The new company, Genealogy.com, will include Family Tree Maker, the Family Archive CDs and the free FamilyTreeMaker.com and Genealogy.com Web sites.

Some media and financial heavyweights are placing a big bet on the genealogy business: Mattel, the Arts & Entertainment cable network, Hearst Interactive Media, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Weston Presidio Capital. They're joining to form a new company, Genealogy.com. Toymaker Mattel — which had recently bought Broderbund, makers of the leading genealogy software program, Family Tree Maker — will spin off its genealogy holdings to the new partnership. Cenealogy.com, backed by $37.5 million, will include FTM, the Family Archive CDs and the free FamilyTreeMaker.com and Genealogy.com Web sites, plus the subscription-based GenealogyLibrary.com site.