At first I thought it was a typo by a hurried reporter….$2/share for Bear Stearns? The thing was trading at like $65 a few days ago. It closed at $30 on Friday.

My first reaction is that due diligence must have turned up some evidence of fraud. But the stories at wsj and nytimes don’t mention anything about fraud. However, there is this comment:

The companies’ announcement said that the Federal Reserve would provide special financing in connection with the transaction and that the Fed had agreed to fund up to $30 billion of Bear Stearns’s “less-liquid assets.”

What does this mean?  It sounds like the Fed is stepping up to give JPM time to unwind BS’s trading positions.  But then how do you explain $2/share?  If the Fed is guaranteeing $30B in “less-liquid assets,” why the massive discount for BS shareholders?

Weren’t there other bidders?