CEO Cayne a Burden to Bear

Bear Stearns(BSC Quote) is experiencing a rocky ride after reporting the first quarterly loss in the firm's storied history. But Bear's bigger problem appears to be a lack of leadership.

Shares of the nation's fifth largest investment bank closed up almost 1% to $91.42 Thursday, but was down as much as 2.8% during the trading day after it posted a loss of $859 million, or $6.90 per share, compared with a profit of $558 million, or $4 per share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected a loss of $1.79 per share on $625.1 million of revenue for the quarter ended Nov. 30.

The colossal hit turns out to be the largest in Bear's 84-year history -- a history that recently has been marred by wrong-way mortgage bets, mounting lawsuits and a flagging reputation. "Our performance this quarter and for the full year is clearly disappointing and not acceptable to us," said CFO Sam Molinaro Jr., during a year-end earnings call. ...