Fortune gets the scoop on Bear's Cayne

My brother William Cohan's Fortune cover story on Bear Stearns' former CEO Jimmy Cayne has many fascinating tales. (Fortune and BloggingStocks share the same parent -- Time Warner (NYSE: TWX)). I found three to be most interesting.

• Bear was brought down by Fidelity and Federated Investors - Fortune argues that Bear depended on the market for 'overnight repos' -- loans of a one-day term collateralized by securities -- for $50 billion of its working capital. Bear used 71% of its mortgages as its collateral and according to Fortune, "Bear's reliance on overnight Rep effectively gave the overnight lenders -- such as Fidelity and Federated Investors -- a vote on the firm's viability every night. And during that fateful week in mid-March, those overnight lenders voted a collective no. The result? Bear Stearns did not have enough cash on hand to meet customers' demands during the run on the bank."
• Cayne nearly died of sepsis 11 months ago - The article begins, "In the early morning hours last Sept. 11, a black Town Car pulled up to the entrance of New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. Inside the sedan Jimmy Cayne, the CEO of Bear Stearns, was close to death."
• Ace Greenberg planned to ask Barbara Walters to marry him the day before she wed Merv Adelson - Fortune says that Bear's Ace Greenberg told Cayne that he was was dating Walters and was planning to marry her. According to Fortune Greenberg told Cayne, 'I've decided I'm going to marry Barbara Walters.' The very next day in the papers she's engaged to Merv Adelson."

For the full story, read the article.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Time Warner securities.