bear stearns
principal subsidiaries: bear stearns & company, inc. ; custodial trust co. ; bear stearns mortgage capital corp. ; bear stearns fiduciary services, inc. ; bear stearns international, ltd. ; bear stearns asia ltd. ; bear stearns s. a. ; bear stearns, ltd. (japan); bear stearns securities corp. ; correspondent clearing; bear stearns home loans ltd .
bear stearns says it will reveal the details of the fund’s losses next week .
in march' 08 you get a call from the head of bear stearns .
bear stearns forms a holding company called bear stearns companies, inc. , goes public, and reorganizes from a brokerage house into a full - service investment firm .
bear stearns never ran short of capital. it just could not meet its obligations .
the s. e. c. still thinks bear stearns was in good shape .
with the headline: $ 3. 2 billion move by bear stearns to rescue fund .
bernanke said that if bear stearns had been allowed to fail, it would have led to a
chaotic unwinding
of bear stearns investments held by individuals and other financial institutions .
in 2008, jpmorgan chase paid $ 2 a share to buy all of bear stearns .
again, it was an investment bank. i did not have any authority over bear stearns .
bear stearns opens its first regional office in chicago, and salim l .
cy
lewis - - future chairman - - is hired to direct bear stearns' s new institutional bond trading department .
myerson, allen r. ,
careful player moves closer to the top at bear stearns ,
talk about bear stearns. you have a problem with the way it was handled... .
rumors persisted throughout the week that bear stearns was facing major cash flow problems, although schwartz initially denied those rumors. through thursday' s close, shares of bear stearns had already dropped 18% .
a man walks past the bear stearns office in singapore march 17, 2008. reuters / vivek prakash
it' s been five years since bear stearns collapsed. here are five key events in its downfall .
company earnings double to over $ 295 million for best year in bear stearns' s history to date .
bear stearns, one of the nation' s biggest and most prominent investment banks, st ...
a collapse of bear stearns could have heightened anxiety in world financial markets amid a deepening credit crunch. jpmorgan’s acquisition of bear stearns represents roughly 1 percent of what the investment bank was worth just 16 days ago .
new york (fortune) - - can bear stearns shareholders do even better? hopes may be running high after joseph lewis, a major bear stearns shareholder, has squeezed a higher offer out of jpmorgan chase .
a brief history of bear stearns the collapse of bear stearns caps an astonishing run for the wall street giant, which managed to survive the great depression and countless recessions. but the current mortgage debacle proved too much .
the bear stearns saga also produced one of the most indelible images of the financial crisis (the one at the top of this post): a $ 2 bill stuck on the front door of bear stearns headquarters .
“jpmorgan chase stands behind bear stearns, ” mr. dimon said in a statement. “bear stearns’s clients and counterparties should feel secure that jpmorgan is guaranteeing bear stearns’s counterparty risk. we welcome their clients, counterparties and employees to our firm, and we are glad to be their partner. ” while bear stearns toyed with suitors like big private equity firms like the j. c. flowers & company, the only meaningful bidder was jpmorgan .
with the headline: sale price of $ 2 a share reflects the depth of problems faced by bear stearns .
in fact, executives at bear stearns asset management had debated last summer whether to start the second hedge fund .
paul friedman, a former bear stearns executive, at a financial crisis inquiry commission hearing in washington in 2010 .
the original company is founded by joseph bear, robert stearns, and harold mayer as an equity trading house .
jpmorgan chase chief financial officer michael cavanaugh did not say what would happen to bear stearns’ 14, 000 employees worldwide or whether the bear stearns name would survive. he told analysts and investors on a conference call that jpmorgan was most interested in buying bear stearns’ prime brokerage business, which completes trades for big investors such as hedge funds .
“the past week has been an incredibly difficult time for bear stearns, ” said bear stearns chief executive alan schwartz in a statement. “this represents the best outcome for all of our constituencies based upon the current circumstances. ”
maiden lane llc despite the receipt by bear stearns of federal reserve funding through a bridge loan on march 14, 2008, market pressures on bear stearns worsened that day and during the weekend. bear stearns likely would have been unable to avoid bankruptcy on monday, march 17, without either very large injections of liquidity from the federal reserve or an acquisition by a stronger firm. jpmorgan chase and co. (jpmc) emerged as the only viable bidder for bear stearns, and on sunday, march 16, bear stearns accepted an offer to merge with jpmc .
new york (reuters) - employees at bear stearns cos were hardly celebrating the day after jpmorgan chase & co raised its bid for bear five - fold .
bear stearns is founded as an equity trading house by joseph bear, robert stearns, and harold mayer with $ 500, 000 in capital. according to the inflation calculator, that’s about $ 6. 1 billion dollars today .
james dimon, right, the chief executive of jpmorgan, being escorted to the headquarters of bear stearns last week .
new york (reuters) - the following are a dozen important dates or events in the demise of bear stearns .
july 31: investment bank bear stearns liquidates two hedge funds that invested in risky securities backed by subprime mortgage loans .
