March 16 (Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to buy Bear Stearns Cos. for about $270 million after a run on the company ended 85 years of independence for Wall Street's fifth- largest securities firm and prompted a bailout by the Federal Reserve.
The deal values New York-based Bear Stearns, with 14,000 employees, at $2 a share, compared with $30 at the close on March 14. The central bank will provide financing for the transaction, including support for as much as $30 billion of Bear Stearns's ``less-liquid assets,'' the two companies said in a statement today.
