—>H&R Block Inc., our nation's largest tax preparer, is now missing CEO Mark "Anybody Wanna Buy A Subprime Lender?" Ernst, after losing $1 billion in the subprime meltdown.

From Bloomberg:

Richard Breeden, the hedge fund manager and former head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was named chairman, H&R Block said in a statement today. Alan M. Bennett, who retired this year as Aetna Inc.'s chief financial officer, becomes the interim CEO of Kansas City, Missouri-based H&R Block.

Breeden, who waged a proxy fight to win a board seat in September, had urged Ernst to ``stop the bleeding'' at Option One Mortgage Corp. amid five quarters of losses. Ernst, 49, put Option One up for sale a year ago amid pressure from shareholders, and said in March it might fetch as much as $1.3 billion. H&R Block said in August its agreement to sell the unit to hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management LP was falling apart.

``Unfortunately, Ernst's departure isn't going to remove the uncertainty over the sale of Option One,'' said analyst Scott Schneeberger at CIBC World Markets Inc. ``They're so mired now in subprime and the troubles there are getting so out of hand that his resignation isn't as momentous.''

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H&R Block Continues To Hemorrhage Money
H&R Block Subprime Lending Division Loses $676.8 Million