It's true that Jimmy Cayne, Alan Schwartz and the other top dogs had a lot of "skin in the game." They were among the biggest shareholders of Bear Stearns. Cayne's nearly 6 million shares have plunged in value from nearly $1 billion to just $35 million, according to Business Week Online. But the magazine also notes that Cayne and company benefited from a very lucrative pay package in the years leading up to their implosion. In hindsight, the pay for performance metrics, so praised at the time, were based on a fairly flimsy house of cards. That raises a question: Should the millions upon millions in bonuses be given back? You could make a case, but it'll never happen.  

For more:
- here's the Business Week Online article

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