The article explores the dramatic decline in Stack Overflow’s user engagement, highlighting an 80% drop in monthly questions due to the rise of AI coding assistants like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. It discusses the implications of this decline for Prosus, the parent company that acquired Stack Overflow for approximately $1.8 billion. The analysis includes financial impairments and the strategic shifts within Prosus’s EdTech portfolio, emphasizing the challenges faced by traditional coding platforms in the AI era. This piece is essential for investors, tech industry analysts, and anyone interested in the future of coding resources.

Key Points

  • Examines the 80% decline in Stack Overflow’s user questions due to AI tools
  • Details Prosus’s $1.8 billion acquisition and subsequent financial impairments
  • Discusses the strategic shifts in Prosus’s EdTech portfolio
  • Highlights the challenges traditional coding platforms face in the AI landscape
Yolanda Nicky
4 pages
Language:English
Type:Article
Computer Science
Yolanda Nicky
4 pages
Language:English
Type:Article
Computer Science
40
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How AI decimated this Prosus company
Moneyweb - Hilton Tarrant · 5 Feb 2026 04:00
The collapse in active usage of Prosus portfolio company Stack
Overflow over the last three years has been nothing short of
spectacular.
The repository of coding knowledge, where developers are able to
get help from peers on questions, saw the number of user
questions per month drop to below 3 500 in December 2025 (or
just under 7 000, when including deleted questions) – a decline of
80% from the prior year.
This level is 98% lower than its peak, reached in March 2014,
according to company data. Including deleted questions, its peak
was around 300 000 per month at the start of the Covid-19
pandemic.
As developers turned to a host of powerful code-writing AI
assistants such as ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini
and (to a lesser extent) Microsoft Copilot, usage of Stack
Overflow fell off a cliff.
This is causation, not correlation.
In 2023, the world’s richest man Elon Musk described the fate of
Stack Overflow – which had already seen a 50% drop in traffic –
as “death by LLM [large language model]”.
Source: Sherwood News
A cool R28bn …
Prosus purchased Stack Overflow for “approximately $1.8 billion”
in June 2021 (the final figure was $1.742 billion, including the $98
million in cash in that unit – this equates to R27.9 billion at current
exchange rates).
Given the soaring usage by work-from-home developers (who
were physically separated from their colleagues who they
would’ve often turned to for help) during the pandemic, this was
as close to a full price as the Silicon Valley venture capital funders
would’ve been able to get for this asset.
They would’ve seen the then CEO of Prosus, Bob van Dijk, and his
investment bankers coming a mile away.
Prosus acquired the business, which it said at the time was “one
of the 50 most popular websites in the world”, to bolster its
EdTech portfolio.
This only became a “core segment” of the group a year earlier
when a number of its education investments “graduated” from its
Ventures arm.
By March 2022, Prosus boasted that it reached “90% of the
Fortune 100 companies” across its “corporate learning
companies”.
This included 100% of Stack Overflow, a majority stake in
GoodHabitz, sizeable shares in Skillsoft (owner of Codecademy)
and Brainly and minority (sub 20%) stakes in Eruditus Executive
Education, Byju’s, Udemy, Similarweb and SoloLearn.
Impairments
Immediately following the acquisition, it was clear that Prosus
had paid too much.
In March 2023, it impaired goodwill related to Stack Overflow by
$246 million (R3.9 billion in today’s money). This, it said, was
“primarily as a result of the current market conditions and the
increase in risk-free rates which resulted in an increase in the
discount rate”.
Between August 2021 and March 2022, Stack Overflow generated
$54 million in revenue, with $34 million in trading losses due to it
investing heavily for growth.
It was aggressively pushing Stack Overflow for Teams, an
enterprise solution, and by March 2022, had more than 1 000
customers paying for the service, generating annual recurring
revenue of $42 million – up 61% from a year prior.
In the year ended 31 March 2023, Prosus recognised a further
$560 million impairment (R8.95 billion in today’s money) on Stack
Overflow as “the business ha[d] not performed as expected in the
current year due to challenging macroeconomic conditions”.
By this point, revenue (since the date of acquisition) totalled $94
million, while trading losses had ballooned to $84 million.
By the end of March, it had 950 paying customers for Stack
Overflow for Teams, with an annual revenue run rate of $55
million.
In March 2024, Prosus impaired the goodwill related to Stack
Overflow by an additional $372 million (R5.9 billion in today’s
money).
This, it said, was due to “a decline in the business performance in
a challenging macroeconomic environment”. In the year, revenue
grew by 4% to $98 million, with trading losses reducing to $57
million.
The rise of AI
Prosus noted at the time that its “EdTech companies are most-
exposed to risks and opportunities from GenAI [generative
artificial intelligence] by virtue of their business models centred
on content”.
“Stack Overflow, for example, has faced this duality earlier than
other companies. While models like ChatGPT can distract traffic
from Stack Overflow, at the same time, its data and community
are unique and essential to train new models for code assistance,
such as those of OpenAI and Google but also proprietary and
others. In response, Stack Overflow has introduced a set of tools
called OverflowAI which includes GenAI assistance for the public
site and for Stack Overflow for Teams products.”
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End of Document
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Figures

