Oh Sure It’s Over

JPMorgan’s (JPM) chief executive, Jamie Dimon, took full advantage of Bear’s (BSC) dire straits. When he started his sprint-speed talks with Bear on Saturday, JPMorgan suggested it might pay in the low double digits for each share of Bear, people involved in the talks said. And that was without the Fed’s agreeing to take $30 billion of Bear’s most toxic assets off its hands.

By midday Sunday, however, after looking over Bear’s books and saying it was scared stiff by what it saw, JPMorgan dropped its price to $2 a share.

Emphasis added.

Saving Wall St. (For Now)
by Andrew Ross Sorkin
NYT Dealbook Mar. 18 2008