Amidst Bear Stearns takeover, Greenberg and Cayne criticize each other

The animosity between Bear Stearns’s former chairman Alan Greenberg and its soon-to-be former chairman James Cayne has become painfully public.

As The New York Times writes today, “their sometimes tumultuous relationship has boiled over into an outright feud.”

Greenberg claims that he warned Cayne about the dangers of the firms investment in subprime mortgages, but that Cayne refused to listen. Cayne, the Times reports, has told colleagues that he never received such advice from Greenberg.

Now, with the pending takeover by JPMorgan, the two men’s fortunes couldn’t be headed in more different directions.

Greenberg he sold his stock regularly before the decline. JPMorgan has invited him to remain as vice chairman emeritus. And he’s writing a memoir, a narrative that isn’t likely to favor Cayne.

Cayne, widely blamed for Bear’s near failure, leaves the company next month. His personal wealth plummeted by $900 million with the collapse of Bear’s stock.

“Goodness,” Greenberg commented, when Times reporter Landon Thomas Jr. mentioned Cayne’s loss in net worth. “That’s a shame.”

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