Davidson & Associates

Davidson & Associates, Inc.

Company type	Public (former)
Industry	Educational software, Edutainment
Founded	1982
Founder	Bob Davidson, Jan Davidson
Defunct	1998
Fate	Merged into Knowledge Adventure; brand phased out by 1999
Headquarters	Torrance, California , United States
Area served	United States
Key people	Bob Davidson (CEO and chairman), Jan Davidson (President)
Products	Blaster educational game series (including Math Blaster), Fisher-Price licensed titles
Number of employees	800+ (1995)

Davidson & Associates, Inc. was a U.S.-based developer of educational software located in Torrance, California. Established in 1982 by Bob and Jan Davidson—who led the company with Jan as president until January 1997—the firm concentrated on creating edutainment products. Following its acquisition by CUC International in February 1996, Davidson became the foundation of CUC's CUC Software division, responsible for sales and distribution operations.

The enterprise managed multiple subsidiaries, such as Funnybone Interactive, Learningways, Capitol Multimedia, and Blizzard Entertainment. Additional branches included First Byte, Maverick Software, Fas-Track, Educational Resources, and Gryphon Software.

Davidson & Associates gained recognition primarily for its Blaster educational game series, especially Math Blaster, along with titles licensed from Fisher-Price.

History

Founded in 1982 by Bob and Jan Davidson, the company initially focused on publishing Jan's educational software creations.

By 1989, Bob Davidson took on the role of CEO, emphasizing marketing, sales, and strategic planning, while Jan held the presidency and directed research and development initiatives.

In May 1992, Davidson expanded by acquiring Educational Resources, Ltd. The company went public on Nasdaq under the symbol "DAVD" in April 1993. By February 1994, annual software sales had reached $40 million.

On February 18, 1994, Davidson purchased Chaos Studios (which later became Blizzard Entertainment) through a stock transaction valued at $6.75 million. The following month, in March 1994, Davidson acquired Learningways, an educational software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In April 1994, a partnership was formed with Simon & Schuster to jointly develop and distribute home market titles. Davidson committed a minimum of $15 million over five years toward developing educational software aimed at schools.

February 1995 saw the acquisition of Funnybone Interactive, a developer specializing in children's entertainment and educational software located in Canton, Connecticut. At that time, the workforce numbered 327 employees; this figure rose to over 800 by the time of the company's 1998 merger with Knowledge Adventure.

In April 1995, Davidson collaborated with toy manufacturer Mattel to create NewMedia for distributing consumer multimedia software through mass-market retailers.

On February 21, 1996, CUC International announced its intention to acquire both Davidson & Associates and Sierra On-Line for a combined total of $1.8 billion. In March 1996, Davidson further expanded by acquiring Condor, Inc., which was subsequently renamed Blizzard North.

Following the completion of the acquisition in July 1996, CUC established CUC Software centered around Davidson’s offices in Torrance. Bob Davidson assumed the roles of chairman and CEO of CUC Software while continuing as CEO of Davidson & Associates; Jan remained president of Davidson. Both joined the board of CUC; Bob also took on the position of vice chairman.

On January 21, 1997, Bob and Jan Davidson stepped down from their executive positions but retained seats on CUC’s board. Chris McLeod was appointed as the new CEO of Davidson & Associates.

In April 1997, Davidson acquired Animation Magic from Capitol Multimedia while maintaining its senior management team. This division later contributed to Blizzard's canceled Warcraft Adventures project.

June 1997 marked the introduction of new product lines: Math For The Real World and Educast—both aimed at enhancing student learning experiences.

By late 1997, Larry Gross from Knowledge Adventure was appointed president of Davidson & Associates. In March 1998, Reading Blaster: Ages 9–12 was released under their banner.

Davidson and Knowledge Adventure’s product portfolios were merged under CUC Software’s Educational Division led by Gross.

By October 1998, the Davidson brand was discontinued and integrated into Knowledge Adventure. Prominent product lines such as Math Blaster, Reading Blaster, Fisher Price titles, Syracuse Learning programs, and Sierra's Dr. Brain were transferred to Knowledge Adventure. Subsidiaries including Funnybone Interactive also came under Knowledge Adventure’s management; meanwhile, Blizzard Entertainment was separated into its own division within Cendant Software.

By December 1998, accessing Davidson’s website redirected visitors to Knowledge Adventure’s site. The Torrance location continued to serve as headquarters for Cendant Software’s successor Havas Interactive through at least 2001. Although the brand was in transition, it remained briefly visible during this period.

In April 1999, Havas Interactive restructured its senior leadership team by removing Larry Gross from his role as president of Knowledge Adventure. By the end of 1999, the Davidson & Associates brand had been completely phased out.