Money | JPMorgan Chase Bear Stearns Staffers Gird for Mass Layoffs After $3B Hit After losing their shirts, half will also lose jobs By Jim O'Neill Posted Mar 26, 2008 7:30 AM CDT Copied The Bear Stearns headquarters, bottom, and the JP Morgan headquarters, top, are shown on Monday, March 24, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) The Icarus-like fall of Bear Stearns stock, trading as high as $170 a share a year ago before plummeting to $2 last week, has cost Bear employees—who once owned nearly a third of the company—more than $3 billion. That's even after JPMorgan raised its bid for the investment bank to close to $10 a share, reports Reuters. Now the other shoe's about to drop. In addition to losing massive amounts of personal wealth—the stock plunged 88% in less than a month—some 7,000 of the company’s workers are facing layoffs as JPMorgan integrates Bears operations into its own. "It's devastating. I thought I was going to work here my whole life," lamented one Bear staffer. Read These Next Tillis, who opposes Trump bill, won't seek reelection. IAEA chief downplays damage to Iran nuclear sites. Musk renews attack on Trump's bill. Hall of Famer Dave Parker dies Report an error