According to the AP story, Hewitt says he has no backers to do a deal with the substantially large tax preparation chain. There are also no filings with the SEC to show any formal approach to H&R Block.
Liberty Tax Founder Interested in Block
John Hewitt, CEO of Liberty Tax and founder of Jackson Hewitt, would like to arrange a deal that would bring him to a leadership position in H&R Block, which is in management turmoil. That was the picture painted this week by a story from the Associated Press. Liberty Tax itself did not issue a formal statement.
According to the reports, Hewitt is trying to contact Thomas Bloch, son of H&R Block founder Henry Bloch and himself a former CEO of the nation's largest tax preparation chain. Thomas Bloch wrote in a strongly worded letter this week that he would not seek re-election as a director because of differences with the company's chairman Richard Breeden and his strongly attacked H&R Block's pricing. That follows the abrupt resignation of CEO Russ Smyth last week.
