JPM buying Bear Stearns for $2 dollars a share. Was $57 on Thursday and $30 on Friday

[dkf]

Yikes.

JPMorgan to Buy Bear for $2 a Share
Sunday March 16, 7:36 pm ET
By Joe Bel Bruno and Madlen Read, AP Business Writers
JPMorgan Says It Will Buy Ailing Bear Stearns in a Deal Valued at $236.2 Million

NEW YORK (AP) -- JPMorgan Chase said Sunday it will acquire rival Bear Stearns in a deal valued at $236.2 million, a stunning collapse for one of the world's largest and most venerable investment banks.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. said the $2 a share, all-stock deal has received the required approvals from the federal government and the Federal Reserve. Bear Stearns shares close Friday at $30 a share.

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.

At almost the same time as the deal for control of Bear Stearns was announced, the Federal Reserve said it approved a cut in its lending rate to banks to 3.25 percent from 3.50 percent and created another lending facility for big investment banks. The central bank's official meeting is on Tuesday. Before the emergency move to lower the discount rate, which is the rate at which banks lend each other money, the Fed was widely expected to again cut its headline rate by as much as a full point to 2 percent.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080316/jpmorgan_bear_stearns.ht...

[AP]

1. It will probably be a tough day for the dollar tomorrow...

...between cutting interest rates and troubled times for the U.S. financial sector.

[peacebird]

2. arrrggh & Ahoy there Mates! There be PIRATES and sharks in these here waters

the question is - does JPMorgan have enough money to prevent Bear Stearns collapse? Or is this just postponing it in the hope that the govt will keep propping things up?

Once one of the big boys folds this whole house of cards is liable to come tumbling down... All the Bush administration wants is to postpone the collapse til after Nov 2nd....

[dkf]

8. The Fed is helping out with the really bad assets.

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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/jpmorgan_bear_stearns

[Deny and Shred]

17. That $30 billion is in addition to the $200 billion to the Fed put up this week

and the $20, $60 + $100 billion for the last three months.
The Fed is issuing US Treasuries (taxpayer money)and taking credit derivatives as collateral. I hope this JPM deal stops this foolish practice, but if I had ANY on the books, I'd go crying to Paulson and Bernake. There response would, of course depend on whom I'm friends with, but the process of taxpayer money making good on bad Wall Street bets has just begun. Now, it gets selective. That one month window opens tomorrow. I imagine whatever offered will be snatched up quickly.

http://acheson.wordpress.com/2008/03/15/before-the-fed-... /

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Paulson-Credit-Cr...

[bluesmail]

18. what a jolly way of putting our demise!

now back to reality and thank you for the laugh.

[peacebird]

21. hope the laughter helps ease the pain...

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

3. My sphincter muscles are in overtime. 2bucks?!

[AlinPA]

5. Incredible. They were 80$/sh around January.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

6. I'm gonna have 2 buck nightmares tonight.

Wonder what the Nikkei will look like tonight.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

13. Nikkei opens 400 down.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=%5EN225

edit to add, Rec the thread folks.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Wow! It just drives home the truth that nothing is permanent, nothing is forever.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

7. Gold up over 14 in 30 minutes.

http://kitco.com
1017.

[panAmerican]

9. A 98.8% drop in book value and they say

"A collapse of Bear Stearns could have created a further crisis of confidence..."

OMG, if this isn't the equivalent of blood in the streets what is?

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

10. Is this the right chart?

http://chart.finance.yahoo.com/c/1y/b/bsc
One year.

[LSdemocrat]

11. Glad I'm not a Bear Stearns shareholder

[kentuck]

12. What do they do with Larry Kudlow ??

Hasn't he been a big spokesman and cheerleader for Bear Stearns for years?

[Elidor]

14. Wow, that's chump change

Bear Stearns probably used to make that much in a week. Damn, it's gonna be a hard fall, indeed. And as Atrios notes, look for more like this as banks begin to determine the true value of Big Shitpile.

It's the fucking S&L crisis all over again, and who do we have to thank? That's right: the rabid deregulators of the GOP. Every time they talk about "tax and spend democrats" one of our leaders needs to get up and beat them about the head and shoulders with the billions upon billions of dollars that the suckers in this country get to pay to rich assholes to bail them out when their greed brings the whole system crashing down. Then tack on the billions in oil subsidies, all the no-bid government contracts, the whole $3 trillion Iraq fiasco, etcetera, etcetera...

Democratic government is dirt cheap next to these idiots.

[dkf]

15. The Bear Stearns building is worth $1.2 billion and they got sold for $240 million

Bear Stearns's profit exceeded $2 billion in 2006, yet the price JPMorgan is paying is about one quarter the value of the securities firm's headquarters building in midtown Manhattan. The 1.2 million-square-foot, 45-story structure built in 2001 is worth about $1.2 billion, based on the average $1,000 per- square-foot that comparable office space in the city is currently fetching.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWb...

[Elidor]

16. That's just stunning

I can't even digest that.

[bluesmail]

19. wow, I agree, looks like the Great Depression is upon us

thanks Dick, thanks George.

[bluesmail]

20. woops, forgot the K&R, (for lost measure)

[Mike03]

22. Were I a shareholder, I'd be filing suit about now, just like

I had to do after Worldcom "crashed." I imagine that Enron shareholders feel similarly.