Mattel to Sell Beleaguered Learning Co. Division

Mattel Inc. Los Angeles, plans to sell its Learning Co. division. The burdensome software unit, acquired last May for $3.6 billion, has been a money loser that led to ballooning debt and the resignation of the Co.'s CEO, according to a wire report.

Mattel has retained the investment firm Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. to find a buyer for the division, purchased to move forward Mattel's effort to tap the growing market for interactive toys.

The report said that the Learning Co. was to immediately add $50 million annually to Mattel's bottom line, but instead added losses of $206 million in 1999 and led to CEO and chairman Jill E. Barad's resignation in February.

Industry experts said it would be difficult for Mattel to "get but a fraction of what they paid" for The Learning Co., the report said.