as i was saying..
UK tycoon Joe Lewis loses $800m on Wall Street
Bear Stearns on brink of break-up
Dominic Rushe, Iain Dey and David Smith
div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;}JOE LEWIS, the secretive British billionaire, has lost an estimated $800m in the collapse of the American investment bank Bear Stearns.
The 71-year-old currency trading tycoon, who runs his empire from the Bahamas, holds almost 10% of the bank's shares. Bear’s shares fell 40% on Friday to $27, after it secured a 28-day credit lifeline to stave off collapse.
Lewis began building a stake in Bear last September, when the shares were changing hands for more than $100.
The huge paper losses could force Lewis to sell out of some of his other positions, according to traders, in order to meet margin calls from his lending banks.