Cayne tells Fortune:
"The options were limited. When you become roadkill, when you happen to have lost some weight and you're not really healthy, but you know one thing--you know that you have worked your ass off and you're not smart enough to know the answer--that's tough."
While it is very sad that Cayne was in such bad health and lost $1 billion in the Bear Stearns debacle, it is interesting to note that Cayne did know the firm was in trouble, and perhaps his hands-off management style was to blame. Cayne had been reluctant to shoulder responsibility when the firm began to collapse.
Cayne fell sick in August when the unraveling had already begun with the investment in Ralph Cioffi's hedge fund. Warren Spector was sacked for investing $25 million in the fund without Cayne's approval. But Cayne maintained his hands-off management style until he was forced to step down in January, when he was replaced by Alan Schwartz. Should Cayne have sought outside help when he realized the situation was over his head? Should he have stepped down as CEO earlier to try to save Bear Stearns? These all seem to be questions we have asked before, but Fortune fails to answer. -- Maria Woehr
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