jp morgan said it will guarantee all business — such as trading and investment banking — until bear stearns' shareholders approve the deal, expected to be completed during the second quarter. the acquisition includes bear stearns' midtown manhattan headquarters .
june 2007 - amid losses in its portfolio, the bear stearns high - grade structured credit fund receives a $ 1. 6 billion bait out from bear stearns, which would help it to meet margin calls while it liquidated its positions .
schwartz told the panel that bear stearns was brought down by
unfounded
market rumors that led to what was essentially a
run on the bank
as bear stearns creditors began demanding payment out of fears the company was about to collapse .
there’s also the question of who would be willing to play jpmorgan to lehman’s bear stearns, should it come to that .
i knew what was on bear stearns' s books, and it scared me. i wish it had scared regulators .
on bear stearns :
we were the lender of last resort. that' s what a central bank does .
bear stearns also said it has hired lazard to help it consider alternatives, amid talkthat it' s up for sale .
alan schwartz, bear stearns' chief, said in a statement that the jpmorgan share purchase was
a necessary condition to obtain the full set of amended terms, which in turn, were essential to maintaining bear stearns' financial stability .
in this article, we' ll first examine how hedge funds work and explore the risky strategies they employ to produce their big returns. next, we' ll apply this knowledge to see what caused the implosion of two prominent bear stearns hedge funds, the bear stearns high - grade structured credit fund and the bear stearns high - grade structured credit enhanced leveraged fund .
also appearing before the committee were alan schwartz, the head of bear stearns, and jamie dimon, the head of jp morgan, who described marathon sessions at both firms as executives searched for the best way out of the bear stearns liquidity crisis .
many hedge funds had started expressing concern about bear stearns by late thursday. jana partners, a large hedge fund, for example, sent a memo to its investors that said, “in response to many recent inquiries regarding bear stearns, we are writing to inform you that we have no direct exposure to bear stearns or its affiliates through a prime brokerage relationship or otherwise. ”
evil hedge fund: i just sold a million shares of bear stearns. here, hold this shitload of money for me .
aftermath - several shareholder lawsuits have been filed on the basis of bear stearns misleading investors on the extent of its risky holdings .
morgenson, gretchen ,
s. e. c. fines a bear stearns unit in fraud case after long inquiry ,
jp morgan chief financial officer michael cavanagh did not say what would happen to bear stearns' 14, 000 employees worldwide, or whether the 85 - year - old bear stearns name would live on after surviving the great depression and a slew of recessions .
bear stearns shares closed friday at $ 30 a share. at their peak, the shares traded at $ 159. 36 .
bear stearns companies, inc. , the holding company that owns bear, stearns & company, inc. , was created on october 29, 1985, as the successor to bear stearns & company and subsidiaries, a partnership organized in 1957. the partnership, in turn, was the successor to a company founded in 1923 by joseph bear, robert stearns, and harold mayer as an equity - trading house. headquartered in new york, bear stearns today is a full service brokerage and investment banking firm focused on three core areas: capital markets, wealth management, and global clearing services. the company maintains offices in major cities all over the globe .
the last - minute buyout was aimed at averting a bear stearns bankruptcy and a spreading crisis of confidence in the global financial system .
dimon took issue with reports that the fed had taken bear stearns' riskiest securities as collateral for the $ 30 billion loan the central bank made to facilitate the sale. he also maintained that a bear stearns bankruptcy would have been
disastrous
for the financial system .
which, it appears, is exactly what happened to bear stearns. someone bought a shitload of puts in bear, and then someone sold a shitload of bear shares that never got delivered. bear then staggered forward, bleeding from every internal organ, and fell on its face. “it looks to me like bear stearns got riddled with bullets, ” john welborn, an economist with an investment firm called the haverford group, later observed .
so, in august, the bear stearns high - grade structured credit enhanced leveraged fund — the second fund that eventually had huge losses — was started with $ 600 million in investments, mostly from wealthy individual clients of bear stearns, and at least $ 6 billion in money borrowed from banks and brokerage firms. bear stearns and a handful of its top executives invested a mere $ 40 million in both funds .
when you' re looking at [ bear stearns ], before the famous weekend, how vulnerable do you see them? ...
jp morgan ups offer for bear stearns don' t trust the wall street rally u. s. regulator: your bank deposits are safe
not all investors are expected to be pleased with the deal. a conference call with investors and analysts on sunday night was broken up when a bear stearns shareholder sought an explanation of why he would be better off approving this transaction rather than seeing bear stearns file for a chapter 11 bankruptcy .
