On September 30, 2000, Mattel, a major toy manufacturer, virtually gave away The Learning Company, a maker of software for toys, to rid itself of a disastrous foray into software publishing that had cost the firm literally hundreds of millions of dollars. Mattel, which had paid $3.5 billion for the firm in 1999, sold the unit to an affiliate of Gores Technology Group for rights to a share of future profits. Was this related or unrelated diversification for Mattel? How might this have influenced the outcome?