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.

Fortune gets the scoop on Bear's Cayne originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

James Cayne added insult to injury has he sold his last $61 million in stock. He got slight ly more than $10 a share. When the stock traded above $170 lost year, he was a bit better off. According to MarketWatch, "Cayne and his wife sold two large blocks of more than 5.6 million Bear Stearns shares."

Cayne will take a beating for cashing out while many Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) employees lose their jobs in a takeover by JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM). He had been kicked out of the CEO job by his board. While he has much responsibility for the collapse of the firm, he has lost most of his fortune, and is in his seventies.

Cayne took what he could before the deal faces potential reviews by Congress. The transaction could still fall apart and take the stock to zero. Cayne will be long gone then, back to playing bridge, golfing, and allegedly smoking pot.

Dougals A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Bear Stearns (BSC) chairman dumps all his stock originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

At a mere $276 million, celebrity talk-show host and entertainment billionaire Oprah Winfrey could afford to buy Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), which closed Tuesday at $5.91 per share and keeps on climbing to over $6.50 a share in morning trading. The story alone and the associated publicity would be worth at least that. Furthermore, she could at least make an offer and demand a meeting with the Federal Reserve Board to discuss the issue.

If her offer was rejected, she would still be able to generate millions of dollars of publicity and perhaps she might want to acquire the asset, in particular if the Fed is going to protect the acquirer from potential losses. She could really become an international mogul, the likes of which has not been seen. We all know that Oprah wants to do good. She is so giving, this could be the ultimate.

I could just see the headlines: Oprah Winfrey takes on JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and the Federal Reserve to rescue John Q. Public.

Continue reading Bear Stearns going too cheap, Oprah Winfrey should buy it

Bear Stearns going too cheap, Oprah Winfrey should buy it originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bear Stearns Cos. (NYSE: BSC) embattled CEO Jimmy Cayne is lucky his firm reported its horrid quarterly results showing its biggest profit decline in more than a decade so soon after Ben Bernanke delighted the market through a larger-than-anticipated rate cut. Good thing too that the market reacted positively to comments made by CFO Samuel Molinaro that the worst is over though it wasn't clear when he developed his psychic abilities.

For now, investors are basking in the present sending shares of New York-based Bear are up in early afternoon including Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), which reported better-than-expected third-quarter results today. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH), which reported strong earnings yesterday, also showed gains as did Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER). Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), which disappointed investors, was a laggard.

Nonetheless, the contrasts between Bear Stearns and the rest of Wall Street are stark.

Continue reading Is the worst really over for Bear Stearns (BSC)?

Is the worst really over for Bear Stearns (BSC)? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bear Stearns Cos. (NYSE: BSC) Chief Executive Jimmy Cayne and his one-time protege Warren Spector attended the National Bridge Championship in Nashville in July just as the credit markets were starting to implode, showing how much their priorties were out of whack.

Spector, who was fired Sunday as the subprime meltdown engulfs the Wall Street bank, actually won his first national championship in the four-day competition which attracted about 5,000 people from 18 countries, according to Rick Beye, the tournament's director. Spector achieved the designation of Life Master at young age the age of 16. I guess he didn't discover girls until later.

Cayne's prowess at bridge is legendary. He's been a world-class bridge player for more than 30 years. Among his many titles are Grand Life Master, the highest rank of the American Contract Bridge League. Neither Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) Chief Executive Warren Buffett nor Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates, who are both avid bridge players, are close to being that good.

Of course, the bridge connection to the subprime meltdown will make it tougher for bridge to market itself as a game that's fun for players under 75. There is even a Web site called bridge is cool aimed at teens and there was a college competition at the tournament..

Of course, being a champion requires a single-minded persuit of excellence, but it seems like Cayne and Spector had better ways to spend their time. But if Nero fiddled while Rome burned, I guess these guys could play cards while Bear Stearns' shareholders shelled out $1 billion to rescue two collapsed hedge funds.

Jimmy Cayne plays bridge while Bear Stearns (BSC) burns originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bear Stearns Cos. (NYSE: BSC) Chief Executive Jimmy Cayne may soon be following his protege and bridge-playing buddy Warren Spector out of the venerable Wall Street bank.

Late Sunday, Cayne fired Spector, whom Bloomberg News says once viewed a potential successor, in a scene that must have been quite dramatic. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal's accounts have Cayne delivering the bad news in a dimly lit office. Spector was apparently shocked, but he shouldn't have been.

The meltdown in the subprime mortgage market has rocked Bear Stearns. Two hedge funds have blown up costing investors more than $1 billion. Standard & Poor's cut its outlook on the company's A+ credit rating to negative on Friday. Bear Stearns' stock is in freefall, plunging more than 30 percent over the past three months. Cayne failed to reassure investors that things were going swimmingly even though he pointed out that the company was "solidly profitable" during June and July.

What's next for Bear Stearns? Well, the Journal argues that Wall Street has been "buzzing with speculation that the firm will need to seek a strategic investor."

If that's the case, it's hard to imagine that any big investor would do that with Cayne still running the show.

Can Bear Stearns (BSC) CEO Cayne last much longer? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.