Chegg

 Chegg: When a Subscription Moat Met Free AI

Chegg was a US-based online education company that built its business around paid academic support — textbook rentals, homework help, step-by-step solutions, and tutoring for university students. Founded in 2005 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2013, Chegg became a staple of the US student ecosystem during the 2010s.

At its peak in 2021, Chegg was valued at over $14 billion, powered by subscription growth, pandemic-era remote learning, and the belief that education support was a durable, high-margin recurring revenue business. Investors saw a classic SaaS-style model: sticky users, predictable cash flow, and pricing power.

They were wrong.

Why the Money Was Lost

Chegg didn’t fail slowly — it was disrupted almost overnight.

Generative AI made its core product obsolete. Tools like ChatGPT offered instant, free explanations across almost every subject Chegg monetised.

The value proposition collapsed. Why pay monthly for answers when AI could explain concepts conversationally, repeatedly, and at zero cost?

Students churned fast. Chegg’s subscribers were young, price-sensitive, and highly adaptive. Loyalty evaporated.

Brand and content moats proved illusory. Years of curated solutions were no defence against probabilistic, on-demand AI reasoning.

Pricing power vanished. Chegg couldn’t raise prices, and discounts only accelerated margin erosion.

Growth assumptions broke instantly. What looked like a linear decline was actually a structural demand cliff.

Crucially, this was not a recession story, nor a cost-inflation story. It was technological substitution — the most brutal kind. The product didn’t get worse; it simply became unnecessary.

The Market Reaction

From its 2021 highs, Chegg’s share price fell by over 95%, wiping out billions in market value. Revenues stagnated, guidance was repeatedly cut, and the company was forced into layoffs, restructuring, and strategic retreats. The stock chart didn’t show panic — it showed a long, grinding realisation that the business model no longer had a future moat.

Chegg still exists, but as a shadow of its former self — a reminder that even profitable, subscription-based platforms can be rendered fragile when the underlying problem they solve disappears.

The Lesson

Chegg wasn’t destroyed by poor management, excessive debt, or macroeconomic weakness. It was destroyed by abundance.

When answers became free, instant, and conversational, the idea of paying for them collapsed. In that moment, Chegg joined a growing list of companies that didn’t just lose customers — they lost relevance.

This wasn’t a bad quarter.

It was the end of an era.

The Revel Collective, in administration

Revolution Bars → The Revel Collective: From AIM Darling to Administration

The Revel Collective, formerly known as Revolution Bars Group, was a UK-based operator of late-night bars and casual dining venues, best known for the Revolution and Revolución de Cuba brands. Founded in the late 1990s and floated on London’s AIM market in 2016, the group expanded to around 65–70 sites nationwide at its peak, selling a scalable, cocktail-led nightlife concept to public-market investors.

In October 2024, the company rebranded to The Revel Collective plc, signalling a strategic reset. But the problems were not cosmetic — they were structural.

Why the Money Was Lost

The decline was driven by a slow but relentless collapse in unit economics:

People simply go out less. Post-Covid habits shifted permanently toward home-based socialising, streaming, and cheaper experiences. Late-night venues never recovered mid-week footfall.

Cost-of-living pressure squeezed discretionary spending. Cocktails became an occasional luxury, not a routine purchase.

Rents and business rates remained fixed while revenues became volatile — a fatal mismatch in hospitality.

Energy costs surged, hitting bars disproportionately due to refrigeration, lighting, and extended opening hours.

Labour costs rose sharply, both from wage inflation and staff shortages.

Debt servicing became punitive as interest rates normalised, removing the financial oxygen that had sustained the model.

What investors slowly realised was that this was not a cyclical dip but a permanent reset in consumer behaviour. A business designed for high-volume, high-frequency nightlife was now operating in a lower-traffic, lower-spend world — with no ability to shrink its fixed cost base fast enough.

By January 2026, after years of falling revenues, repeated refinancing, and shareholder dilution, the board filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators. Trading in the shares was suspended, effectively locking in a near-total destruction of shareholder value.

