Liveblogging the Bear Stearns Conference Call

12:56: It's over. They put on a brave face, and clearly tried to indicate that they're profitable, they have high-quality collateral, and they're looking out for shareholders. It didn't seem to help the share price, though.

12:55: "This is a bridge to a more permanent solution." The strategic alternatives "can run the gamut," says Schwartz, it's not clear what that means: what options does he have beside an outright sale?

12:50: The conference-call technology doesn't seem to be working too well, but we're getting through the questions. Bear's planned backstop liquidity facility "will be in the market probably next month, unless we do something different before then". OK. But the JPM facility announced today should be enough to meet any liquidity needs. They say. They also say there's "no material changes in the various liquidity ratios", the change is that counterparties weren't willing to provide financing against "relatively liquid" collateral.

12:48: The book value is fundamentally in the mid-$80s. The share price is fundamentally in the mid-$30s.

12:46: Guy Moskowski of Merrill wants to know where the liquidity crunch came from. Molinaro defends Schwartz's CNBC interview earlier this week, saying the liquidity situation was just fine, then. So I guess the TSLF wasn't devised to be a Bear Stearns bailout device.

12:44: On to the Q&A. Karen Morley of Blackrock, wants to know about gross derivatives exposure. Sam Molinaro doesn't know.

12:43: He's comfortable with first-quarter results, but at this point the first quarter is ancient history. "We are going to be continuing to pursue some of the alternatives we've been talking about". In other words, we really want to sell the company.

12:42: He's been shopping the firm around already, Lazard has had a mandate for a while!

12:41: "A lot of people wanted to get cash out. We were meeting those needs in every case, but they accelerated yesterday, especially late in the day, and we recognized that at the pace things were going, there could be demands which would outstrip our liquidity resources".

12:40: Alan Schwartz, CEO, is up. "We attempted to try to provide some facts, but the rumors intensified". Obviously rumors beat facts.

12:39: Sam Molinaro, CFO, is on. The Q1 earnings are now being released on Monday, after the close.

12:38: Elizabeth Ventura from IR gets on. "Our actual results could differ materially," she says, from what the executives are about to say. No shit.

12:37: It's started!

12:35: A live operator! Name, company, phone number, and then it's back to the hold music. I guess we always knew this thing wasn't going to start on time.

12:30: The conference call is meant to have started, I'm being asked to "please stay on the line for the next available operator". No sign of the webcast we've been promised.

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