Bear Stearns to cease roar
After 85 years on Wall Street, investment bank Bear Stearns will soon disappear. This morning, the bank's shareholders vote on the JP Morgan buyout. Jill Barshay reports why the bank is ready to accept a low buyout.
Employees walk through the revolving doors of Bear Stearns headquarters in New York City. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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Scott Jagow: After 85 years on Wall Street, the investment bank Bear Stearns is about to disappear. This morning, the bank's shareholders vote on the JP Morgan buyout. The price is $10 a share. Incredible, considering the stock was worth $154 a year ago. That was right before Bear Stearns imploded from bets on subprime mortgages. Now, shareholders have no choice but to take this deal. More now from Jill Barshay.
Jill Barshay: Back in March, Bear Stearns shareholders griped the bank was being given away for a pittance.
Dick Bove is a banking analyst at Ladenburg Thalmann. He says things have quieted down as the 85-year-old investment bank has continued to lose customers and money.
Dick Bove: The recognition has now dawned on the people at Bear Stearns that in fact the company is totally bankrupt and insolvent and that essentially, $10 is certainly better than what they really deserved, which is nothing.
JP Morgan wants to erase the taint of Bear Stearns's financial losses. It's stripping the Bear Stearns brand off almost everything -- even the company's high-tech building which JP Morgan is moving into this summer.
The Bear brand survives on just a single division, which manages money for wealthy individuals.
In New York, I'm Jill Barshay for Marketplace.
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