JPMorgan boss seeks Bear staff backing for takeover

Business News IN BRIEF

Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, made a plea to Bear Stearns employees to support his company's cut-price takeover of the collapsed investment bank - and he dangled the prospect of significant bonuses for those who stayed. Bear's 14,000 employees around the world have been in a state of shock since the firm unravelled amid a crisis of confidence among its trading partners.

But in his first meeting with staff at the Bear headquarters in Manhattan, Mr Dimon told them favoured employees could be given cash and JPMorgan shares to persuade them to stay. There will also be one- off payments to those made redundant when the deal closes, he promised. JPMorgan hopes the pros-pect of bonuses will blunt some of the anger of Bear employees, many of whom had a significant portion of their pensions and savings in Bear stock, which has been all but wiped out. Bear agreed on Sunday night to be taken over by JPMorgan for $2 per share, a fraction of its value the week before.

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