Cendant Corporation confirmed earlier reports that it intends to sell its consumer software division to Paris-based Havas SA for US$800 million in cash and future contingent cash payments that could amount to another $200 million.

　　The consumer software division includes Sierra On-Line and its six studios, Knowledge Adventure, Blizzard Entertainment, and Davidson & Associates. The deal, pending regulatory approvals, is expected to finalize sometime in the first quarter of 1999.

　　Cendant estimates that the sale will result in an after-tax gain of roughly $450 million in 1999. Cendant stock as of 1:30pm EST was up a half point at 14 15/16, though at one point within the last year Cendant had been enjoying a 40-point peak.

　　It is reported that Cendant is trying to generate money as a result of its formation after the merger of CUC International, which the consumer software division was a part of, and HFS Inc. CUC employees had, according to Cendant, falsified over $500 million in revenues and another $200 million in accounting errors. Cendant since then has among other things lost over $20 billion in market value.