[lbo-talk] AP: Bear Stearns CEO "spent too much time ... playing golf and bridge"

[B.]

[JP Morgan to buy Bear Stearns for $236.2 million, 1%
of what it was worth 16 days ago, the piece also says.
- B.]

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8VER9JG0.htm

JPMorgan to buy Bear for $2 a share

By JOE BEL BRUNO and MADLEN READ
NEW YORK 

[...]

This is not the first time Bear Stearns has earned a
place in Wall Street history. A decade ago, Bear
Stearns refused to help bail out a hedge fund that was
deemed "too big to fail." On Friday, the tables had
turned, with the now-struggling investment bank in
need of the same kind of aid.

[...]

The funds' collapse and subsequent problems in the
credit markets called into question Bear Stearns'
ability to manage its own risk and the leadership
ability of then-Chief Executive James Cayne. Critics
of the company said Cayne spent too much time away
from the office last year playing golf and bridge as
the problems unfolded.

Cayne is the same executive who refused to let Bear
Stearns provide support as part of a Federal
Reserve-led plan to rescue Long-Term Capital
Management in 1998. His reticence was said to deeply
anger some of his fellow Wall Street CEOs, and the
episode came up every time Bear was reported to be in
trouble in recent months.