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  • robob4 robob4 • Dec 30, 1997 1:06 AM Flag

    Sale of Parsons' TaxEdge to Broderbund

    This is a copy of a MSG I sent to Broderbund just now.

    I believe this sale took place about July'97. I rec'd word from
    Parsons in November. I thought I'd wait to see what TurbTax
    looked like before complaining to Broderbund/Parsons.

    I don't like TurboTax one bit. I miss Parsons. What will
    Broderbund do with this acquisition? Bury it like they did
    in 1992 (1993?) when they acquired a dandy little private
    program call CashTrac and nothing was ever heard about CashTrac
    from then on. I migrated to Parsons.

    Parsons had it all as far as tax programs are concerned. Did
    Broderbund agree to trash it? Parsons provided every tax form
    conceivable and detailed support both from IRS documents and
    Lasser references. TurboTax can't even supply the IRS
    instructions. They provide their own methodology of arriving
    at a 'correct answer' and leave me in the dark as to how they
    computed it.

    I want TaxEdge back in play. Who else is out there to demand
    it? Let Broderbund know.

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    • behags behags • Dec 30, 1997 4:38 PM Flag

      I was a Parsons employee when Intuit sold to Broderbund. The terms of the sale included Intuit keeping the tax programs, for the purpose of killing them. Broderbund had no play in the decision, and can't do anything about it now. The rational for Intuit was simple...PTE competes against TurboTax, and if Intuit wasn't going to own Parsons anymore, then PTE was going to be destroyed.

      The killing of PTE hurt Parsons -- the company laid off 250 of 700 employees. Intuit bought Parsons for $68m in 1995, and sold to Broderbund for about $32m. You can see the value of PTE (and the old MoneyCounts program).

      Broderbund purchased Parsons primarly to acquire Parsons vast customer list, and believes that Parson's line of consumer products fits well with theirs.

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