it has become clear that the fed, backed by paulson, initially dictated that jp morgan would pay only $ 2 per share to buy out bear stearns. bernanke and the government were desperate to avoid accusations that they had created ‘moral hazard’ by bailing out reckless speculators. however, after the initial deal was agreed, there was a rebellion of bear stearns executives and employees (who between then own 30% of bear stearns shares). jp morgan faced the prospect of taking over an empty shell – bear stearns executives were scrambling to find other jobs, with the possibility of a mass exodus of key personnel. moreover, bear stearns shareholders, including the staff and the hedge fund financier, joe lewis (who owns a big slice of bear stearns shares), threatened to block the fed - sponsored deal with legal action. delay in resolving the bear stearns crisis could have undermined the whole point of the rescue mission. the fed was therefore forced to renegotiate the deal, offering $ 10 for bear stearns shares. this time, the fed ensured that the revised deal would go through by bending stock exchange rules to allow jp morgan to instantly purchase nearly 40% of bear stearns shares – giving jp morgan a decisive vote. (a change of heart at jp morgan, international herald tribune, 26 march )
jpmorgan is buying bear, which has 14, 000 employees, for a third the price at which the smaller firm went public in 1985. only a year ago, bear’s shares sold for $ 170. the sale price includes bear stearns’s soaring madison avenue headquarters .
the jpmorgan executives demurred, instead referring the investor to bear stearns executives for an explanation. the shareholder declared that he would vote against the deal .
in the wake of the weak auctions, several other lenders, including jpmorgan, citigroup, goldman sachs and bank of america, reached deals with bear stearns. at least some of the deals involved the lenders selling the securities back to bear stearns for cash, although the prices were not disclosed .
the headline grabbing collapse of two bear stearns hedge funds in july 2007 offers fascinating insight into the world of hedge fund strategies and their associated risks .
july 31, 2007 - the two funds filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy. bear stearns effectively wound down the funds and liquidated all of its holdings .
stock traders negotiate in sao paolo monday morning. brazil' s stock market dropped amid fears the global credit crisis that sank bear stearns would spread .
exclusive book excerpt: bestselling author william cohan uncovers the inner workings of the misadventure that brought down bear stearns and foreshadowed the financial crisis to come .
with the support of the bear stearns board, which before the arrangement owned more than 5 percent of bear, mr. dimon has secured enough votes to make the april 8th closing something of a foregone conclusion .
‘s high - grade structured credit strategies enhanced leverage fund, which became much easier to refer to in recent weeks as “bear stearns’ collapsing hedge fund. ”
shares of bear stearns closed down $ 2. 06, to $ 143. 75; the stock was down more than 4 percent for the week .
wall street investment bank bear stearns became one of the early casualties of the financial crisis when federal regulators engineered its sale to jpmorgan chase in march 2008 .
in a shocking deal reached on sunday to save bear stearns, jpmorgan chase agreed to pay a mere $ 2 a share to buy all of bear — less than one - tenth the firm’s market price on friday .
confronting a crowd of furious bear stearns executives last week, james dimon ’s temper suddenly flared. pounding the table, his voice rising in anger, the chief executive of jpmorgan chase defended the $ 2 - a - share price he had struck for bear stearns as well as the government’s support of the deal .
the cut - price deal for bear stearns reflects deep misgivings about its future and the enormous obligations that jpmorgan is assuming in guaranteeing the firm’s obligations. in an unusual move, the fed will provide financing for the transaction, including support for as much as $ 30 billion of bear stearns’s “less - liquid assets. ”
stock traders negotiate in sao paolo monday morning. brazil' s stock market dropped amid fears the global credit crisis that sank bear stearns would spread. hide caption
bear stearns agrees to pay $ 42 million to settle civil and criminal fraud charges in connection with its role as clearing broker for a. r. baron .
after the first set of negotiations, where we had talked about a price for bear stearns with jpmorgan chase without any government assistance, by certainly late in the day on saturday and turning into sunday, chase said that they were not prepared to do a transaction which included some of the more toxic assets at bear stearns .
july 17, 2007 - in a letter sent to investors, bear stearns asset management reported that its bear stearns high - grade structured credit fund had lost more than 90% of its value, while the bear stearns high - grade structured credit enhanced leveraged fund had lost virtually all of its investor capital. the larger structured credit fund had around $ 1 billion, while the enhanced leveraged fund, which was less than a year old, had nearly $ 600 million in investor capital .
yet, as bear stearns worked to manage the crisis, many on wall street speculated about how the firm could let the funds get in such a precarious position .
bear stearns writes to inform clients that the two hedge funds now contain “very little” or “effectively no value” for investors. by august, both funds file for bankruptcy .
bear stearns posts fourth - quarter loss of $ 854 million on massive mortgage - related write - downs, the first quarterly loss in its 85 - year history .
bear stearns moved aggressively to expand its london office, adding 100 new employees to the existing 600 in early 2000, and moved to grow its european presence, but analysts criticized bear stearns for having moved too late in establishing itself internationally. the company' s investment banking revenues languished as a result of this weak international presence .
ultimately, these responses would not be enough to stop the collapse of bear stearns in march of 2008, nor the full - blown financial crisis six months later .
jpmorgan chase will provide an unspecified amount of funding to bear stearns for an initial period of 28 days, and those loans will be effectively insured by the fed .
wall street analysts say the bid to rescue bear stearns was more than just saving one of the world’s largest investments bank — it was a prop for the u. s. economy and the global financial system. an outright collapse could cause huge losses for banks, hedge funds and other investors to which bear stearns is connected .
