Chalk (02469) and Huatu Strategy join forces to collaborate or reshape the valuation logic of vocational education tracks

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on December 14, Chalk (02469), two leading companies in the field of vocational education, and Huatushanding (300492.SZ) (hereinafter referred to as “Huatu”) jointly announced that they had reached an in-depth strategic cooperation to promote resource integration in terms of depth of service, cost structure and business development, and jointly draw up a new blueprint for the high-quality development of vocational education.

Chalk and Huatu jointly announced that in addition to collaborative development in the business field, the two sides will also cooperate at the equity level, including but not limited to measures such as strategic investment or holding, mutual shareholding, and joint establishment of joint ventures. At the same time, the two sides will assign directors to each other to build a normalized communication bridge.

This cooperation marks a landmark turning point for the vocational education industry. It will fundamentally change the “three-legged” market pattern formed over a long period of time by chalk, Huatushan, and CCP education, reshape the competitive trend of the industry, and push vocational education into a new stage of development centered on comprehensive solutions and full-chain services.

AI deepens channel integration, leading players start collaborative gain

The key to this cooperation is the complementarity of the two in terms of core strengths. As we all know, Chalk started as an online business and launched many phenomenal popular products on the user side, such as chalk question banks, chalk mock tests, and intelligent correction, and has over 70 million registered users. Huatu, on the other hand, has been deeply involved offline for a long time and has a network of more than 1,000 offline delivery bases. The breadth and depth of its channels constitute a significant scale advantage.

In recent years, chalk's business focus has focused on AI applications. With self-developed AI models, it has built technical product service barriers from accurate intelligent diagnosis to dynamic learning planning. A variety of intelligent teaching products were launched during the year, including AI question brushing system classes, AI reviews for private enterprise interviews, and boutique employment classes, to continue expanding business boundaries.

The development of the two also coincides in the field of AI applications. Both chalk and Huatu have product layouts around key teaching processes such as testing, presentation, and interviews. In the future, the two sides will jointly promote the deep integration of AI technology and teaching products, further optimize operational efficiency, and achieve collaborative evolution of teaching concepts and product forms.

It is worth mentioning that improving the efficiency of employment transformation and the vocational ability and quality of young people will become a strategic fulcrum for cooperation between the two sides. The two sides will strengthen the deep integration of channels and technical services, build a service ecosystem covering the entire learning cycle of students, collaborate to create employment channels from skill development to job matching, focus on optimizing resource allocation efficiency, and jointly expand and improve the employment service market.

Wei Liang, CEO of Chalk, said that for Chalk, this cooperation is a strategic choice based on deep industry insight and long-term value. Recently, Chalk launched a boutique employment class product, which is committed to creating a complete support system for job seekers from career selection to employment. This cooperation essentially optimizes resource allocation efficiency between talent training and market demand through AI applications, provides users with different backgrounds with a full chain of support covering career planning, skill improvement, and job search services, and provides diversified high-quality vocational education services.

The combination of the two companies has spawned new changes in the industry, and market concentration may increase at an accelerated pace

This round of cooperation is expected to have a profound impact on the current pattern of vocational education tracks and accelerate the evolution of the market from being strong and dominant. Market analysts pointed out that the vocational education market is developing in the direction of refined operation and full-chain services. The core is to continuously expand the life cycle value of users and elevate the competitive dimension from a single teaching product to overall empowerment for students' long-term career development.

In this context, achieving resource integration and improving operational efficiency through strategic cooperation has become a rational choice for industry development. Cooperation between the two can be seen as a positive response to the direction of industry evolution. It is worth noting that at present, there are still a large number of regional, single-category small and medium-sized institutions with scattered service capabilities and resources in the vocational education market. Through the deep integration of technical systems and physical channels, the two leading enterprise alliances will build higher competitive barriers in terms of large-scale operation, product standardization, and brand credibility.

Furthermore, as two major industry leaders, Chalk Pen and Huatu clearly advocated in the cooperation agreement to establish a healthy and transparent industry environment, guarantee users' reasonable refund rights, establish clear and fair service agreements and exit mechanisms; resolutely resist any form of false and exaggerated publicity to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of course results and employment data disclosure; and jointly resist vicious price competition at the expense of teaching quality and service to guide industry competition back to teaching effectiveness, employment quality and user experience itself, and optimize the overall development environment of the industry.

In the long run, the strengthening of the leading effects of the vocational education market will drive the industry towards more specialization and standardization. This round of cooperation may become a key turning point in driving the entire vocational education circuit from fragmentation to integration. The market share and dominant positions of leading companies are expected to continue to be consolidated. The efficiency improvements, model upgrades and industry pattern optimization brought about by the cooperation are expected to work together to have a significant positive impact on the capital market value of the two companies.