CEO James Cayne

The fall of Bear Stearns Bearing all A new book analyses how the near-collapse of Bear Stearns, exactly a year ago, marked the moment when Wall Street was knocked to its senses THE bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 will probably go down as the single most spectacular event in the humbling of Wall Street. But it was the near-collapse of Bear Stearns, six months earlier, that first exposed the fragility of America’s seemingly mighty investment banks, perched atop mountains of debt and dangerously reliant on short-term funding. And it was Bear that brought the first serious reminder, after years of excess, of ... Read Full Story

Friday morning Jim Cayne got to his office at Bear Stearns , flipped the switch and the lights did not come on. Despite all the assurances from the chief over the last two weeks, one of the world's largest investment banks was out of money . Cayne started scrambling, calling around the corner to JP Morgan , and got Ben Bernanke on the phone. As all this was going down, and the stock market tumbled, the Decider was a few blocks away at the Economic Club doing some chipper cheerleading, warning against any federal mortgage bailouts , and giving good marks to the Fed ... Read Full Story

A former Bear Stearns Cos. executive has sued the firm for a $2 million bonus he says it owes him. Gary M. Reback was fired from Bear Stearns in May 2008 as JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought the nearly collapsed investment bank. The suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on May 1 names Bear Stearns and JPMorgan as defendants. Reback claims that even though Bear Stearns was on the verge of going under, he helped make millions of dollars for the Wall Street firm. Reback also is suing for $1.1 million in severance pay he says Bear Stearns promised him. Messages left Monday at ... Read Full Story

The Timeline 2007 A JANUARY 03 Former Chariman & CEO Alan "Ace" Greenberg exercises options to buy 150,000+ shares at $73.75 and he immediately sells all of those shares at the market price of $163.11. He realizes an immediate profit of $13 million. B JUNE 22 Bear Stearns commits $3.2bn in secured loans to bail out one of its hedge funds. It says its troubles are 'relatively contained' . C JULY 17 Bear Stearns reveals that one of its hedge funds has lost all of its value. Another worth 9 per cent of its value at the end of April. D OCTOBER 22 Bears ... Read Full Story

New York Times Inside the Fall of Bear Stearns Wall Street Journal By KATE KELLY Bear Stearns Cos., the 85-year-old Wall Street firm known for its tough trading culture, was rescued from impending bankruptcy by a deal with JP Morgan Chase & Co. Jumping US yields may force Fed wallet open wider Reuters US Interest Rates and Stock Indexes Outlook for May 8, 2009 Inside Futures New York Times  - Sovereign Society  - American Enterprise Institute  - Bloomberg all 44 news articles Read Full Story