Pearson Takes a Bath

Reuters reports that British media group Pearson Plc. is poised to take a US$346.1 million (212 million pounds) loss on the sale of Mindscape, its software publishing business, to the United States' Learning Co. Inc.

Learning Co. has said that it will be paying $150 million ($97.5 million in cash on completion and $52.5 million through the issue of new Learning Co shares to Pearson) for the acquisition.

Reuters reported that Pearson bought Mindscape in 1994, when Mindscape was known as the Software Toolworks Company Inc. Total acquisition costs - including subsequent add-ons to the business - came to $503 million, Reuters said.

Marjorie Scardino, chief executive at Pearson, said in a statement that the disposal of Mindscape "enables us to concentrate more of our resources on the media businesses where we can build market-leading positions."