Description of Business

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Description of Business

Description of Business

Laureate Education, Inc. and subsidiaries (hereinafter Laureate, we, us, our, or the Company) provide higher education programs and services to students through an international network of licensed universities and higher education institutions (institutions). Laureate's programs are provided through institutions that are campus-based and internet-based, or through electronically distributed educational programs (online). On October 1, 2015, we redomiciled in Delaware as a public benefit corporation as a demonstration of our long-term commitment to our mission to benefit our students and society.

The Company's shares are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ‘‘LAUR’’. In its initial public offering (IPO) on February 6, 2017, the Company sold 35,000 shares of its Class A common stock in the IPO at a price of $14.00 per share, resulting in net proceeds to the Company during the first quarter of 2017, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by us, of $456,888.

As previously disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, (the 2017 Form 10-K) effective August 1, 2017, we changed our operating segments in order to realign our segments according to how our chief operating decision maker allocates resources and assesses performance. The segment changes resulted in Laureate increasing its number of operating segments from three to six, and is consistent with our goal of flattening our organizational structure to improve decision speed and operating effectiveness. As required, the segment information presented for comparative purposes for the three months ended March 31, 2017 has been revised to reflect this change.

The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In our opinion, these financial statements include all adjustments considered necessary to present a fair statement of our consolidated results of operations, financial position and cash flows. Operating results for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year. These unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with Laureate's audited Consolidated Financial Statements included in our 2017 Form 10-K.