What began as a £200m-plus AIM growth story ended as another case study in how leverage, fixed costs, and changing habits can quietly turn a listed brand into a stranded asset — long before the doors finally close.

Versarien VRS - Administrators appointed

A Quick Background: What Was Versarien (VRS)?

For readers newer to small-cap markets, it’s worth setting out what Versarien was trying to do — because on paper, the idea wasn’t absurd.

Versarien positioned itself as an advanced materials company, focused primarily on graphene and related nanomaterials.

Graphene, for the uninitiated, is often described as a wonder material:

extremely strong

lightweight

conductive

with potential applications across construction, aerospace, sports equipment, batteries, coatings and composites

The promise was simple:

> take cutting-edge material science and turn it into commercially useful products.

What Did VRS Actually Do?

Versarien wasn’t a single-product company. It became more of a portfolio of technologies and subsidiaries, including:

Graphene-enhanced materials for construction and concrete

Additives and coatings designed to improve strength, durability, or performance

Licensing and IP-led strategies rather than mass manufacturing

A strong emphasis on collaboration with universities and research bodies

In other words, it sat in that familiar AIM category:

> high science, long timelines, commercialisation “just around the corner”

Why It Attracted Investors

VRS appealed to a particular type of investor:

Those excited by next-generation materials

Those willing to back long development cycles

Those attracted to the idea of owning part of a future industrial shiftThe story had all the right ingredients:

cutting-edge tech

Credible science

endorsements, trials, pilot projects

and regular newsflow that suggested progress

At various points, enthusiasm ran high — and the share price reflected that optimism.

Where Reality Set In

The difficulty, as is often the case with advanced materials companies, wasn’t science — it was commercial traction.

Turning laboratory success into:

repeat orders

scalable revenu

and sustainable cashflow

is brutally hard.

Costs remain constant.

Timelines slip.

Funding becomes more expensive.

And eventually, the market stops paying for potential and starts demanding proof.

A Familiar Small-Cap Arc

VRS now sits alongside many others in the small-cap history books:

ambitious technology

genuine effort

but an outcome that ultimately disappointed shareholders

That doesn’t mean the idea was stupid.

It means the path from innovation to profitability is narrower than most investors expect.

And unforgiving when capital markets turn.

 Buy PEP A coin 

, a Layer 1 friend of Doge and Litecoin

Dividend Yielders

 

Safestyle Double Glazing Windows - In Administration

 

https://news.sky.com/story/safestyle-around-680-workers-made-redundant-after-window-and-door-seller-falls-into-administration-12996605

 

Safestyle: Around 680 workers made redundant after window and door seller falls into administration

AMTD Digital - HKD

 

Terra Luna - Blockchain halted

 

Note from the editor - please also take a look at Bitconnect on the internet - example documentary here. People lost fortunes in that crypto debacle. Some say this story is very similar to that of what happened to Bitconnect.

$80+ per token, last traded price on coingecko.com before the blockchain was halted - 

$0.00001328

‘I lost my life savings’: Terra Luna cryptocurrency collapses 98% overnight

Users of popular crypto forum fear they will become homeless after wipeout

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/terra-luna-ust-crypto-price-crash-b2076655.html

---

Cat-Evening (reddit.com)

I lost over 450k usd, I cannot pay the bank. I will lose my home soon. 

No-Forever2056

Lost $15,000. I really believed in this project. So sad. 😓

Yup. Lost $15,000. I should’ve cashed put when it was $100 then I would have been at up $25,000. But I got greedy hoping to get more money so I can at least afford a downpayment for a house for my family.

I guess no house and savings then. 😓

Update: I already told my husband. He says he’s hoping it will recover. But if not, it is what it is. I’m just grateful I have a very understanding husband and adorable kids.