bear stearns doesn' t just have its own assets — it serves as what' s called a
counterparty ,
meaning it works as the middleman for billions of dollars in transactions. so, working people have retirement funds there, for example, and smaller banks and hedge funds can trade stocks or securities through bear stearns .
bear stearns in a sense was saved; it was folded in to jpmorgan. but the shareholders, the officers lost a great deal, and they' re very angry because if the fed had extended the lending rights to bear stearns that had extended the next day to the other investment banks, they believe they would have survived .
bear stearns, like all wall street investment banks, operates by borrowing money on a daily basis from other banks to fund its activities (see q7). however, when bear’s mortgage businesses and investments became weak, its creditors began to doubt bear’s ability to repay its loans. one by one, lenders denied bear stearns the credit it needed to operate its business. by friday, march 14, 2008, bear stearns was unable to raise any more money. over the weekend, investment bank jp morgan chase executives negotiated a deal with the federal reserve to buy bear stearns with a $ 29. 5 billion loan from the fed that would cover all of bear’s bad investments. the sale to jp morgan chase was announced on the morning of monday, march 17, 2008 for $ 2 a share, although the price would later be increased to $ 10 a share .
significantly, the issuance of new shares will sharply dilute the 30 percent stake owned by bear stearns employees, a large number of whom were likely to oppose the deal .
in his testimony, bernanke said the fed and other government agencies were informed on march 13 that without help bear stearns would have to file for bankruptcy the next day .
five years ago this week, bear stearns was sold to jpmorgan chase at a fire - sale price, after the overnight financing keeping the investment bank afloat dried up .
this is not the first time bear stearns has earned a place in wall street history. a decade ago, bear stearns refused to help bail out a hedge fund that was deemed “too big to fail. ” on friday, the tables had turned, with the now - struggling investment bank in need of the same kind of aid .
there are other possible explanations for bear' s latest rally. paul hickey at bespoke investment group in harrison, n. y. , says there is
a big contingent of holders who aren' t selling
bear stearns stock .
bear stearns really had no choice. the bank is facing an onslaught of rumors about its losses in the mortgage industry, and on friday it reported some major liquidity problems — investors were pulling their money out and the bank was short on cash. the only way for bear stearns to keep doing business was to let itself be bought by another firm like jpmorgan. but the deal effectively wipes out most of bear stearns' shareholder wealth, and it' s not clear whether it will win shareholders' approval .
fighting to save the funds, bear stearns sold $ 3. 6 billion in high - grade securities. meanwhile, its adviser, blackstone, scrambled to line up a deal in which bear stearns would put up $ 1. 5 billion in new loans and a consortium of banks led by citigroup and barclays would put in $ 500 million .
our film starts as bear stearns is stumbling, and a rumor is going, and the housing bubble has burst, and it' s all going to go down in about a week. from dallas you must have watched some of this happen. what did you think about the idea of pumping that $ 30 billion into bear stearns? …
bear stearns' s willingness to take risks pushed it into the forefront of corporate takeover activity. the firm was described as a
breeding ground
for corporate takeover attempts, and as masterful at disguising takeover maneuvers. in some instances, however, bear stearns' s aggressiveness earned it an unsavory reputation. the firm was known to wage proxy battles against its own clients, as it did in 1982 against global natural resources after deciding that global' s management had undervalued its assets and could realize greater profits. in 1986, bear stearns developed an option agreement that essentially allowed clients to buy stock under bear stearns' s name, a tactic that facilitated corporate takeover attempts. the justice department and the sec put an end to such tactics by filing suits against several of bear stearns' s clients for
parking
stock (all of them settled) .
bear stearns was sold to jp morgan chase at a fraction of its previous market capitalization. the fed lent jp morgan chase the money to make the purchase and it later cost the company several billion to close out the failing trades and settle litigation against bear stearns. the reason bear stearns was sold off so cheaply is that, at the time, no one knew which banks held toxic assets or how big of a hole these seemingly innocuous synthetic products could knock in a balance sheet. the illiquidity that bear stearns faced due to its exposure to securitized debt exposed troubles at other investment banks, as well. many of the biggest banks were heavily exposed to this sort of investment, including lehman brothers and merrill lynch. the collapse of bear stearns and its sale to jp morgan chase was the start of the bloodletting in the investment banking sector, not the end .
the results of the liquidity stress tests showed trouble. tests done in may of 2008 showed lehman would be $ 84 billion short of cash in the “bear stearns” scenario, and $ 15 billion short when tested against the less stringent “bear stearns light. ” a month later, yet another liquidity stress test by the fed showed lehman $ 15 billion short on necessary cash to survive a loss of funding similar to bear’s .
even as those talks took place, bear stearns simultaneously prepared to file for bankruptcy protection in the event a deal could not be struck, underscoring the severity of its troubles .
within weeks of the shocking collapse of bear stearns in march 2008, i started interviewing former executives of the firm to try to figure out what had just happened and why .
