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      NEWS

      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

      Please Contact: Stacy Pena     Investor Relations:  John Suske
                      The Learning Company, Inc.          The Learning
                      (510) 713-6011                      Company, Inc.
                      spena@learningco.com                (617) 494-5816
                                                          jsuske@learningco.com

         SOFTKEY INTERNATIONAL INC. CHANGES NAME TO THE LEARNING COMPANY, INC.


         CAMBRIDGE, MASS.-OCTOBER 24, 1996 - SoftKey International Inc.
         (Nasdaq: SKEY), a leading provider of educational software, today
         announced that the company is changing its name to "The Learning
         Company, Inc."  The new name is effective today.  In conjunction
         with the new name, the company is unveiling today a new corporate
         logo for The Learning Company with the slogan "For Greater
         Knowledge."

              "As the market share leader in educational software, we are
         America's Learning Company," said Michael Perik, Chairman and
         Chief Executive Officer.  "Eighty Percent of our revenue comes
         from educational and reference products.  Our new corporate name,
         The Learning Company, Inc., sends a clear and powerful signal
         about our core business:  providing the best software in education
         and reference for children and adults who want to learn."

              "Our family of premium software brands provides the best
         educational software to consumers of every age through our many
         powerful channels of distribution.  Changing our corporate name
         will help us focus on this core business as we continue to develop
         exciting new content and to expand our distribution to new media
         and to more countries," Perik continued.

              President Kevin O'Leary explained that the new corporate name
         will not change the company's branding strategy.  Educational
         software will continue to be marketed to consumers and schools
         under The Learning Company and MECC brands; reference software
         will continue to be marketed under the new Compton's Home Library
         brand.  Other SoftKey products, including productivity, value-
         priced software and other localized products in international
         markets, will also continue to be sold under their respective
         brands.  "However, just as our recent consumer research led to the
         launch of the new Compton's Home Library reference line, we are
         continuing to research our other categories of software and will
         launch additional new brands according to consumer demand," said
         O'Leary.

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              In a separate press release, the company also announced today
         that the listing of its common stock is moving to the New York
         Stock Exchange.  Trading is expected to being in mid-November
         under the symbol "TLC."  Until that time, the company's common
         stock will continue to trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the
         symbol "SKEY."

              SoftKey International Inc. develops, publishes and markets a
         family of premium software brands that educate across every age,
         from young children to adults.  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 Company also develops, publishes
         and distributes products worldwide including France, Germany, the
         United Kingdom, Holland 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 (800) 227-5609.

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         All trademarks and registered trademarks are the properties of
         their respective holders.

         The new corporate logo can be downloaded from the World Wide Web
         at URL:http://madesign.com.  Artwork can also be obtained by
         request via e-mail addressed to:  corpcom@learningco.com or by fax
         at (510) 792-9628.