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Early Addition
It's the New York banking equivalent of the Enron meltdown: Bear Stearns has agreed to sell itself to JP Morgan Chase at a fire sale price. When Bear Stearns' 14,000 employees left work Friday afternoon, the bank's stock had already plunged almost 50% in value, closing at $30 a share. But today they found out something much, much, much worse: their company has been purchased for a piddling $2 a share. That's $236MM for a company that was "worth" $3.54 billion on Friday. That's a 93% discount on Friday's closing price, and a 99% discount off January 2007's price of $170/share. Given that Bear Stearns' midtown headquarters had been valued as high as $1.5 billion, the firm's liabilities must have been enormous.
According to the NY Times, Bear Stearns' execs spent the weekend desperately trying to find a buyer willing to pay anything for the bank. To get the deal done, the Federal Reserve agreed to step in and help the bank remain liquid-- providing a $30B loan and agreeing to take over the administration of some of the bank's assets. Many speculated that if the Fed didn't step in, Monday's trading could have seen "ominous market disruptions."
The Wall Street Journal reports employees, who own about 30% of the stock, were hoping for a foreign buyer to avoid the massive layoffs which come with domestic mergers. With JP Morgan as the buyer, layoffs are almost certain, and the effect on New York City's budget and economy will not be good. That last point is hard to dispute: just last month, Citigroup wrote down a $10 billion loss on bad debt. And more is yet to come: the WSJ says that the effect of Bear Stearns' collapse could be dire. If Bear Stearns is worth just 2.5% of its previously stated book value, how much are all the other investment banks worth?
Update 10:36PM: the Nikkei index is down more than 500 points. And American stock index futures are also pointing south. Uh-oh!
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how could no one see this coming? I thought they had diversity in their assets? for the stock to be 160 bucks 2 years ago and trade at 2 dollars is inconceivable. ELiot spitzer should have stayed on wall street. Crooks are running loose.
what a steal
i guess this is the sound of a bubble bursting.
This is final proof that Spitzer did nothing. Never even tried a case or sent anyone to prison. He settled with firms for miniscule fines and springboarded his way to Albany.
Now Bears' executives will walk away with millions and the taxpayer picks up the tab. The dollar is already tanking further in Asian trading.
Ouch, this is not good.
Another instance where allegedly intelligent investors play with their money, take risky positions, and when the house of cards comes down, the American tax payer has to foot the bill. Effectively, they gamble with our money. But when they win, we don't see dime one. Quite a racket they have going.
Nevertheless, idiots will continue to worship at the altar of the "free market" and complain whenever the government tries its hand at oversight.
on the upside, this might be a pretty good deal for JP Morgan. They have the assets to ride out a long credit crunch, and when things settle down, they'll probably carve up the corpse of BS at a huge profit.
In contravention of NYC law, all honest otherwise generally common law abiding hard working people should obtain hand guns to protect themselves for the calamity we will face for the next 2 to 7 years. Crrrrrrash.
new england is already taken. are we gonna rename new york new france? new moscow? new york lofts are gonna cost less than a loaf of bread in london if you're getting paid in euros. so much for homeownership.
@7: Yeah, if you're smart, and you have the capital its' prime time to be a vulture. The good hedge funds are making a killing, and the wannabes are closing up show. Welcome to the 80's, second edition.
Everyone who works in finance knew this was going to happen. I just sometimes go boozing with people who work in finance, and I knew.
Wars? They cost money. Sweetheart deals to every contractor creep in America who gave fifty cents to the Republicans? Not cheap. Here's your tangible result.
I used to work for Bear Stearns. Jimmy Cayne was an asshole, a perfect example of the do-nothing corporate head. (He was president at the time.) Alan Greenberg was famous for writing silly memos that are considered classics--but in fact they were pathetic and just show how insular this company was.
I was a scrub. The shoe shinners made more money than me. The mail room was full of retards, literally. And if you walked into the wrong room at the wrong time, you will see a mass of praying Jews. (Nothing against Jews, in particular, but all religions suck ... and therefore practicing Jews suck.)