in the mid - 1990s, bear stearns continued its concerted drive to establish itself in emerging foreign markets in asia and latin america. toward this end the company opened a representative office in beijing in 1994 - - a diplomatic as well as pragmatic move, as the addition of the beijing office to bear stearns' s hong kong headquarters was touted as an important demonstration of respect for and commitment to china as a formidable world financial power. bear stearns asia ltd. was significantly rewarded for this commitment in 1995, when it was chosen by guangzhou railway corporation to be the sole lead underwriter for its public offering, a prime assignment in the eyes of bear stearns' s competitors in hong kong .
march 16: the federal reserve agrees to guarantee $ 30 billion of bear stearns' assets in connection with the government - sponsored sale of the investment bank to jpmorgan chase .
cayne forced spector to resign on august 5. bear stearns had survived what many came to call a “near - death experience, ” but its troubles were only just beginning .
bear stearns said it sought emergency funding after realizing it would not be able to keep up with a spike in demand from lenders and others trying to get their cash back .
that all changed in the summer of 2007, when two bear stearns - related hedge funds collapsed and bear liquidated them. short - term lenders began to question the judgment of bear’s management, and mr. friedman was on the front lines of gauging how the market viewed the firm as a credit risk. he quickly discovered, much to his dismay, that bear had become a pariah .
bear could have faced bankruptcy if jpmorgan did not offer to acquire it, and that could have left bear employees and shareholders empty - handed .
while the new offer is unlikely to fully appease bear stearns executives, who just over a year ago owned substantial stakes in a firm with a market value of over $ 20 billion, or institutional shareholders who have seen their own positions shrivel, the price is expected to result in quick shareholder approval. the alternative would be near certain bankruptcy for bear stearns .
bear stearns begins expanding retail operations in the united states and, over the next eight years, opens offices in san francisco, los angeles, dallas, atlanta, and boston .
he pauses to let the idea sink in. “if i had to pick the biggest financial crime ever perpetuated, ” he concludes, “i would say, ‘bear stearns. ’ ”
the action by the fed board in washington represented an endorsement of a rescue effort for bear stearns that had already been arranged by jpmorgan and the federal reserve’s new york regional bank .
before greenberg’s ascendancy to ceo, bear stearns began to expand from its new york roots throughout the 1950s and 1960s, opening international offices and expanding its u. s. operations .
in october 1985, greenberg and the firm' s executive committee announced that bear stearns would make a public stock offering in an effort to increase the company' s ability to raise capital to finance larger trades. part of the strategy included the formation of a holding company named bear stearns companies, inc. shortly after the initial 20 percent offering, bear stearns reorganized from a brokerage house into a full - service investment firm with divisions in investment banking, institutional equities, fixed income securities, individual investor services, and mortgage - related products .
the imminent insolvency of bear stearns, the large presence of bear stearns in several important financial markets (including, in particular, the markets for repo - style transactions, over - the - counter derivative and foreign exchange transactions, mortgage - backed securities, and securities clearing services), and the potential for contagion to similarly situated firms raised significant concern that the stability of financial markets would be seriously disrupted if bear stearns were suddenly unable to meet its obligations to counterparties, and the extension of credit allowed for an orderly resolution of the firm .
background in march 2008, the bear stearns companies, inc. (bear stearns) was one of the largest securities firms in the country, with reported total consolidated assets of nearly $ 400 billion. bear stearns engaged in a broad range of activities, including investment banking, securities and derivatives trading and clearing, brokerage services, and originating and securitizing commercial and residential mortgage loans. financial conditions for the firm deteriorated markedly between mid - january and mid - march 2008. on march 13, 2008, bear stearns notified the federal reserve that it expected that it would not have enough funding or liquid assets to meet its financial obligations the following day and would not be able to find a private - sector source of alternative financing .
bear stearns was one of the pre - eminent investment banks on wall street before its demise in march 2008. during the growth of the housing bubble, bear stearns set up a collection of hedge funds that began to buy different classes of mortgage - backed securities. those firms became heavily invested in securities with subprime mortgages. when the value of homes declined and subprime mortgages began to default, the hedge funds started to see serious losses. eventually, the hedge funds failed and bear stearns had to bail out its own businesses to the tune of over $ 1 billion. bear was left with countless assets it couldn’t sell .
shares of bear stearns were holding up in trading, posting a 1. 8 percent gain shortly before 1 p. m. , while goldman’s stock was up 0. 8 percent .
as part of marathon negotiations over the weekend of march 15 - 16, the fed originally agreed to take $ 30 billion in securities off the books of bear stearns to facilitate the acquisition of the firm by jp morgan chase & co. for a price of around $ 2 a share. a year ago, bear stearns was trading at about $ 150 a share .
today has a big story walking us through the events leading up to the collapse of bear stearns this past week. but perhaps you haven’t gotten to it yet. it’s so large and
bear stearns customers will become customers of jpmorgan chase. their accounts will transfer automatically; they don' t have to do anything, says laurence meyer, a former federal reserve governor .
