James E. "Jimmy" Cayne (February 14, 1934 – December 28, 2021) was an American businessman and CEO of

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The com ...

. In 2006, he became the first Wall Street chief to own a company stake worth more than $1 billion, but he lost most of that in the 2007–2008 collapse of Bear's stock and sold his entire stake in the company for $61 million.

Early life and career

Cayne was born and raised in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...

, the son of Jean and Maurice Cayne, a

patent attorney A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing patent applications and op ...

. Cayne attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

, but left before graduating to join the United States Army. Cayne was a member of Kappa Beta Phi. His first job was as a traveling salesman; he then sold scrap iron and

municipal bond A municipal bond, commonly known as a muni, is a bond issued by state or local governments, or entities they create such as authorities and special districts. In the United States, interest income received by holders of municipal bonds is often, ...

s. In 1969 he was playing

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

full-time in New York City when

Alan C. Greenberg Alan Courtney "Ace" Greenberg (September 3, 1927 – July 25, 2014) was a chairman of the executive committee of The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. Early life and education Greenberg was born in Wichita, Kansas but raised in Oklahoma City in a ...

, then a relative novice at the bridge table, hired him as a

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stock ...

. Cayne became president in 1985, CEO in 1993, and chairman of the board (while continuing as CEO) in 2001. He was replaced as CEO only in 2008 and he was with the company until its demise.

Wealth

In 2005, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' magazine ranked him 384th among the 400 richest Americans, with an estimated net worth of $900 million. By 2008 Cayne had lost nearly 95% of his fortune as a result of the collapse of Bear Stearns. Cayne has been the subject of various press reports since the Bear collapse, including the fact that he sold his stake in the company for $61 million after its crash. On March 14, 2008,

Charlie Gasparino Charles Gasparino is an American journalist, blogger, occasional radio host. He frequently serves as panelist on the Fox Business Network program segment ''The Cost of Freedom'' and the stocks/business news program ''Cashin' In''. Early life and ...

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk s ...

reported that the value of Cayne's holdings in Bear Stearns had declined from $997 million to significantly less than $200 million in the wake of Bear Stearns' liquidity crisis. Just days later, Bear Stearns came to an agreement with competitor

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in City of New York, New York City and Delaware General Corporation Law, inco ...

for a full buyout at only $2 per share, roughly $236 million for the entire firm. At the time, Cayne had significant exposure to the company's stock, with most of his net worth tied up in shares of the company. It is estimated that the value of Cayne's holdings had dropped to less than $15 million as a result, effectively removing him from the list of the wealthiest individuals in the country. On March 27, 2008, it was announced that Cayne sold his entire stake in Bear Stearns, over 5.61 million shares, for $10.82 a share. This stake was sold prior to the vote on the renewed bid by JP Morgan for Bear Stearns. In February 2009, Cayne was named in ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...

''s list of "25 People to Blame for the

Financial Crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

." In addition to being named on this list, ''Time'' also alleged that of all the CEOs during the crisis, "none seemed more asleep at the switch" than Cayne.

Personal life and death

In 1971, Cayne married his second wife, Patricia Denner. They had one child, Alison Cayne Schneider.New York Times: "Home and Hearth, Deluxe Edition" By JULIE SATOW
April 25, 2013 Alison is divorced from hedge fund manager Jack Schneider with whom she has five children. He was uncle to hedge fund investor Richard Cayne Perry. Cayne had one child from his first marriage, Jennice Cayne Nienkerk, who has two daughters. Cayne died on December 28, 2021, at the age of 87, at a hospital in

Long Branch, New Jersey Long Branch is a beachside city in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city's population was 30,719,stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

Bridge

Cayne, himself a sound

player, recruited international-class professionals to form teams that have won more than a dozen North American championships. For example, he hired one American and four Italian world champions to win the Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams in November 2011, his sixth win in that competition. His bridge career as a sponsor and player has resulted in attaining the ranks of ACBL Grand Life Master and

World Bridge Federation The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the international governing body of contract bridge. The WBF is responsible for world championship competitions, most of which are conducted at a few multi-event meets on a four-year cycle. The most prestigio ...

World Master. In the biennial Bermuda Bowl world championship teams, his 1995 team USA1—one of two that represented the United States, a unique status—finished ninth (the lowest U.S. finish in the sixty-year history of the event), while Team USA2 placed first."32nd World Team Championships: Results & Participants"
1995.

. In March 2002, ''The New York Daily Sun'' announced that Cayne would be contributing a bridge column. ;Wins

North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven d ...

(17) * Spingold (3) 1989, 1990, 2015 *

Reisinger The Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Reisinger is a board-a-match event. History The event is contested for the Reisinger Trophy ( ...

(6) 1977, 1988, 1992, 2007, 2010, 2011 *

Grand National Teams The Grand National Teams (GNT) North American bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Grand National Teams is a team knockout event. The event is broken into ...

(1) 1994 * Open Board-a-Match Teams (1) 2011 * Men's Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1969, 1988 * Jacoby Open Swiss Teams (2) 1996, 2005 * Master Mixed Teams (1) 1966 * Life Master Men's Pairs (1) 1969 United States Bridge Championships (1) * Open Team Trials (1) 1995 Other notable wins: * Maccabiah Games (1) 1981 * Cavendish Invitational Teams (1) 1986 * Cavendish Invitational Pairs (1) 1982 * Goldman Pairs (1) 1968 ;Runners up * Olympiad Mixed Teams (1) 1974 *

World Mixed Pairs The World Mixed Pairs Championship is a bridge championship for mixed-gender pairs held every four years as part of the World Bridge Championships. Results World meets commonly run for 15 days on a schedule whose details vary. In 2006 the Mixed ...

(1) 1974

(15) * Vanderbilt (3) 1983, 1997, 1998 * Spingold (3) 1994, 1997, 2006 *

(4) 1981, 1993, 1994, 1996 * Open Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1995 * Men's Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1989 * Mixed Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1996 * Life Master Pairs (2) 1969, 1973 United States Bridge Championships (1) * Open Team Trials (1) 1998 Other notable second places: * Now! Invitational Pairs (1) 1981 * Cavendish Invitational Pairs (1) 1976

References

External links

* Heidi N. Moore (March 4, 2009)
"Bear Stearns’ Jimmy Cayne’s Profane Tirade Against Treasury’s Geithner"
WSJ Blogs: Deal Journal. ''The Wall Street Journal''. Retrieved 2013-01-29. —primarily excerpts from William D. Cohan, '' House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street'' (Doubleday, March 2009). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cayne, James 1934 births 2021 deaths American chief executives of financial services companies American contract bridge players American stockbrokers Bear Stearns people Bermuda Bowl players Businesspeople from Evanston, Illinois Businesspeople from New York City Former billionaires Military personnel from Illinois United States Army soldiers 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople