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Bear Stearns Staffers Gird for Mass Layoffs After $3B Hit  

Posted Mar 26, 08 7:30 AM CDT in Business    Most Covered

(newser) – The Icarus-like fall of Bear Stearns stock, trading as high as $170 a share a year ago before plummeting to $2 last week, has cost Bear employees—who once owned nearly a third of the company—more than $3 billion. That's even after JPMorgan raised its bid for the investment bank to close to $10 a share, reports Reuters.

Now the other shoe's about to drop. In addition to losing massive amounts of personal wealth—the stock plunged 88% in less than a month—some 7,000 of the company’s workers are facing layoffs as JPMorgan integrates Bears operations into its own. "It's devastating. I thought I was going to work here my whole life," lamented one Bear staffer.

Source Reuters

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Bear Stearns Staffers Gird for Mass Layoffs After $3B Hit
The Bear Stearns headquarters, bottom, and the JP Morgan headquarters, top, are shown on Monday, March 24, 2008 in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Bear Stearns Staffers Gird for Mass Layoffs After $3B Hit
A sign for Bear Stearns is shown on Monday, March 24, 2008 in New York. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased it offer Monday for Bear Stears Cos. to $10 per share.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Bear Stearns Staffers Gird for Mass Layoffs After $3B Hit
A man walks out of Bear Stearns in New York in this Friday, March 14, 2008 file photo.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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Federal Reserve  • Bear Stearns  • acquisitions  • JP Morgan Chase  • buyout  • takeover


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