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Technology Stocks : The Learning Company (TLC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: paul richards who wrote (6186)	12/15/1998 9:03:00 AM
From: paul richards	Respond to of 6318

Herb on TheStreet: Mattel's Earnings Woes: You Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda Seen It Coming By Herb Greenberg Putting a fresh spin on yesterday's news: Really, can ya believe the nerve of Mattel (MAT:NYSE)? The company issued a year-end earnings warning yesterday, and investors reacted as if it were a surprise. Some surprise! Back in August there was so much chatter of possible problems at Mattel that this column wrote, "Expect to hear more about Mattel in coming weeks and possibly months, and much of it won't be positive." At the time, short-sellers and others thought Mattel would be hurt after Toys R Us (TOY:NYSE), its biggest customer, announced it would sharply cut back inventory levels at its stores. Considering that Mattel had a reputation for stuffing its distribution channel, the shorts figured the company would be hard pressed to make its numbers. An added twist on the story, at the time, came from Guy Judkowski and Howard Rosencrans of H.D. Brous & Co., in Great Neck, N.Y. -- the only analysts willing to publicly put their necks on the line. This pair suggested a desperate Mattel had resorted to dumping merchandise at discounters "at awfully friendly terms that will create a shortfall in the second half." Mattel denied it was offering any special deals to discounters and reiterated earlier comments that it was "confident" its full-year earnings would meet analyst estimates. Not only did Mattel expect all core products to be up, but it was hoping for an additional kick from the toys tied to Nickelodeon's Rugrats movie (saw it last weekend; a big yawner, even for my nine-year-old) and Pixar's (PIXR:Nasdaq) A Bug's Life (both of us can't wait to see it). So, in the face of so much bleak news, what did Mattel do? It agreed to buy, of all companies, The Learning Co. (TLC:NYSE) -- no stranger to this column. Sounds to some skeptics like two desperate companies doing one desperate deal. Why else, they wonder, would Mattel, which trades at 2 times sales, swap its stock for a company that trades at 4.5 times projected sales? Why else, they wonder, would Mattel buy a company that has been the target of charges, for years, of stuffing the distribution channel to make its numbers look better than they really are? Along those lines, why else, they wonder, would Mattel buy a company whose receivables, in recent quarters, have been rising faster than sales -- if you included the amount of receivables that had been sold off to investors? Why else, they wonder, would Mattel buy a company that itself has done upwards of $1.3 billion in takeovers, with much of the combined purchase price being written off? (Makes some critics wonder what was in those writeoffs, and adds further doubt to the quality of TLC's earnings.) And why else, they wonder, would Mattel buy a company that has bought numerous other companies, including Broderbund, whose fundamentals have failed Why else, they wonder, would Mattel buy a company whose operating earnings are an unusually robust 26%, twice the margins of Electronic Arts (ERTS:Nasdaq), which is with little doubt one of the best operators in the game industry? (Such a big discrepancy doesn't sit well with some critics.) Why else, they wonder, would TLC's management sell the company, at this time, if the biz is so good? Maybe the answer is that before getting into the software biz, TLC Chairman and CEO Michael Perik was a currency trader in Canada. Mattel's purchase of TLC, it would appear, is the ultimate trade.

To: paul richards who wrote (6186)	12/15/1998 9:57:00 AM
From: Thomas C. Donald	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6318

