The shock and anger felt by Bear Stearns employees is certainly understandable: How could their company go from profitable to bust, and their shares from nearly $60 to $2, in just a week?

With emotions still raw, it took some courage for Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase, to meet with Bear executives in Bear's headquarters.

J.P. Morgan, which swooped in with an emergency takeover of Bear Stearns, backed by the Federal Reserve, clearly wants to make sure Bear's businesses are not further damaged by the turmoil or by poor morale and would like to keep Bear's best talent.

Landon Thomas Jr. and Eric Dash of the New York Times provide a vivid description of Dimon's visit on Wednesday:

"In this room are people who have built this firm and lost a lot, our fortunes," one Bear executive said to Mr. Dimon with anger in his voice. "What will you do to make us whole?"

The packed room of senior managing directors applauded.

Mr. Dimon responded gingerly. "You're acting like it's our fault, and it's not. If you stay we will make you happy."

But the Bear employee was not satisfied. "I think it's galling you come into our house and you call this a 'merger,' " the Bear executive went on.

This time, Mr. Dimon was silent.
It is expected that as many as a third of Bear's 14,000 employees will lose their jobs as a result of the merger with J.P. Morgan.

The Financial Times says J.P. Morgan wants to keep top executives in Bear's prime brokerage business, which services hedge funds, as well as in its equities and fixed-income businesses.

Both the Financial Times and Bloomberg News say that J.P. Morgan is planning to offer top executives cash and stock incentives to stay with the combined firm. Many of Bear's top performers had their fortunes tied up in the firm's stock price, which has plunged in value.

The promise of such incentives may also help win support from employee shareholders, who hold about a third of Bear's stock. Many might be tempted to vote against the deal, despite the lack of credible alternatives.

And is there a chance J.P. Morgan might increase its stock offer? Asked at Wednesday's private meeting, "Dimon replied with a flat 'no,'" according to Bloomberg News.