JPMorgan Chase, a leading market-cap bank, merged with Bear Stearns during the 2008 financial crisis.
JPMorgan Chase agreed in March 2008 to acquire Bear Stearns after the investment bank suffered a severe liquidity crisis. The Federal Reserve helped facilitate the emergency transaction, and JPMorgan initially offered a very low per-share price before improving the terms. The deal closed later in 2008.
Bear Stearns had been founded in 1923 and was one of Wall Street’s major investment banks. Its collapse was an early, highly visible sign of the stresses spreading through the financial system before the failure of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.
JPMorgan Chase also acquired Washington Mutual’s banking operations in 2008. That was a separate transaction, while Bear Stearns was the investment-bank merger associated with the earlier rescue.