i got a call on friday, early in the morning, from one of my staff. he had been notified by somebody at the fed that [ bear stearns was ] going to go into bankruptcy, and then when i got into the office the narrative had changed. now there was going to be this government - assisted acquisition by jpmorgan chase of bear stearns .
another bear stearns fund that got into trouble recently (with the same ridiculously long name as the other fund, except without the words “enhanced leverage”) is being propped up by loans from the firm. it was down about 10 percent as of april. the younger, “enhanced” fund is more heavily leveraged, and bear stearns has said it won’t provide any financing for it .
bear stearns was an investment bank located in new york city that collapsed during the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008. the company was founded in 1923 and survived the stock market crash of 1929, becoming a global investment bank with branches around the world. competent management and risk - taking saw bear stearns continue to grow with the global economy. it was one of the many firms to embrace lewis ranieri' s securitization of debt to create new financial products. by the early 2000s, bear stearns was among the world' s largest investment banks and a highly respected member of wall street' s pantheon of investment banks. despite surviving and then thriving after the great depression, bear stearns was a player in the mortgage meltdown and great recession that followed .
stunned dealers and traders at bear stearns turned up for work monday to find the value of their stock options in tatters and the future of their jobs up in the air. just last year, bear stearns stock was trading at $ 172 a share, although it had plunged to $ 30 in recent days amid market rumors that the bank was heavily exposed to subprime losses .
when the federal reserve helped plan a bailout in 1998 of long term capital management, the hedge fund, bear stearns proudly refused to join the effort. until recent weeks, alan “ace” greenberg, bear stearns’s chairman for more than 20 years and a championship bridge player, still regaled its partners over lengthy lunches about gambling with the firm’s money in its wood - paneled dining room .
afterward, mr. cavanaugh said jpmorgan felt comfortable in pulling the trigger despite the short due - diligence process. “we’ve known bear stearns for a long time, ” mr. cavanaugh said .
the fed will provide special financing to jpmorgan chase for the deal, jpmorgan chase said. the central bank has agreed to fund up to $ 30 billion of bear stearns’ less liquid assets. meanwhile, jpmorgan said it will guarantee all business — such as trading and investment banking — until bear stearns’ shareholders approve the deal, which is expected to be completed during the second quarter .
also that month, bear stearns asset management filed plans to start a public offering of a financial services firm called everquest financial, which, to some, appeared to be little more than a place to park the riskiest securities bear stearns had invested in. (the firm has no plans for now to move forward with the offering, according to a person briefed on the firm’s plans. )
the fed extended jpmorgan chase a $ 30 billion credit line to help it buy rival bear stearns, a firm with an 85 - year history on wall street that was on the verge of collapsing due to losses in the mortgage market. jpmorgan is getting bear stearns for the rock - bottom price of about $ 2 a share — or about $ 236 million. that' s a stunningly low price when one considers that bear stearns' shares were trading at $ 30 each on friday, and that its company headquarters building in new york is valued at $ 1 billion by itself .
revolutions in the freight and transportation industries beginning in the 1940s offered other opportunities. as auto transportation became more efficient and civil aviation more feasible, the once booming rail industry began to decline. bear stearns was quick to see an opportunity, and as most of the nation' s railroads went into bankruptcy, bear stearns became one of the biggest arbitrators of mergers and acquisitions between railroad companies .
1) december 14, 2006 - bear stearns posts record earnings, touting huge profit gains from then - booming businesses advising on mergers and arranging credit derivative, distressed debt and leveraged finance deals .
from left: former bear stearns c. e. o. ’s alan schwartz, james cayne, and alan “ace” greenberg, in front of the firm’s former headquarters, in new york city .
jpmorgan did not respond to a request for comment on what the takeover of bear stearns has done for its business, but a tour through dimon’s annual shareholder letters illustrates the evolution of the purchase .
bear stearns was founded in 1923 and in recent years was best known for its aggressive investing in mortgage - backed securities — and what was once a cash cow turned into the investment bank’s undoing .
a bear market is a market in which securities prices fall and ...
a bear fund is a mutual fund designed to provide higher returns ...
bridge loan to address the immediate liquidity needs of bear stearns and forestall the potential systemic disruptions that a default or bankruptcy of the company would have caused in the already stressed credit markets, on friday, march 14, 2008, the federal reserve board authorized the federal reserve bank of new york (frbny) to extend credit to bear stearns through jpmorgan chase bank, n. a. (jpmc bank). the purpose of this bridge loan was to ensure that bear stearns would meet its obligations as they came due that day, allowing for time during the weekend for bear stearns to explore options with other financial institutions that might enable it to avoid bankruptcy and for policymakers to continue to seek ways to contain the risk to financial markets in the event no private - sector solution proved possible. the loan to bear stearns was in the amount of $ 12. 9 billion and was secured by assets of bear stearns with a value of $ 13. 8 billion. the rate of interest on this loan was the rate for primary credit. the frbny received no warrants or any other potential equity of either jpmc bank or bear stearns in exchange for the loan, and the loan was made without recourse to jpmc bank. on the morning of monday, march 17, the $ 12. 9 billion was repaid in full to the frbny with interest of nearly $ 4 million .
