Bear Stearns went from a ~$170 stock to a $2-a-share rescue buyout in about a year
Bear Stearns entered 2008 leveraged roughly 35-to-1. When short-term lenders refused to keep funding it in March 2008, the firm ran out of cash within days and was sold to JPMorgan Chase in an emergency deal first priced at just $2 a share (later raised to $10) — down from about $170 a year earlier. Heavy leverage left no cushion once confidence evaporated.