2CAN Media, Inc. Announces Exclusive Online Advertising Agreement with The Learning Company ====================================================================== SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 1998--2CAN Media, Inc., today announced an exclusive online advertising representation agreement with The Learning Company, Inc. (NYSE:TLC). Under the terms of the agreement, 2CAN Media will offer banner advertising space on The Learning Company's web sites. The Learning Company and its Mindscape, Broderbund, Parsons Technology and Creative Wonders brands produce more than 50 popular Web sites. Widely regarded as a premier Internet destination for families, children, teachers and small business owners, The Learning Company web sites were ranked number 55 overall, with a 6.03 percent reach/unique audience, by online advertising ratings firm NetRatings for the month of November, 1998. "The Learning Company web sites have become a premier destination for families online, with more than 56 million page impressions and 2.5 million unique visitors per month, according to NetRatings. We are very enthusiastic about our agreement with 2CAN Media, and believe it can help us bring our Internet sites and online initiatives to the next level." said Marvin Mauer, vice president for online business for The Learning Company. 2CAN Media will offer banner advertising on The Learning Company web sites through its WebRep Division. Banner advertising on The Learning Company's frequently visited brand web sites, such as Carmen Sandiego (www.carmensandiego.com), the companion web site to the award-winning children's adventure game, and FamilyTreeMaker.com (www.familytreemaker.com), the leading genealogy software destination online, also will be available as part of 2CAN's affinity content channels. These affinity content channels permit advertisers to purchase space on a variety of web sites geared to particular content, such as Special Interest, Education, Kids, and Lifestyle. "The Learning Company is a tremendous addition to 2CAN Media's roster, and we're thrilled to be its online advertising representation company," said Jeff Eisenberg, 2CAN Media's vice president of business development. "Through our unique business model, WebRep will provide the focus and attention a company of this caliber deserves while our affinity content channels will deliver advertisers significant online exposure to The Learning Company's strong demographic audience." In addition to banner advertising, The Learning Company web sites will offer advertisers unique opportunities to sponsor innovative areas on the TLC web sites where advertised products can be featured in the context of how they might be used by the members of the community. "This innovative ability to provide additional content to our visitors in the context of both our advertisers' products and our own is very exciting," added Mauer. Well-known brands and content from The Learning Company that will be available to online advertisers under this agreement include The Print Shop (www.printshop.com), Compton's Home Library (www.comptons.com), Carmen Sandiego (www.carmensandiego.com), Rugrats (www.broderbund.com/rugrats), Family Tree Maker (www.familytreemaker.com) and Red Orb (www.redorb.com), the site that showcases MYST, the best selling CD-ROM game in the history of computer software, as well as Riven, the Sequel to Myst (www.riven.com). About The Learning Company The Learning Company, Inc. (NYSE:TLC) is one of the country's leading developers of consumer software for the entire family. The company publishes some of the best-known education, reference, personal productivity and family entertainment brands in the U.S., including Reader Rabbit, The Oregon Trail, Sesame Street, Carmen Sandiego, Mavis Beacon, The Princeton Review, National Geographic, American Greetings, The Print Shop, and Myst. The company's products are sold in more than 23,000 retail stores in North America and through multiple distribution channels including school sales, online, direct marketing, and OEM. The Learning Company also develops, publishes and distributes products internationally through subsidiaries in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Holland, Japan and Australia, and with distributors throughout Europe, Latin America and the Pacific Rim. The Company's headquarters are located at One Athenaeum Street Cambridge, Mass. 02142; telephone (617) 494-1200; fax (617) 494-1219. The corporate Web site is located at www.learningco.com, and Customer Service can be reached at (617) 761-3000. About 2CAN Media 2CAN Media, Inc. is a full-service interactive media company serving the entire online advertising community -- publishers, advertisers, media planners, buyers and direct marketers -- and is comprised of five distinct sales channels: WebRep, Pinnacle Interactive, ECG, MediaPlus and Grupo NetFuerza. With an unduplicated, site-focused sales strategy fueled by powerful industry experience in advertising sales representation, advertiser specific sponsorships, and ad management technology, 2CAN Media understands that representing media publishers and Web sites as individual properties is the most effective way to achieve the highest level of customer service. As of December 1998, 2CAN Media exclusively represents more than 500 million impressions monthly and has over 45 full-time sales account executives. 2CAN Media, Inc. was formed through the merger and partnership of WebRep LLC (co-founded by Michael Hess and Neil Monnens), Eisenberg Communications Group (ECG founded by Jeffery Eisenberg) and Ryan Steelberg, co-founder of AdForce (formerly IMGIS). The consolidation of these partners creates the largest site-focused advertising representation company in the industry. 2CAN Media has regional offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Detroit. More information can be found at 2canmedia.com.