Riverdeep Group

Irish education software company Riverdeep Group agreed Thursday to buy the educational assets of Learning Co., whose brands include Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego and the Mavis Beacon typing series, for $40 million in stock. Riverdeep also will assume $20 million in debt with the purchase from Los Angeles-based Gores Technology Group, a closely held buyout firm. Gores acquired Learning Co. about a year ago for almost nothing from Mattel Inc., which paid $3.8 billion for the company in 1998.

Irish education software company Riverdeep Group agreed Thursday to buy the educational assets of Learning Co., whose brands include Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego and the Mavis Beacon typing series, for $40 million in stock. Riverdeep also will assume $20 million in debt with the purchase from Los Angeles-based Gores Technology Group, a closely held buyout firm. Gores acquired Learning Co. about a year ago for almost nothing from Mattel Inc., which paid $3.8 billion for the company in 1998.

Educational textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin Co. agreed to buy the remaining U.S. units of scientific and medical publisher Reed Elsevier for $4 billion in cash and stock, creating what could become the largest K-12 publisher in the country in terms of market share. The Boston-based division of Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group will pay $3.

Motorola Inc., the world's No. 2 wireless phone maker, said it expected to meet analysts' forecasts for its 2001 earnings, building on the strong sales seen in the fiscal first half. The company also said it was working toward a goal of delivering double-digit annual sales growth across all of its sectors. "We believe present consensus estimates for 2001 of earnings per share of $1.