence of one year and six months.
Ownership is held through EDU EDISON LTD., a Malta-registered company with a 59.44% stake, whose ultimate parent, according to Legal Entity Identifier records, is Anchor Equity Partners Fund I, L.P. Anchor PE, per reports by The Korea Economic Daily and Chosun Biz, invested 35 billion won in bonds with warrants in 2015 and bought a 29.48% stake for 65 billion won in 2019. Acquisition financing of between 90 and 100 billion won approached default ahead of its April 2025 maturity. Anchor PE borrowed 100 billion won in May 2025 to refinance, on a term of one year and six months at roughly 7.3% senior and 10.8% mezzanine rates. Efforts to sell the business since 2022 have not produced a deal, and the board decided last year to sell its elementary education unit, Danbi Education, separately. The CSAT is scheduled for November 19, and Etoos has not disclosed whether Yi Do's contract has been terminated.
The financial exposure is material. According to last year's audit report for ETOOS Edu, the company held 13.4 billion won in advance customer payments across all courses and separately recorded 5.9 billion won in expected refunds. Revenue for the year was 156.2 billion won, down 5.2% from 164.8 billion won, and the company posted a 4.6 billion won net loss, its second consecutive annual loss. Borrowings from former CEO Kim Hyeong-jung stood at 2.8 billion won at a 4.6% annual rate, down from 5.8 billion won a year earlier. Students claim lectures, textbooks and question responses were delayed from August. Yi Do attended a press conference for a variety show on the 5th and opened a personal YouTube channel on the 7th, and apologized in a handwritten post on the 10th, saying "It was my fault, for which there is no excuse." The company's statement did not address when it first learned of the earlier delays.
The episode follows prior scrutiny of Etoos's handling of student feedback and marketing. The Korea Fair Trade Commission fined Etoos 6 million won in 2011 for selectively withholding unfavorable student reviews, and sanctioned it in December 2023 for advertising a textbook author as a CSAT question-setting committee member seven times rather than three. In October 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of former CEO Kim Hyeong-jung over a viral marketing campaign that posted fake student comments between 2012 and 2016; he received a suspended sentence of one year and six months.
Ownership is held through EDU EDISON LTD., a Malta-registered company with a 59.44% stake, whose ultimate parent, according to Legal Entity Identifier records, is Anchor Equity Partners Fund I, L.P. Anchor PE, per reports by The Korea Economic Daily and Chosun Biz, invested 35 billion won in bonds with warrants in 2015 and bought a 29.48% stake for 65 billion won in 2019. Acquisition financing of between 90 and 100 billion won approached default ahead of its April 2025 maturity. Anchor PE borrowed 100 billion won in May 2025 to refinance, on a term of one year and six months at roughly 7.3% senior and 10.8% mezzanine rates. Efforts to sell the business since 2022 have not produced a deal, and the board decided last year to sell its elementary education unit, Danbi Education, separately. The CSAT is scheduled for November 19, and Etoos has not disclosed whether Yi Do's contract has been terminated.
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