Hoping it will get better after this expensive lesson.

coolguy101624

Down $60k. 80% of my networth. I feel nothing.

aerosyne

50k gg

alessandro_oswald

50k gang here, 100% LUNA

aerosyne

Rip to us homie

Super_Samus_Aran

over the last 6 months? Nearly 200k

esrdin

Ditto

vonagon

Over $100k loss It hurts so bad Im done with crypto… Back to work Praying this somehow gets resolved

SnookShack

With just UST + LUNA - $270k in 2 days lol. Cut my losses when UST hit 0.80 but even then blegh.

thefakepaps  (GOOD NEWS)

I had some thousands on anchor. Withdrew all of it 2 weeks ago to buy furniture for my new apartment.

I was kissed by luck (and by my parents who forced to buy an apartment)

Thx Mom and Dad, love you

Clarneta

Initially invested 3k was profit in total 13k, all gone.

Edit: I’m 23 so this was a lot of money for me 😕

legendofnc

19 here, 15k$ liquidated instant, sucks man

StopCowsFromFighting

20k at ATH. Now left with 1k. It hurts a little for sure but my heart goes out to those who have lost everything.

Revircs

About 24k :,) was going to finaly be unstaked on Friday.

theshowerthought

about 40k

No-Forever2056

$16,000. Wish I could make it back

No-Forever2056

$15-$17k. Savings for a house downpayment

Iloveweed4201

97k

Doppelex

25k . I had 800k exposure, i just thought it’s not worth the stress and got out in time at first signs of depeg.

jkims15

$1.3M

snvll_st_claire

Im down 121.5k…

ArtichokeOk5022

231k. Can't afford my house or my car payments anymore. Took out a long of 100k for Luna too, bought at it'd absolute peak

CauliflowerOk3460

70K usd.

CantaloupePuzzled541

106k... about 95% of my deposit

McColls - administrator appointed

(From lse.co.uk)

drizzy90 

20k for me. Ouch

chadvines

just lost £19.5k on McColls ....crazy weekFri 19:08

wiped out all of my £17.5k profits on VAST

net result out £2k....easy come easy go

next week is another week!

TheNavigator

RE: Shareholder action groupMon 15:09

I had £114K invested .. would be very grateful to join an action group!

SkyMonkey

RE: Shareholder action groupMon 13:41

I agree. The hysteria is silly. There were warnings beforehand that the company was likely going into administration. I lost £400, partly because I got wrapped up in a conversation with someone that was taking up too much of my time and I missed the chance to sell. I was going to at midday.

Its a small loss, but a loss all the same. Have to take it on the chin...

Volatile Markets - $3bn Loss on Commodities

 Trafigura is said to be in talks with Blackstone for an up to $3-billion funding deal, after the trading group faced multibillion-dollar margin calls last week, according to Bloomberg. 

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Market-Is-Untradable-Oil-Traders-Grapple-With-Extreme-Volatility.html

Big Trader loss, exits bank

 

Morgan Stanley Trader Exits After Racking Up Millions in Losses

• Hamza El Hassani left bank after dividend trades went awry
• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has rocked financial markets

A Morgan Stanley trader is leaving the firm after racking up tens of millions of dollars in losses as a bout of market turmoil makes and breaks trading books across Wall Street.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-11/trading-losses-at-morgan-stanley-said-to-prompt-a-sudden-exit

Nickel Short Squeeze. $8 billion losses

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-nickel-giant-tsingshan-faces-8-billion-trading-loss-as-ukraine-war-upends-market-11646765353

Chinese Nickel Giant Tsingshan Faces $8 Billion Trading Loss as Ukraine War Upends Market

EVR - suspended. Not suspended in the first round of stocks affected by sanctions.

 

stewar0610 Mar '22 - 10:59 - 2859 of 2948  (From ADVFN)

Just tried to sell.

Message came back as "this stock has been suspended"

Racctastic (From Lse)

Posts: 19

Price: 82.52

RE: whyFri 14:37

My own, non expert understanding of this is that we're seeing some populist kneejerk politics driven by xenophobic hate. Right now Russia is the big bad, and by extension the government will go after anything that looks or smells Russian, to please what they perceive to be the majority of the population. The fact that Evraz makes steel and Chelsea play football no longer matters. I think the board saw this and saw that getting some Russian sounding names out of the way would look good, so that's what they've done. They can't do anything about RA but if they put in a bunch of new people, preferably with very British sounding names, and wearing Ukraine flag pin badges for good measure, it will take the eye of Sauron off Evraz, which is good for us all. I think we're seeing politics here, not business, and it annoys me, but that's my observation so far.

