BizJournals Portfolio

Bear Minimum

Mar 17 2008
Bear Stearns
Metrocard
Starbucks
Financial Times
iPod
Airbus A380
Art Institute of Chicago
Supersonics
Gustav Klimt
Soloman Islands
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Crisis of Confidence
On Sunday, J.P. Morgan reached a deal to buy Bear Stearns for $2 a share, or about $236 million. That's a shockingly low price for a bank that had a stock-market value of $3.5 billion on Friday—heck, it's a shockingly low price for just about anything these days. To put the bank's bargain-basement price in perspective, Portfolio.com illustrates some other things you could do with similar sums of money.
What Else Could You Do With $2?
Catch a single ride on the New York City subway.
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Buy a venti drip coffee at Starbucks.
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Pick up a copy of the Financial Times.
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Download an episode of a TV show from iTunes.
How About The Whole $236 Million?
Order yourself an Airbus A380—it carries a list price of around $300 million, but EADS is in a position to bargain, so try haggling.
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Immortalize your name by donating a new wing of a museum—construction for the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago will end up costing $200 million to $300 million.
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Tread in the steps of Mark Cuban and Paul Allen and buy an N.B.A. team—the Seattle Supersonics, for instance, which are valued at $269 million.
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Put in bids for two of the world's most expensive privately owned paintings: Jackson Pollock's Number 5 ($140 million) and Gustav Klimt's Adel Bloch-Bauer I ($135 million).
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Rent the Solomon Islands—which have a gross domestic product last estimated at $286 million—as your personal party pad for one year.

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