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Bear Stearns: The curtain falls

In the end, it took only 11 minutes to bring down the curtain on Bear Stearns’ 85-year history, said Kate Kelly in The Wall Street Journal. That’s all the time that was required for shareholders last week to approve the investment bank’s takeover by JPMorgan. In his last act as Bear Stearns’ chairman, James Cayne addressed shareholders and employees gathered at Bear Stearns’ Madison Avenue headquarters as the vote was being tabulated. He apologized for presiding over the firm’s debt-fueled implosion. “I feel an enormous amount of pain, and management feels an enormous amount of pain,” he said. His remarks were met with stony silence.

Outside the building, the scene was “carnival-like,” said Landon Thomas Jr. in The New York Times. Former employees scribbled such comments as “Thank you for nothing” on a large, unflattering portrait of Cayne, who was either golfing or playing bridge during several crucial episodes of the firm’s last days. But despite the “gallows humor,” a sense of resignation prevailed, with “bruised shareholders” generally agreeing that the ignominious takeover of one of Wall Street’s proudest firms “was the best option available.”

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Banking: Wachovia’s Kennedy ousted

Wachovia Bank CEO Kennedy Thompson this week was “shown

the door after several missteps,” said David Weidner in Market­ watch.com. His biggest mistake was paying $25 billion for subprime-mortgage lender Golden West Financial just as the real estate bubble burst. “Had the dud of a deal been the lone issue, Thompson may have survived.” But the bank also faces a federal money-laundering investigation, and in April it paid a $19 million fine for aiding a telemarketing scheme that targeted Wachovia customers.

Oil: Prices will stay high, Paulson says

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson declared this week that there’s “no quick fix” for high oil prices, said Barbara Surk in the Associated Press. Addressing reporters in the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar, Paulson argued that “strong” global demand and a shortage of new production capacity, not speculation, were behind oil’s rapid rise. He urged energy companies and oil-producing countries to invest more in oil exploration and development of alternative fuels. He also assured Gulf leaders that recession-hit U.S. companies welcomed their investment dollars.

Investigations: UBS in the cross hairs

“Legal pressure on UBS increased” sharply last week after a former executive of the Swiss bank agreed to plead guilty to tax fraud in the U.S., said Glenn R. Simpson and Carrick Mollenkamp in The Wall Street Journal. The Justice Department is investigating UBS for allegedly helping wealthy American clients evade taxes. Former UBS vice president Bradley Birkenfeld “is expected to provide prosecutors with the names of his U.S. clients” and spell out how the tax dodges worked. UBS promised its cooperation.

Aviation: Insider trading at Airbus?

In addition to its manufacturing woes, the parent company of Airbus Industrie now has legal problems, said Peggy Hollinger in the Financial Times. Noel Forgeard, former co-chief of EADS, the multi­national consortium that owns Airbus, last week confirmed that he is being investigated for possible insider trading. Records show that Forgeard frequently sold EADS shares shortly before the company released bad news that sent its share price tumbling. Forgeard denies any wrongdoing. Airbus has announced several delays in rolling out its next-generation A380 airliner.