More Russian stocks suspended in London

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/03/russian-billionaires-lose-over-80-billion-in-wealth.html

Russian billionaires lose $80 billion in wealth

Russia’s top billionaires have lost more than $80 billion in wealth in recent weeks, with more to come as sanctions and seizures start to bite.

The economic turmoil surrounding President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has erased about a third of the wealth of Russia’s 20 richest billionaires in recent weeks, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/03/london-stock-exchange-suspends-trading-in-27-firms-with-strong-links-to-russia

London Stock Exchange suspends trading in 27 firms with strong links to Russia

Russian firms suspended from the LSE

EN+
Novolipetsk Steel
Gazprom
Gazprom Neft
Lukoil
Norilsk Nickel
Taftneft
Polyus
Severstal
Rosneft
Sberbank
VK
Ros Agro
Surgutneftegas
TCS Group
Rosseti
PhosAgro
RusHydro
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works
Novatek
Fix Price Group
Global Ports Investment
Globaltrans Investment
HMS Hydraulic Machines & Systems Group
Lenta International
Medical Group
X5 Retail
VTB

Russian, Ukrainin Stocks Listed In London

Evraz, Polymetal International, Jp Morgan Russian Securities, Petropavlovsk, Eurasia Mining, Ferrexpo, Enwell, 

 

McColls

 

loganair26 Feb '22 - 20:46 - 3612 of 3648

Just think, in October 2017, McColl's then chairman sold his circa 10% stake at all time high share price of 295p. I wonder if he knew back then that going forward McColl's were going to be in trouble?

SNG - "binary bets" come with risk

 

Northern6622 Feb '22 - 13:43 - 21958 of 21965 FROM ADVFN

0  1 0

How many on here are actually that badly hurt? It was a risk from day one. I lost 51k and am still holding. Anyone else like to share? Might make me feel better

Darktrace

 

fuji996 Dec '21 - 09:56 - 1753 of 1978 FROM ADVFN

0  3 0

This is the most illogical action I have seen from DARK. For a company that issued 699 million shares what a few million buy back will change to the dilution ? Instead of saving money and rather use it for R & D, they freeze it for no benefit whatsoever. It is like a drop in the ocean. This is the first time I am not happy with what they are doing. Now let's assume they start running out of money, are they going to ask the market for more money by issuing more shares ? If it is the case what's the point of buying back shares and wasting £30 million in the first place ? Really puzzled.

Best Of The Best

 

n0rbie20 Jan '22 - 11:08 - 2212 of 2214  FROM ADVFN

0  1 0

M*** S****** 9% stake bought off the directors @ £24/share for £20.5M. Now worth £3M. Ouch!

The Hut Group

 

bldm19 Jan '22 - 18:44 - 8823 of 8903 FROM ADVFN

0  0 0

Bookbroker I agree. I said the same last week. They need to start making money. They need this for 2 reasons. First, the environment in which we are and have been going into does not tolerate growth loss making companies. Second, at the moment, they are losing money per share and the market is not convinced they have IP that is hard to reproduce and hence valuable. There is nothing ingenious about ingenuity despite the name. So you have a retailer who is losing money. Great. I like their growth but revenue in retail is nothing. You can grow an unprofitable retail company very, very quickly. The trick is making profit. Let me give you an analogy. You can grow a financial company very quickly - just start lending money. In no time you'll have a massive book with low quality. Retail is similar - you can grow your revenue very easily, the trick is to grow profitably.

