White knights [?!]

From Crooked Timber:

Readers used to the natural order of things might be concerned by the implication that with such a giveaway price, the top brass at [Bear Stearns] might be forced to bear the financial consequences of events that were obviously beyond their control. Never fear. According to this Reuters report in the Guardian, while most employees up to junior executive levels will lose both their jobs and the shares they were encouraged to buy, with no “golden parachutes:

JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Mike Cavanagh late Sunday said taking over Bear would generate about $6 billion in merger-related costs.

JPMorgan has not broken down those figures, but much of that will be earmarked for severance pay and potential exit packages for top executives like Schwartz.

A person familiar with the transaction told Reuters that roughly $1 billion of those costs would be earmarked for severance and retention.