JPM has agreed to buy Bear Stearns [s:bsc] for $2 a share in a stock-swap deal, according to a report in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter.

The sale includes the building, which is valued at around a billion dollars. Maybe something's wrong with the economy?

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Bear's shares traded at more than $150 less than a year ago. The deal places Bear's stock at a 93% discount to Friday's close.

One of the larger losers in this deal might be British billionaire Joseph Lewis, who currently owns a 9.6% stake in Bear. In just a few months Lewis lost close to $800 million.

However, the employees of Bear Stearns will also be impacted by the fire sale. Bear is one-third owned by its employees, and has always had an "ownership culture" among its investment bankers and brokers. It was considered bad form for a Bear employee to sell their shares, and employees often received annual bonuses in the form of stock. Those bonuses are now basically worthless.

The $236 million price tag makes Bear a company worth less than the cost of its building, located on Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, which was valued for approximately $1 billion, according to current real estate market estimates.

On the Brink of Collapse, Bear Stearns Gets a Lifeline From a Rival and the Feds

For Bear, the crisis started when market speculation grew that it might have to seize collateral -- mostly mortgage-backed securities worth next to nothing -- from the private equity firm Carlyle Group.

Carlyle runs a bond fund and has come under intense pressure during the past week from creditors demanding collateral to back their investments.

As speculation swelled in the market, investors, customers and lenders raced to withdraw their money or rescind their credit lines. By Thursday night, Bear Stearns Chief Executive Alan Schwartz said, the bank realized the withdrawals might outpace the bank's resources...