The Learning Company

Founding and ownership

The learning company was founded in 1980 by Ann McCormick, Leslie Grimm, Teri Perl and Warren Robinett, a former Atari employee who had programmed the popular game Adventure. They saw the Apple II as an opportunity to teach young children concepts of math, reading, science, problem solving and thinking skills. Part of the original funding for the company came from a National Science Foundation grant.

TLC produced launch titles for the PCjr, announced in late 1983. From 1980 through 1984 it created a line of 15 widely acclaimed children's educational software products, which were sold through the U.S. retail and school computer software channels.

The leading families of products were the Reader Rabbit series for ages 2–8, the Treasure Mountain Reading-Math-Science series for ages 5–9, the Super Solver series for ages 7–12, the Student Writing & Publishing Center for ages 7–adult and the Foreign Language Learning series for ages 15–adult.

TLC went public on April 28, 1992 in an IPO led by Morgan Stanley and Robertson, Stephens & Co.

Softkey acquisition

In 1995, TLC was acquired by Softkey for $606M.

Subsequent to the acquisition, TLC was reformed from the merger of WordStar, Spinnaker and SoftKey Software. Prior to that, SoftKey was a Canadian company that was founded by Kevin O'Leary and traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. During the years following the three-way merger, the combined company was led by Michael J. Perik as CEO, Kevin O'Leary as President and R. Scott Murray as CFO. TLC acquired many leading brands through acquisitions of such companies as Broderbund, MECC, Mindscape, and Creative Wonders. The company held some of the best-known educational, entertainment and home productivity brands in the market. These included Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego, The Oregon Trail, Myst, Riven, The Print Shop and PrintMaster.

The software sold in retail chains and in direct mail channels across Europe, and in the OEM channels as well as creating one of the first online imaging models in the market. In 1996, SoftKey changed its name to "The Learning Company".

Mattel acquisition and rapid devaluation

In the fall of 1998, Mattel agreed to acquire The Learning Company in a stock-for-stock merger valuing the company at approximately $4.2 billion. In 1999, the company name was changed to Mattel Interactive, which published not only educational games, but licensed titles from brands like Barbie.

Mattel sold The Learning Company in 2000 at a loss to Gores Technology group. The total financial losses to Mattel have been estimated to be as high as $3.6 billion.

Mattel's acquisition of The Learning Company has been referred to as "one of the worst acquisitions of all time" by several prominent business journals.

In 2014, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt acquired the Learning Company brand and IP. They released several book sets under the brand umbrella, including Oregon Trail Adventures, The Little Box of Love, and The Little Box of Laughs. The company is currently offering the Super Solvers, MindPower, and Starflyers brands as a licensing opportunities on its website.

Reader Rabbit / The ClueFinders series

Zoombinis

Super Solvers series

Super Seekers games

Fisher-Price series

Carmen Sandiego series

Mindpower series

Other games