Bear Stearns was on the edge of bankruptcy as the US government and bankers rushed to complete the rescue of the company on a Sunday in March 2008.
On March 16, 2008, a fire sale to JPMorgan Bank (JPM) was settled with for $2 per share, a 93% reduction from Bear Stearns’ offer price the previous Friday. (The cost was then raised to $10 per share.)
One of Wall Street’s greatest illustrious corporations ended with the deal, which was carried out at the Federal Reserve and US Treasury’s instruction. The 85-year-old investment bank became the initial domino to collapse in the global financial crisis, destroying markets and seriously impacting the US and other developed countries.
Officials and bankers in Switzerland hurried throughout the weekend to put up a takeover of Credit Suisse since an unsecured loan by the Swiss National Bank fails to satisfy clients and investors precisely 15 years later, in an unsettlingly familiar series of events.
The purchaser was UBS, a more powerful opponent (UBS). 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion) was nearly 60% lower than what the bank was valued 2 days earlier when markets closed. Regulators once more requested that the sale be completed.
