JPMorgan Chase is obviously acquiring a lot in its $236 million purchase of Bear Stearns. For pennies on the dollar, the banking giant is buying extensive prime brokerage and clearing operations, as well as a $1.2 billion office building.
But there’s some truth to the old aphorism that a financial firm’s assets go out the door every night. Citing people involved in the deal talks, The New York Times said Monday that up to a third of that work force may not come back, involuntarily.
Still, JPMorgan is trying to retain some of that human capital all the same. Up in the air, however, is whether the bank will retain one of Bear Stearns’ most valuable assets of all: its chief executive, Alan D. Schwartz.
It’s notable that in announcing the deal Sunday evening, JPMorgan made no mention of what would happen to Mr. Schwartz or other senior executives if the deal goes through. Bear Stearns has been similarly mum.
JPMorgan has floated a couple of ideas about how to retain Mr. Schwartz, according to people involved in the talks. One idea is to make him a vice chairman and, unofficially, a deal maker at large who can parachute into different situations. Such a position would similar to the post held by James B. Lee Jr., the JPMorgan banker known as Wall Street’s money man.
Yes, folks, the CEO who ran the company into the ground is "its most valuable asset." And all those poor schmucks -- not the big-money guys who packaged worthless mortgages into "investment" vehicles, but the low-end guys -- the trainees and the secretaries and the dishwashers in the corporate dining rooms? I guess they can go Cheney themselves.
(h/t)
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