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Thursday, July 31, 2008

Former Bear Stearns CEO Schwartz to Leave JPMorgan Chase

Ken Sweet

FOXBusiness

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Former Bear Stearns Chief Executive Alan Schwartz will leave JPMorgan Chase on Aug. 31, sources inside the firm told FOX Business.

This marks the departure of the top official at the collapsed investment bank who helped navigate Bear Stearns into the arms of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) during that infamous week in March.

Sources said Schwartz’s resignation was voluntary and the action was “amicable” between Schwartz and current JPMorgan Chase CEO Jaime Dimon.

The announcement was sent to employees this morning in a note signed by Dimon and the JPMorgan’s head of investment banking.

"With most of the work on the merger integration behind us, Alan will be moving on from the firm at the end of August to pursue other interests,” the memo said. "Despite the extremely difficult circumstances that brought our firms together, Alan has been a terrific and constructive partner through the process."

Sources said Schwartz will most likely move on to other opportunities possibly a competitor or a private equity firm.

Alan Schwartz took over the reigns of Bear Stearns in early January after long-time CEO Jimmy Cayne resigned under pressure from investors. Schwartz attempted to restore Bear Stearns’ balance sheet during the first three months of the year, but was unsuccessful and firm collapsed on rumors that the firm was facing a liquidity crisis.

JPMorgan then bought Bear Stearns for $1.1 billion, or $10 a share in March. Bear Stearns stock had traded for as much as $150 a share a year earlier and has come to represent the single-largest victim of the 2007 subprime mortgage mess and the ongoing credit crunch.