Intuit to Acquire Rock Financial

Software giant Intuit Inc., Mountain View, Calif. -- the maker of the immensely popular Turbo Tax program -- has agreed to purchase direct/online lender Rock Financial, Bingham Farms, Mich., for $370 million in stock. Intuit already owns QuickenMortgage, an online loan broker that hopes to facilitate $1.2 billion in residential loan closings this year. Rock Financial, according to the Quarterly Data Report (http://mortgagestats.com), ranked 73rd among all lenders in the first half. Rock funds loans in its own name with its own money. QuickenMortgage does not. The marriage between the two should give QuickenMortgage the expertise -- including processing/underwriting/back office -- it needs to compete against the current residential online giants: E-Loan, Dublin, Calif.; Mortgage.com, Plantation, Fla.; and Countrywide Home Loans, Calabasas, Calif.