Prior to the news of the sale of
Bear Stearns to JP Morgan Chase, on March 16, 2008, Bear Stearns held a conference call at 12:30 EDT on March 14. The purpose of the call was to deflect (in the words of CFO Sam Molinaro) "rumors that were not true" that Bear Stearns was facing insolvency. When news broke of the company's purchase by JP Morgan Chase, and of the agreed price of $2/share, it was clear that it was Bear Stearns that had been telling something other than the truth. The investment bank, heavily mired in subprime and other 'innovative' mortgage instruments, had run out of options in the latter half of the second week of March 2008, falling nearly 50% in a half hour of trading at one point. The company has announced that it will release its earnings report for the first quarter of 2008 on March 17. For more information on the company and its decline, see the pages on
Bear Stearns and
the Bear Stearns stock decline.
