Capella Education Company

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Entrance to Capella Education Corporation headquarters at 225 South Sixth in Minneapolis

Capella Education Company (NASDAQ: CPLA) is an education services holding company which owns for-profit, online Capella University and other assets.

What is now the Capella Education Company was founded in 1991 by Stephen Shank, former CEO of Tonka Corporation. In 1993, it opened The Graduate School of America (TGSA). In 1999, the company and university were renamed to their current, Capella Education Company and University. In 2003, the Company was named to Inc. magazine's Inc. 500 Hall of Fame after being named one of America's 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies for the fifth year in a row. Prior to going public the company raised more than $67 million from private investors, including Maveron.

The company announced its intentions to go public with an initial public offering in April 2005. It reported 2005 earnings of $10.2 million on sales of nearly $150 million. On November 9, 2006, it completed a public offering that raised $80 million.

In March 2008, Capella Education Co., longtime occupant the 225 South Sixth skycraper in downtown Minneapolis, signed a new lease that will change the name of the building to Capella Tower. The expanded facility will house all of the company's 1,150 downtown Minneapolis employees Capella; as the online school does not have classrooms, the space houses administrative staff and faculty. The name change is scheduled to take place on March 2009.^[1]