Compuserve To Acquire Seattle-Based Spry Inc.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - H&R Block Inc. has announced that its CompuServe subsidiary will buy Seattle-based Spry Inc., a leading provider of software that allows access to the Internet.

Kansas City-based Block said yesterday it will pay $100 million to acquire all outstanding and preferred stock of Spry, a private company.

Maurice Cox, president and chief executive of CompuServe, the nation's largest computer online service, said reliable, inexpensive and direct access to the Internet - the network of computer networks - should attract many new subscribers.

Spry has three products allowing access to the Internet through the Windows operating system: the Air Series, Mosaic In A Box and Internet In A Box.