The Learning Company

The Learning Company was one of the first educational software companies.  It was founded in 1980 in the Palo Alto, California, area by video-game designer Warren Robinett and educators Ann McCormick Piestrup, Leslie Grimm, and Teri Perl.  The flagship product at the company's initial launch was Rocky's Boots .

It was one of the major producers of commercial educational software for the home market during the 1980s and 1990s, with titles such as the Reader Rabbit series.

The Learning Company began in 1980 with a grant from the National Science Foundation.  In 1982, it was launched commercially with venture-capital funding.  The Learning Company went public in 1992.  In 1995, the Learning Company merged with SoftKey.   In 1998, the Learning Company was acquired.