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 Trumps ends trade talks with Canada. Gavin Newsom has filed a massive lawsuit against Fox News. New York Times ranks the best movies of the 21st century. A man has been deported for kicking an airport customs beagle. Report an error