Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Close to Deal

The following is a timeline of recent events at the 84-year-old firm:

2007

_June 14: Bear reports a 10 percent decline in quarterly earnings as the mortgage market shows signs of cracking. Chief Financial Officer Sam Molinaro says, "We are impacted in a weaker mortgage market until that industry turns around."

June 18: Reports say Merrill Lynch seized collateral from a Bear Stearns hedge fund invested heavily in subprime loans those made to people with poor credit.

June 22: Bear commits $3.2 billion in secured loans to bail out its High-Grade Structured Credit Fund, says company's troubles are "relatively contained."

July 17: Bear tells clients that the assets in one of the troubled funds are essentially worthless, while those in the other are worth 9 percent of their value at the end of April.

Aug 1: The two funds file for bankruptcy protection and the company freezes assets in a third fund.

Aug 5: Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer Warren Specter resigns. Alan Schwartz becomes sole president. CFO Molinaro takes over co-COO role.

Aug 6: Bear sends letters to clients reassuring them the company is financially sound.

"Rest assured, Bear Stearns has seen challenging markets before and has the experience and expertise to serve you and us well," the firm says.

Sept. 20: Bear reports 68 percent drop in quarterly income. The company's accounts slipped by $42 billion between the end of May and the end of August.

Nov. 14: CFO Molinaro says Bear will write down $1.62 billion and book a fourth-quarter loss.

Nov. 28: Bear lays off another 4 percent of its staff, two weeks after cutting 2 percent of its work force.

Dec. 20: Bear takes $1.9 billion write-down. CEO Cayne says he'll skip his 2007 bonus.

2008

Jan. 7: CEO Cayne retires under pressure. Schwartz takes over.

Mid-January: Financial stocks swoon as economists predict the U.S. economy will slip into recession. President Bush unveils a $150 billion stimulus plan.

Mid-February: Subprime woes spread to a broad range of assets, including certain kinds of municipal debt.

March 10: Market rumors say Bear may not have enough cash to do business.

"There is absolutely no truth to the rumors of liquidity problems that circulated today in the market," Bear says.

March 12: Schwartz goes on CNBC to reassure investors his company has enough liquidity and he is "comfortable" it turned a profit in the fiscal first quarter.

March 14: The federal government and JPMorgan Chase & Co. bail out Bear. The company says it sought the emergency funding after realizing it would not be able to keep up with a spike in demand from lenders.