How Many Employees Does Masterclass Have?

Masterclass, which launched in 2015 as Yanka industries with HQ in San Francisco, is a streaming platform that allows anyone to learn from the world’s greatest teachers.F

Subscribers can access the world’s best teachers and browse programs from a variety of fields, such as arts and entertainment, business, design and style, sports and gaming, writing, and more, with an annual membership.

An average of 20 video lessons lasting 10 minutes each are included in each course.

With a stable internet connection, you can learn at your own pace, either in manageable chunks or all at once.

Over the last few years, Masterclass has expanded. With more and more people signing up for this education platform daily, it has really built a name for itself.

There are many people that work at Masterclass behind the scenes; nevertheless, most people only see the instructors.

If you’ve been wondering: “How many employees does Masterclass have?”, keep reading.

How Many Employees Does Masterclass Have?

Masterclass has 672 employees as of 2023.

Since its beginning in 2015, Masterclass has slowly been making a name for itself.

As the company has become more popular and needed to expand, more staff have been hired to help keep the website page running and produce more video lessons.

This meant more instructors have been taken on, and more staff have been needed to create their online classes and produce the lessons as well. 

At one point there were around 600 staff members working for the company. Yet at the time of writing, in 2022, CEO and founder David Rogier and co-founder Aaron Rasmussen explained that around 120 staff members were being laid off.

This was due to various reasons, including the decline in the economy and a worsening macroeconomic environment. Hence, this cut in team members was to ensure that the business stays sustainable and financially stable with its limited funding. 

As a result, there currently happen to be 480 staff members working for the company. Fast forward to 2023 and the employee count is up to 672 employees.

What Are The Different Departments At Masterclass?

In the past few years, Masterclass has won various awards.

This includes BuiltIn’s list of the Bay Area’s 2021 Best Places to Work, LinkedIn’s 2020 Top Startups List in the United States, and Forbes’ list of America’s Best Startup Employers.

As a result, Masterclass has been recognized as a great place to work.

On its website, Masterclass prides itself on having a diverse workplace environment.

They claim they have a mission to offer equal opportunities for all their workers no matter their sex, race, mental or physical disability, color, religion, or gender identity to name a few. 

There are various departments that you are seen as part of the Masterclass enterprise.

These include the following:

• Sales
• Finance 
• Product
• Customer Success
• Marketing

Within each of these departments, there are various roles that a number of people take on.

Also, as Masterclass has bases in various states in the United States, there are multiple opportunities for similar roles in the same departments but located in different areas of America.

Thus, you may be able to find a vacancy for a job in a state nearer to you.  

Working At Masterclass

You may wonder what it is like to work at Masterclass. Some current staff of Masterclass have come forward and said that the Masterclass environment is quite a positive place to work in.

All the staff is incredibly helpful, polite, and friendly, making it a nice place to work. 

In addition to that, some staff members have said that even though Masterclass is a nice place to work, the work pace is quite fast.

As a result, things need to get done quickly, as there is always something else that needs to be done or completed. Or plans can change without much notice.

The work you have to complete will vary depending on the department you are working in.

Therefore, some jobs are a lot more full-on than others.

However, the company and past workers have said that the company does try to offer multiple benefits for their staff to make them feel appreciated. 

How Many Instructors Does Masterclass Have?

There are around 450 people working for Masterclass, doing everything behind the scenes.

Yet, the faces of Masterclass are the high profile celebrities which also could be seen as part of the number of Masterclass employees.

With that being said, there are believed to be around 150 teachers in Masterclass.

Yet, you will find that some teachers offer more than one course.

For example, when it comes to the cooking courses, chef Gordon Ramsay who is a popular teacher on Masterclass, is known to already have a minimum of two classes that users can partake in. (See here ‘Are Masterclass Cooking Courses Worth It?‘)

Some of the most notable teachers that Masterclass has currently had and has at the moment include:

• Bill Clinton
• Lewis Hamilton
• Mariah Carey
• Gordon Ramsay
• Hans Zimmer
• Serena Williams
• Helen Mirren
• Timbaland

How Much Do Employees Get Paid At Masterclass?

From the consumer’s perspective, it operates similarly to Netflix, a streaming platform with a paid subscription plan. Consumers receive access to all online classes for $180 per year.

Then the amount Masterclass makes from subscriptions is used to pay all of the staff and the teachers. 

When it comes to Masterclass employees, their salary can differ depending on a number of factors.

Naturally, individual salaries will differ based on the position, department, and location as well as the unique abilities and qualifications of each employee.

Masterclass offers salaries ranging from $84,550 to $111,237, with an average income of $96,835.

An upfront fee and a percentage of sales are given to the teachers.

According to a source in 2017, Masterclass teachers receive a minimum of $100,000 per course in addition to a 30% revenue share. If you’re interested in teaching at Masterclass, read this article.

Bloomberg reported in 2018 that teachers receive a guaranteed payment alongside a possible cut of up to 25% of all sales for that course.

However, CEO David Rogier revealed that contracts differ from person to person in a later interview.

This means that the staff has a more clear wage, and it’s easy to know who is earning what.

When it comes to the high profile instructors, what they are earning can differ quite dramatically. Each contract is slightly different, depending on their fame and talent. 

In addition to this, David Rogier said if the instructor has more than one course on the Masterclass education platform, they would naturally be earning a lot more than someone who only has one course.

Yet, the cut of sales of each course could differ depending on how a particular course is. 

There are a lot of variables that have to be considered when it comes to an instructor’s wage. 

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of people working for Masterclass, however, this number has dropped recently due to 20% of the workforce being laid off.

However, with that being said, Masterclass is constantly adding new positions that need to be filled up.

Currently, there are around 450 employees working for Masterclass, with the addition of 150 teachers. 

Thus, the overall number of people working for Masterclass at the time of writing is around 600 people.

From reports, it appears that Masterclass is a nice place to work, and they have a decent salary depending on your job, department, and location that you work from. 

We hope this article has been helpful.