And all those money making wizards were up to their neck in debt. Everyone of them. I laughed at them. Managing directors? Hah. That was the funny thing. They couldn't fire me. They needed me--but they wouldn't pay. I quit after a year.
Seriously. All those supposed multi-millionaires. They were all broke--and coke heads. (Remember Larry Kudlow?) I laughed then and I laugh now.
Good night, funny man.
I find it hard to believe that teh government is giving bear 30 billion only to have it bought by jp morgan. sounds almost communist.
The Fed isn't giving BS or JPMC $30 bn; I believe it's acting as a guarantor on a line of credit--like getting a co-signer on a lease. It allows everyone to have a little confidence that their debts will be paid and prevents a "run on the bank" so to speak, where panic fuels a death spiral of selling and default on outstanding contracts.
JP Morgan Chase could make out like a bandit on this deal, because the Fed is reducing the risk on its downside, which it required to assume responsibility for taking over a moribund bank. That's all speculation though, because I haven't seen the details on any of these agreements.
Meanwhile the city and state governments are raising tolls, raising taxes, and proposing (through the congestion tax) making it more expensive to conduct business in (DUH!) the Central BUSINESS District!
We need a run on the bank, isn't this what Libertarians want? OK, they don't want it, but their ideals say otherwise. the ayn rand worshipers.
...
So, did the Fed bail BEAR out or JP Morgan??
Jacque-My company does business directly with Bear and from everything I saw Thursday and Friday, there was a run on the bank. I believe the perception there were bigger problems didn't help matters much and the bank run is what made Bear so vulnerable and thus cheap.
Bear made some pretty bad mistakes and some bad bets over the last few months/years and they will have to pay for it. Welcome to a market economy folks. When it happened to Northern Rock and to Abacus Federal someone was there to pick up the pieces. Real life it isn't always rainbows; sometimes it's a pile of dogshit. I think Mrs. Rand would be proud!
JPMorgan Chase is going to make a killing on this deal because they can keep the Prime Brokerage and clearance business while dumping the investment banking arm.
Suicide rates will be up.
If a company with $36 billion of 'cash' on its balance sheet can be sold for under $300 million, we have a problem. A pretty big one!
It's happening. This is just the beginning. Things are going to get much worse.
Hopefully this will free up the outside area of Beer Bar from the overcrowding douchebags.
"I've never seen one, George, but that has all the signs of a run on the bank."
--- "It's a Wonderful Life"
So JPMorgan is Mr. Potter.
Things will get worse, yes, they will. Because they always do. (I'm not being pessimistic, just telling the truth.) They get better, then they get worse, then they get better. It's been this way since the begining of time (or money). What is both amusing and worrying is when people think the hard times will never come, or are obsolete.
Hold on, friends. Hang on to your job as much as you can. Because there's a good side... rents may actually come down, and for many people if the price of their homes in the city drop 20%, they'll still be worth three times what they paid for it. I remember the bust in the early 90s... prices in restaurants actually came down. The biggest thing is stop spending money on shit. Forget the third flat-screen TV. Hang on to whatever cash you have now and there's a good chance you'll find your way through it.
It worked the last time.
"Things will get worse"
Yeah I wonder what nasty surprise is next?
JP Morgan Chase those lucky bastards. Not only did they get a top Investment Bank on the cheap, they're also protected from exposure to most of Bear Stern's liabilities by the Fed. There is no better Guarantee than that.
Condo's for sale MUST PAY REMAINDER OF MY MORTGAGE
I am leaving NYC for DUBAI
dubai isn't safe either.
Houston, we have a problem - Bankruptcy!
Jack: "What is happening in the US?! So, as we all know Bear Stearns more or less went bankrupt... Then JPMorgan buys them for 2 Dollars a share before the markets even open on monday! And the FED cuts rates by 0.25% on sunday?"
John: "Oh, I guess you didn't get the memo? I think we just went bankrupt, those dollars you were using are now worthless, it's time to launch the lifeboats!"
Jack: "Holly, Holly, Holly, John, we are 300 milles over Atlantic and without oxygen!"
Duric Aljosa
Crom Alternative Money Payment System