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DJ Bear Stearns Chairman, CEO Sold Some Stock In Dec, Data Show
21 Mar 2008 19:23 GMT =DJ Bear Stearns Chairman, CEO Sold Some Stock In Dec, Data Show By Alistair Barr Bear Stearns (BSC) executives sold stock in the firm worth more than $20 million in December, although they remain big shareholders in the beleaguered broker, according to Thomson Financial data. James Cayne, chairman of Bear, sold 172,621 shares in December worth $15.4 million, while President Alan Schwartz sold 67,900 shares worth just over $6 million, Thomson data show. Alan Greenberg, chairman of Bear's executive committee, sold 99,293 shares worth $8.8 million in December, while Chief Executive Officer Samuel Molinaro sold 27,726 shares worth almost $2.5 million, according to Thomson. Insiders at Bear sold a total of 715,000 shares last year worth more than $75 million, up from 2006 but down considerably from 2004, when sales of more than 1.5 million shares worth $147.9 million took place, the data show. Since 2000, Cayne has sold 2.37 million shares worth about $182.7 million, while Schwartz has sold more than one million shares for roughly $67.2 million. Bear almost collapsed last week and had to be bailed out by J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and the Federal Reserve. J.P. Morgan offered to buy the broker for $2 a share, a huge discount to where the stock was trading just a week before. The near-collapse has been a disaster for some staff. Executives and other employees at Bear own at least a quarter of the shares. Wilmington Trust (WL), which holds stock on behalf of executives and other employees, owns 23% of the firm's shares, Thomson data show. Some of those shares were awards as part of incentive plans. One of those plans - a long-term one called the Capital Accumulation Plan - awarded restricted stock to senior managing directors of Bear. When those shares vested, executives usually sold and they did that in December 2007, according to InsiderScore, a Web site that tracks insider transactions. Despite selling in December, Bear executives are still major shareholders of Bear. Cayne owns almost 5% of the firm and Schwartz owns almost 1%, according to Thomson data. -Alistair Barr; 415-439-6400; [email][email protected][/email] (END) Dow Jones Newswires March 21, 2008 15:23 ET (19:23 GMT)