Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Bear Naked Lenders

in today's WSJ:
The hard capitalist truth is that Bear's most senior managers have mainly themselves to blame. They bought their second or third homes with fabulous bonuses during the good times, and they must now endure the losses from Bear's errant investment bets. Bear took particular pride in its risk management, but it let its standards slide in the hunt for higher returns during the mortgage mania earlier this decade. There's no joy in seeing a venerable firm expire, but it has to happen if financial markets are going to have any discipline going forward.
UPDATE: Felix Salmon has a roundup of why BSC is trading well above $2.

UPDATE: Steven Davidoff highlights the collars around the stock, which afford bond holders voting rights.

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