JPMorgan offers Bear Stearns staff bonuses-source

By Chris Reiter

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is offering bankers at Bear Stearns Cos BSC.N bonuses to stay and support the controversial takeover, a person familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon met with hundreds of Bear Stearns executives late Wednesday, his first meeting with bank employees since the takeover was agreed to on Sunday.

At the meeting, Dimon, aiming to head off an exodus of Bear Stearns staff, proposed incentives to bank employees who stay and support the deal. He also expressed confidence that the deal would be completed as proposed, said the source, who was briefed on the meeting and is familiar with JPMorgan's thinking.

Employees who are offered jobs by JPMorgan would receive a bonus that includes JPMorgan shares. Employees who are not offered jobs will receive at least a cash bonus of about 30 percent of their 2007 compensation if they stay through the completion of the deal, the source said.

It is unclear whether Bear Stearns employees, who own about 30 percent of the firm, were swayed by the offer.

"There's more questions than answers at this point," said a person familiar with the workings at Bear Stearns.

Spokesmen for JPMorgan and Bear Stearns declined to comment.

Faced with a sudden cash crunch that threatened it with collapse, Bear Stearns agreed to an all-stock takeover offer from JPMorgan that values the storied investment bank at about $285 million. A week ago it was valued at more than $8 billion.