Brøderbund (Danish for band of brothers) is a maker of computer games and educational software that was founded by Doug and Gary Carlston in 1980. Brøderbund scored an early hit with the game Galactic Empire, written by Doug Carlston for the TRS-80. The company went on to become a powerhouse in the educational and entertainment software markets with titles like Fantavision, Choplifter, Lode Runner, Karateka, Wings of Fury, Prince of Persia, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and Myst, the latter of which stayed in the top 10 list of PC games for years. It also created the Print Shop series of desktop greeting card making programs.

Brøderbund was purchased by The Learning Company in 1998 for about US$420 million in stock. In 1999 the combined company was bought by Mattel for the astounding sum of US$3.6 billion. Mattel reeled from the financial impact of this transaction, and Jill Barad, the CEO, ended up being forced out in a climate of investor outrage. Mattel then actually gave away The Learning Company in September 2000 to Gores Technology Group, a private acquisitions firm, for a share of whatever Gores could obtain by selling the company. In 2001, Gores sold The Learning Company's entertainment holdings to Ubisoft, and most of the other holdings, including the Brøderbund name, to Riverdeep.

Brøderbund is now the brand name for Riverdeep's graphic design, productivity, and edutainment titles, such as the Print Shop, Carmen Sandiego, Mavis Beacon, and Reader Rabbit titles, and also publishes software for other companies, notably Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm.

Riverdeep refers to the company simply as "Broderbund", without the 'ø' character.

External links

• Broderbund website (http://www.broderbund.com/)
• History of Brøderbund (http://www.classicgaming.com/gotcha/broderbund.htm) at Classicgaming.com
• Brøderbund profile at Home of the Underdogs (http://www.the-underdogs.org/company.php?name=Br%F8derbund)