but a batch of bear - related emails from the crisis era that became public through a shareholder lawsuit and were sent to me by the investigative reporter teri buhl raise questions about which of mr. friedman’s statements more closely reflected the reality of what was going on at bear stearns .
bear stearns companies, the investment bank, pledged up to $ 3. 2 billion in loans yesterday to bail out one of its hedge funds that was collapsing because of bad bets on subprime mortgages .
by 2009, dimon was hammering home the steps jpmorgan had taken to use its global footprint to leverage the bear stearns businesses, including expanding the mostly - domestic prime services business to europe and asia .
bear stearns bought out by jp morgan chase bear stearns, an 85 - year - old investment bank, has been purchased by jp morgan chase at the rock - bottom price of $ 2 a share. the federal reserve will provide up to $ 30 billion to jp morgan chase to help it finance the purchase. guests discuss the buy - out deal and what it could mean for small businesses .
last july, two of the hedge funds run by bear stearns went bankrupt, with losses of $ 2. 6 billion. throughout the crisis, cayne continued to play golf and participate in bridge tournaments. he also negotiated a $ 1 billion investment from the state - owned chinese bank, citic securities – which failed to stop bear stearns slide (citic is now pulling out of the deal) .
bernanke was the top witness at a hearing called to examine whether the fed was justified in providing up to $ 30 billion to facilitate the sale of bear stearns cos. to jp morgan chase & co .
bear stearns, one of the nation' s biggest and most prominent investment banks, stunned wall street friday by announcing it had turned to rival jp morgan chase and the federal government for an emergency bailout .
jp morgan chase said sunday it will acquire rival bear stearns for a bargain - basement $ 236. 2 million, a stunning collapse for one of the world' s largest and most storied investment banks .
for the next hour the bear stearns rumor became a topic of conversation between cnbc correspondents and various market traders and analysts. at 1: 50, matthew cheslock remarked, “the sentiment [ on bear ] is pretty negative. the general consensus is ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire. ’ ”
the deal followed a weekend of frantic negotiations to save the ailing firm. with the fed and treasury department patched in by conference call from washington, bear stearns executives held the equivalent of a speed - dating auction over the weekend, with prospective bidders holed up in a half dozen conference rooms at its madison avenue headquarters. more than 150 jpmorgan employees descended on bear stearns to examine the firm’s books and trading accounts .
bear stearns (bsc, fortune 500) shares soared last week on lewis' veiled threat - and prompted jpmorgan chief jamie dimon to sweeten his offer .
we believe the amended terms are fair to all sides and reflect the value and risks of the bear stearns franchise ,
dimon said in monday' s press release ,
and bring more certainty for our respective shareholders, clients, and the marketplace .
bear stearns is trading at $ 6 instead of $ 2 because unelected bureaucrats went beyond their legal mandates, delivered a windfall to a single private company at public expense, entered agreements that violate the the public trust, and created a situation where even if the bureaucratic malfeasance stands, the shareholders of bear stearns will either reject the deal or be deprived of their right to determine the fate of the company they own. very simply, bear stearns is still in play. still, when all is said and done, my own impression is that the ultimate value of the stock will not be $ 2, but exactly zero .
at bear stearns, 80 - year - old ace greenberg was already pelting senior officials with phone calls, demanding that someone go public to rebut the rumor. “ace was kind of freaking out that morning, ” one senior bear executive says with a sigh. “he just couldn’t contain himself. ”
given the exceptional pressures on the global economy and financial system, the damage caused by a default by bear stearns could have been severe and extremely difficult to contain ,
bernanke told the senate banking committee .
a bear stearns bankruptcy could well have touched off a chain reaction at other major financial institutions. that would have shaken confidence in credit markets that already have been battered ,
dimon said in his testimony .
bear stearns ponies up $ 3. 2 billion to bail out two hedge funds created to invest in subprime mortgages: the high grade structured credit strategies fund and the high grade structured credit strategies enhanced leverage fund .
in his 2010 letter, dimon reflected on the strength of jpmorgan’s balance sheet, noting the bank had managed to acquire both bear stearns and washington mutual in 2008 with only a modest drop in its capital ratios .
keep in mind that during the real stress test after the collapse of lehman brothers, our capital levels never went down, even after buying $ 500 billion of assets through the acquisitions of bear stearns and wamu .
after fighting off rumors all week that it was facing a crippling cash crisis, bear stearns bsc on friday roiled financial markets with news it had to turn to the federal reserve and jpmorgan chase for a bailout .
bear stearns was more vulnerable to a panic mentality, hintz says, because the firm had more exposure to mortgage - backed securities, and has been under pressure to sell those securities at fire - sale prices .
bear stearns is bailing one of the funds out because it is worried about the damage to its reputation if it stuck investors and lenders with big losses, said dick bove, an analyst with punk ziegel & company .
the mistakes made the bear stearns fund managers' first mistake was failing to accurately predict how the subprime bond market would behave under extreme circumstances. in effect, the funds did not accurately protect themselves from event risk .
