Das Wall Street Journal hat heute eine fasinierende, lange Reportage über die sechs Tage, die zum Fall von Bear Stearns führten. Meines Erachtens bring das WSJ hier den Absturz von Bear Stearns auf den Punkt:
“That same day, the market began turning on Bear Stearns. Phones were ringing off the hook at rival firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group. Clients of those firms were growing worried about trades they had entered into with Bear Stearns — about whether Bear Stearns would be able to make good on its obligations. The clients asked the other investment banks whether they would be willing to take the clients’ places in the trades. But credit officers at Goldman, Morgan Stanley and others — worried themselves about Bear Stearns’s condition — began to say no. At Bear Stearns, Chief Financial Officer Samuel Molinaro, along with company lawyers and Treasurer Robert Upton, were trying to make sense of the situation. They felt comfortable with their capital base of roughly $17 billion and were looking forward to reporting Bear Stearns’s first-quarter earnings, which had been respectable amid the market carnage. One theory began developing internally: Hedge funds with short positions on Bear — bets that the company’s stock would fall — were trying to speed the decline by spreading negative rumors.” (Markierung von mir, S.B.)
Inzwischen gibt es auch Berichte, wonach einzelne Bear Stearns Großinvestoren den Deal noch blockieren wollen, u.a. der Milliardär Joe Lewis (u.a. Eigentümer der Tottenham Hotspurs), der rund 1 Mrd. US$ beim Übernacht-Verkauf von Bear Stearns verlor.
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