ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Bear Stearns Merchant Banking

Okay kiddo, let me tell you about Bear Stearns Merchant Banking. First, do you know what a bank is? It's a place where people keep their money safe, and where they can get loans or borrow money.

Now imagine if a bank also invested money in companies - that's called a merchant bank. Bear Stearns was a big investment bank, and their merchant banking division focused on investing in companies that they thought would grow and make lots of money.

But then, there was a big problem. In 2008, the economy was really struggling and some of the companies that Bear Stearns had invested in weren't doing well. This made people lose confidence in Bear Stearns and their stock price went down a lot.

Eventually, things got so bad that Bear Stearns had to sell their entire company. That's right - they had to shut down and let all their employees go. It was a really sad time for the people who worked there, and a lot of people lost their jobs.

So that's the story of Bear Stearns Merchant Banking. They were a bank that invested in companies, but got into trouble and had to sell everything. It shows that even big companies can have problems and sometimes things don't go as planned.