Buying Bear's HQ
During Friday's live blogging of the Bear Stearns collapse, I casually mentioned their HQ. In the heat of the moment, I said something snarky and rather sarcastic:
10:56: My office is 2 blocks from Bear's HQ. I should walk over and make a bid for their building, which is really nice.
That's the beauty of the internet -- you never know where whatever it is you are saying might get picked up and reproduced. To wit: Marketwatch:
I walk by their building just about every day -- and it is really nice. But, truth be told, I was joking -- we simply do not need all that much space . . .
Saturday, March 15, 2008 | 04:00 PM | Permalink
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The real hazard to our financial system is the failure of institutions to increase their liquidity reserves to account for monumental increase in derivative risk exposure. This risk will cascade through our financial system faster than fecal matter through a goose's intestinal tract.
Posted by: Tom | Mar 15, 2008 4:06:59 PM
BS headquarters building is the strongest asset on their books, and ironically perhaps the most liquid, since its value is easily accessed.
Posted by: Tom | Mar 15, 2008 4:16:08 PM
I saw that and I thought it was funny that they picked up your quote so freaking fast. They [Market Watch editors] probably have an intern reading your blog for quotes.
Posted by: Maximo | Mar 15, 2008 4:18:24 PM
My boyfriend works at JPM. Just last night he just said he would like to work in that building.
Posted by: mo | Mar 15, 2008 4:20:02 PM
Also, I just wanted to say that modern monetary policy is nothing like what we are learning in B School.
Not so long ago some on Wall Street were calling for the elimination of Federal Reserve. Where are they now?
The Fed is playing the role of KIVA lender, bailing out Bear Stearns with short-term loans to help avoid a collapse that should've been allow to happen. Whatever happened to crative destruction?
Posted by: Maximo | Mar 15, 2008 4:26:04 PM
Senor Barry,
Have you not learned of the insatiable (bordering on desperate) content demands of the media?
ie Anything you say can be misquoted, and used against you in a administrative proceeding.
Btw now speaking to the astute minds of Congress....
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/15575616/detail.html
Sound familiar? Like an old Chrysler commerical ("Buy a car, get a check" era) from the 80's. How quaint....
Note: Thank you for all the do that you do here! The enlightenment (for myself) is astounding!
Posted by: SR | Mar 15, 2008 4:31:31 PM
Make the bid, Barry. I'll rent a few sq. ft. to help you out.
Posted by: Ross | Mar 15, 2008 4:35:14 PM
we simply do not need all that much space . . .
_____
Just use what you need and convert the rest to condos. It's the key to prosperity.
Posted by: Marcus Aurelius | Mar 15, 2008 4:39:06 PM
Wait a couple years and you'll be able to get it on the cheap!
Posted by: JustinTheSkeptic | Mar 15, 2008 4:46:56 PM
Maximo - BS has collapsed. Fed is just providing DIP financing (debtor in possession) while the assets are sold.
Right now, for the first time since Greenspan the drunken sailor man took over, the dollar supply is dropping rapidly. Like catastrophically rapidly. Fed is just trying to reduce the g forces.
Oil below $70 by 9/30/2008.
Posted by: DoctorOfLove | Mar 15, 2008 4:50:36 PM
In the heat of the moment, I said something snarky and rather sarcastic:
On a blog ???
Mon Dieu !!!!
Ou est mon smelling salts ???
Posted by: Douglas Watts | Mar 15, 2008 5:05:31 PM
I would like a new desk and chair...maybe a book shelf or two. When is the going out of business sale?
Posted by: Johnny Vee | Mar 15, 2008 5:06:08 PM
Any publicity is good for you. This you got free!
Posted by: Old Ari | Mar 15, 2008 5:11:25 PM
Yeah it's pretty ridiculous when a firm's building comprises 1/3 the value of its market cap... wow. I just wonder who's next.
Posted by: Inquisitor | Mar 15, 2008 5:28:12 PM
So if you are not going to buy it Barry....
Maybe someone else will get a sub-prime loan to buy the building.
Posted by: MarkTX | Mar 15, 2008 5:44:49 PM
I walk by their building just about every day -- and it is really nice. But, truth be told, I was joking -- we simply do not need all that much space . . .
...why, that's a funny way to end the post. Let's see, did someone approach you with an offer?
Posted by: Eric | Mar 15, 2008 5:50:17 PM
The more interesting question is whether this marks the bottom for this financial crisis. I think it may well.
Also, there is an odd karmic footnote: Bear Stearns didn't earn the admiration of other Wall Street firms when it declined to pony up for the Fed bailout of LTCM years back. They explained that they were already in for enough as they cleared for LTCM. (I think..)
Posted by: mh497 | Mar 15, 2008 5:53:14 PM
It looks like you have arrived, Barry. I'm waiting to see one of your quotes on DrudgeReport soon. I'll buy you a DVD if the quote is in red.
Posted by: Rich_Lather | Mar 15, 2008 5:57:14 PM
Their market cap is now what $4B. Isn't the building alone worth that much?
Posted by: John Borchers | Mar 15, 2008 6:10:32 PM
I love that word "snarky".
"Smarmy"s another good Brit term that could be applied to well... alot of things in recent news.
Posted by: Bob A | Mar 15, 2008 6:20:50 PM
The management of Bear-Stearns must feel like "The Jerk":
"And that's it and that's the only thing I need, is this. I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray. And this paddle game, the ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need. And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need. And these matches. The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control and the paddle ball. And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that's all I need. And that's all I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one - I need this. The paddle game, and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches, for sure. And this. And that's all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair."
Posted by: Winston Munn | Mar 15, 2008 6:46:57 PM
Anyone want to speculate which will be the next domino to fall?
Lehman's?
Posted by: Quant | Mar 15, 2008 7:21:51 PM
My prediction is that by the time this organic, non linear contraction is completed Barry will be able to buy the building.
The giant sucking sound you hear now is the implosion of leverage. Ben B. is peeing into the vortex. He has to try.
Posted by: zell | Mar 15, 2008 7:41:02 PM
President Bush, speaking in New York and in a television interview yesterday, showed little appetite for further action. Detailing the steps the administration has already taken, the president in a speech knocked a couple of pending proposals. "Government policy," he said, "is like a person trying to drive a car on a rough patch. If you ever get stuck in a situation like that, you know full well it's important not to overcorrect -- because when you overcorrect you end up in the ditch."
Now suppose, just suppose, that you are already in a canyon sized ditch, the only thing that will get you out is a Chinese Money Tow Truck. Debasing your currency doesn't attract Chinese Tow Trucks. No Ticket, no laundry.
Those who continue to equate volatility to risk will continue to get burned big time.
Posted by: AGG | Mar 15, 2008 7:57:58 PM
You know that as of late that we hear the term "Moral Hazard". Let me tell you that I believe there is not ONE person in Washington, Wall Street, or even for that matter on Main Street that really gives a #@*# about this. They are really worried about "SOLVENCY HAZARD".
Posted by: mw | Mar 15, 2008 8:23:42 PM
