https://i0.wp.com/www-tc.pbs.org/newshour/images/economy/jan-june08/0324_bearstearns.jpg?resize=156%2C106By helping Bear Stearns avert a potential bankruptcy, the federal government essentially declared the venerable investment bank too important to fail. Over the years, many of the firm’s employees clearly felt the same way: collectively, they accumulated one-third of the company’s stock. Even under a revised rescue plan, in which JPMorgan Chase is offering $10 a share to buy Bear Stearns, the value of the company’s stock owned by Bear employees is now worth just a tenth what it was in December. For many of those employees, that decline is a personal catastrophe: most of their wealth is gone.

Die UBS hat ihre Angestellten stets ermutigt, in UBS-Aktien zu investieren. Die Hälfte der Mitarbeiter hält insgesamt 7% an der Bank und musste durch den Kurssturz über 10 Mrd. Fr. Verluste einstecken. (NZZ)

Don’t Paint Nest Eggs in Company Colors – New York Times / NZZ