at the close of business that afternoon, bear stearns was trading at $ 62. 97. at that point, whoever made the gamble owned the right to sell huge bundles of bear stock, at $ 30 and $ 25, on or before march 20th. in order for the bet to pay, bear would have to fall harder and faster than any wall street brokerage in history .
on sunday night, jamie dimon, the chief executive of jpmorgan, held a conference call with the heads of major american financial companies to alert them to the deal and allay their concerns about doing business with bear stearns .
federal reserve chairman ben bernanke prepares to testify on capitol hill in washington, thursday, april 3, 2008, before the senate banking committee hearing on the government bailout of bear stearns. (ap photos / susan walsh )
on march 16, 2008, jpmorgan chase & co. (nyse: jpm) announced that it would acquire bear stearns in a stock - for - stock exchange that valued the hedge fund at $ 2 per share .
the hedge funds using these strategies posted massive losses that required them to be bailed out internally, costing the company several billion up front and then additional billion - dollar losses in write - downs throughout the year. this was bad news for bear stearns, but the company had a market cap of $ 20 billion, so the losses were considered unfortunate but manageable. this turmoil saw the first quarterly loss in 80 years for bear stearns. then the ratings firms piled on and continued to downgrade bear stearns' mortgage - backed securities and other holdings. this left the firm with illiquid assets in a down market. the company ran out of funds and, in march 2008, went to the federal reserve for a credit guarantee through the term securities lending facility. another downgrade hit the firm and a bank run started. by march 13, bear stearns was broke and its stock plummeted.
the bear stearns companies , inc. was a new york-based global investment bank , securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession , and was subsequently sold to jpmorgan chase . its main business areas before its failure were capital markets , investment banking , wealth management and global clearing services , and it was heavily involved in the subprime mortgage crisis . in the years leading up to the failure , bear stearns was heavily involved in securitization and issued large amounts of asset-backed securities , which were in the case of mortgages pioneered by lewis ranieri , " the father of mortgage securities " . as investor losses mounted in those markets in 2006 and 2007 , the company actually increased its exposure , especially the mortgage-backed assets that were central to the subprime mortgage crisis . in march 2008 , the federal reserve bank of new york provided an emergency loan to try to avert a sudden collapse of the company . the company could not be saved however and was sold to jp morgan chase for $ 10 per share , a price far below its pre-crisis 52-week high of $ 133.20 per share , but not as low as the $ 2 per share originally agreed upon by bear stearns and jp morgan chase . the collapse of the company was a prelude to the risk management meltdown of the investment banking industry in the united states and elsewhere that culminated in september 2008 , and the subsequent global financial crisis of 2008 – 2009 . in january 2010 , jpmorgan ceased using the bear stearns name . 
the bear stearns companies, inc. was a new york-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to jpmorgan chase. its main business areas before its failure were capital markets, investment banking, wealth management and global clearing services, and it was heavily involved in the subprime mortgage crisis. in the years leading up to the failure, bear stearns was heavily involved in securitization and issued large amounts of asset-backed securities, which were in the case of mortgages pioneered by lewis ranieri, " the father of mortgage securities ". as investor losses mounted in those markets in 2006 and 2007, the company actually increased its exposure, especially the mortgage-backed assets that were central to the subprime mortgage crisis. in march 2008, the federal reserve bank of new york provided an emergency loan to try to avert a sudden collapse of the company. the company could not be saved however and was sold to jp morgan chase for $ 10 per share, a price far below its pre-crisis 52-week high of $ 133.20 per share, but not as low as the $ 2 per share originally agreed upon by bear stearns and jp morgan chase. the collapse of the company was a prelude to the risk management meltdown of the investment banking industry in the united states and elsewhere that culminated in september 2008, and the subsequent global financial crisis of 2008 – 2009. in january 2010, jpmorgan ceased using the bear stearns name.
the bear stearns companies, inc. was a new york-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to jpmorgan chase. its main business areas before its failure were capital markets, investment banking, wealth management and global clearing services, and it was heavily involved in the subprime mortgage crisis. in the years leading up to the failure, bear stearns was heavily involved in securitization and issued large amounts of asset-backed securities, which were in the case of mortgages pioneered by lewis ranieri, " the father of mortgage securities ". as investor losses mounted in those markets in 2006 and 2007, the company actually increased its exposure, especially the mortgage-backed assets that were central to the subprime mortgage crisis. in march 2008, the federal reserve bank of new york provided an emergency loan to try to avert a sudden collapse of the company. the company could not be saved however and was sold to jp morgan chase for $ 10 per share, a price far below its pre-crisis 52-week high of $ 133.20 per share, but not as low as the $ 2 per share originally agreed upon by bear stearns and jp morgan chase. the collapse of the company was a prelude to the risk management meltdown of the investment banking industry in the united states and elsewhere that culminated in september 2008, and the subsequent global financial crisis of 2008 – 2009. in january 2010, jpmorgan ceased using the bear stearns name.