The Economist: Free exchangeFree exchangeWhat is Bear worth?

A lot, apparently

ONE of the most common talking points heard yesterday was that Bear Stearns had been sold for a mere 0 million while the company's headquarters alone has an estimated worth of .2 billion. In other words, it sure seems like whatever Bear has on its books is worth less than nothing, such that the company had to give JP Morgan a billion dollars just to get a sale.Is that right, though? Felix Salmon, and some other financial writers, suggests a different justification for the negative valuation, namely, that there were no other buyers out there. Bear, essentially, was a price taker, and JP Morgan gave the bank only what it needed to. From Wall Street's perspective the one-bidder alternative is

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