The collapse in active usage of Prosus portfolio company Stack
Source: Sherwood News

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FAQs

how did AI decimate Stack Overflow

The article 'How AI Decimated Stack Overflow: A Prosus Company' explains the dramatic decline in Stack Overflow's usage due to the rise of AI coding assistants.

  • Stack Overflow's user questions dropped by 80% in 2025.
  • This decline is attributed to developers turning to AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
  • Elon Musk described this trend as 'death by LLM'.

what caused the decline in Stack Overflow traffic

'How AI Decimated Stack Overflow: A Prosus Company' outlines several factors leading to decreased traffic on Stack Overflow.

  • AI coding assistants have become the primary resource for developers.
  • Stack Overflow saw a peak of 300,000 questions per month in 2020, now down to under 3,500.
  • The shift in developer behavior significantly impacted the platform's engagement.

what are the financial impacts on Stack Overflow

The article highlights significant financial impairments for Stack Overflow following its acquisition by Prosus.

  • Prosus impaired goodwill related to Stack Overflow by $246 million in 2023.
  • Trading losses reached $84 million since the acquisition.
  • Further impairments totaled $372 million in 2024 due to poor performance.

how has Stack Overflow responded to AI competition

In response to AI competition, Stack Overflow has introduced new tools as outlined in 'How AI Decimated Stack Overflow: A Prosus Company'.

  • They launched OverflowAI, integrating generative AI assistance.
  • Stack Overflow licensed its data to AI companies for additional revenue.
  • Over 25,000 companies are using their generative AI add-on.

what is the future of Stack Overflow after AI

'How AI Decimated Stack Overflow: A Prosus Company' discusses the uncertain future of Stack Overflow amid AI advancements.

  • Despite declining question numbers, complex queries still see engagement.
  • CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar remains optimistic about Stack Overflow's unique data.
  • Prosus is shifting focus to other sectors, raising questions about Stack Overflow's long-term viability.

what were the acquisition details of Stack Overflow

The article provides insights into the acquisition of Stack Overflow by Prosus, which occurred in June 2021.

  • Prosus purchased Stack Overflow for approximately $1.8 billion.
  • The acquisition aimed to enhance Prosus's EdTech portfolio.
  • Stack Overflow was considered one of the 50 most popular websites globally at the time.

what is the significance of Stack Overflow's decline

The decline of Stack Overflow is significant as detailed in 'How AI Decimated Stack Overflow: A Prosus Company'.

  • It reflects a broader shift in developer resources towards AI tools.
  • The decline raises concerns about the future of community-driven coding platforms.
  • This trend could reshape how developers seek help and share knowledge.