JPMorgan Keeping Half of Bear Jobs

JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) CEO Jamie Dimon on Tuesday said the bank planned to keep nearly half of Bear Stearns'(BSC Quote) employees after their planned merger later this month.

Dimon, in his opening remarks at the bank's annual shareholder meeting Tuesday, said JPMorgan is keeping 45% of Bear's employees and making an effort to find jobs for the rest. He said JPMorgan has contacted more than 1,300 other companies in the New York area in that effort.

Dimon said he believed Bear could provide earnings potential of about $1 billion by the end of 2009, but said a lot of work remained. ...