Mattel Interactive
The company logo used from 2007 to 2012
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| Subsidiary | |
| Founded | 1980 (as The Learning Co.) Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
| Founders | Ann McCormick Leslie Grimm Teri Perl |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
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Key people
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Warren Robinett (co-founder) |
| Parent | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Website | www |
The Learning Company (TLC, known briefly as Mattel Interactive) is an American educational software company, currently owned by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It produced a grade-based system of learning software and tools to improve productivity. Products for preschoolers through second graders include Reader Rabbit, and software for more advanced students include The ClueFinders. The company is also known for publishing licensed educational titles featuring characters such as Arthur, Scooby-Doo, Zoboomafoo and Caillou.
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.
In 1995, TLC was acquired by Softkey for $606M.
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Wikipedia