THG at the moment is a bit of a mess. They sell makeup, they sell nutrition, they claim they've got a tech company. At the same time, they've acquired all kinds of random companies along the way - for example they own preloved.co.uk - I'll be surprised if anyone here's heard of this one let alone used it. Understandably, they look like a ball of sellotape that has picked up all kinds of crap along the way and MM is now repackaging the crap and trying to sell it as something useful. Best way out of here in my opinion is for them to reorient the business for profit. Growth does not matter here. We need to see profits.

Deliveroo

 

imastu pidgitaswell20 Jan '22 - 11:08 - 572 of 574 From ADVFN

I'm spending around a minute a month on this, just checking the price on occasion - its business model is hopeless.

All it can do is build turnover ("Gross Profit" - arf...) and losses, as it is fundamentally flawed until it can charge a step-change increase for what it does - and I mean 3-4 times as much. And of course if it does that, the customers will melt away.

There is no 'volume-scaling' to this if every single transaction makes losses - there is no contribution to central overhead. More turnover = higher losses.

That is the outlook - there is nothing else to analyse.

Can you not see that?

Think about it - before you bandy about terms like 'clueless' and 'moronic'. And maybe look in the mirror.

ODX - "Could not sell one test in a 1 in 100 year Global Pandemic"

 

CaptainSwag From LSE.co.uk

Price: 13.875

RE: C***** K*** Wed 18:27

"Did he leave because there is no near term Good news coming ? Or has he left the Good news for incoming guy to start with ?"

I suspect c***** did not have a clue of what was going on in his factory let alone when he is going to get an approval. my suspicion is that the board looked at the SP and realised that it was either him or the whole bunch. C***** was called in , mumbled something unintelligible about not wanting to be a scapegoat and then said clear out your desk - BJ is waiting for you in the car park. last we will ever see or hear of him i hope.

---

ItIsWhatItIs99

Price: 13.875

RE: "There is NO short term need to raise capital"Wed 20:09

"Wrong, millions who want to travel especially on cruise ships"

Desperation. Name 1 cruise company ODX has partnered with..........

Forgive the pun, but ODX and all its clowns onboard have missed the boat on every single opportunity. Every major company who needs a LFT has a partner already in place with an approved product. ODX has 1 contract with DAM and that will go nowhere near to stopping ODX losing money hand over fist.

Evergiven now the Chinese EverGrande

Too big to turn. Too big to fail?

Remember those huge ghost cities that popped up all over China, even as far back as 2010? They were "investments" that never paid an income, and were people's pensions. People relied soled on capital growth.

Now the plates have stopped spinning. Evergrande has a bong payment due this Thursday. They is speculation that it will default.

The ticker symbol is 3333.HK. The Chinese are highly superstitious with numbers. 3 being "birth".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTVxMyGBW48

^ People have invested all their savings and borrowed also. Some have lost millions.

Rolls Royce - needs to raise £3bn to shore up finances

 SimonGn6 Oct '20 - 23:21 - 5551 of 5556

I've got some serious thinking to do in the next couple of weeks . . . my pension is in RR. not a company pension but a SIPP I have invested myself and is currently in RR.

Taking the options would cost me £18k and I would have to put that into my SIPP to take the options, it would then be locked in so borrowing the money is not an option and I don't have £18k let alone £18k to add to my SIPP.

Hindsight is easy . . . I am where I am sitting on a paper loss of £92k

I need to see if trading my Rights is possible from my SIPP, somehow I doubt it, if not I will need to get out and take my loss, at the most opportune time that I can find.

KOOV - Delisted

Kong1 Premium Member

Hi Pthc

Not sure Putney lad would want to liase with me considering I was critical of his thoughts, which proved right in the end but I still lost £13k


Not herd of forsure but the last time I logged on was a few months ago and they were going to the city police I think.


At the end of the day, it seems what Koovs did was legal, but whether they mislead any shareholders is something different.

I remember a RNS saying they had 3 months money left in November. I’d made my mind up I was going to sell just before Xmas if no news, but as we all know, Koovs did the dirty only a few weeks after their RNS.

To me that was wrong and I’ve lost my money because they did something different to their RNS, which is misleading to me !!