Bear Stearns boss took refuge in blogging as hedge funds imploded

The sub-prime mortgage market meltdown threatens to become the first giant financial crisis of the 21st century. And it will be blogged.

At the investment bank Bear Stearns, where two imploding hedge funds threatened to trigger billions of dollars of losses across Wall Street, the asset management division's boss, Rich Marin, was fighting valiantly "to defend Sparta against the Persian hordes", as he characterised it on his personal web page.

For the numbers stuff - the $30bn in failed bets on the mortgage market, the $3.2bn rescue package - you could hit the financial pages of the newspapers. For the blood, sweat and tears, there was Mr Marin's blog.

At least there was, until it was spotted and Whim of Iron: Impulsive Ramblings from a Motorcycling Alpha Dog became the talk of Wall Street. Now it is invite only.

After Bear Stearns' two highly indebted funds plunged 23 per cent in value, its lenders demanded cash back and investors clamoured for their money. The trouble is, dumping lots of the assets on the market would only have revealed how their value had collapsed, which could have forced investors to write off billions of dollars.

Little wonder that Mr Marin was working so hard, as he revealed last Sunday. "I needed something very light-hearted tonight after another long weekend at the office saving the world. The new movie Evan Almighty was just right," he wrote.

Mr Marin - "age: 53; astrological sign: Aquarius; interests: motorcycling, skiing; favourite music: Billy Joel, Meatloaf" - has been the head of asset management at Bear Stearns for four years, charged with turning the business into a high-fee, highly-aggressive manager through the launch of hedge funds.

This past month, the strategy has come back to haunt the bank - and Mr Marin, who has posted a picture from the recent epic movie 300. "This pretty much sums up my last two weeks trying to defend Sparta against the Persian hordes of Wall Street. Nothing like a good dog fight 24x7 for a few weeks to remind you why you chose the life you chose," he wrote. "It's nice to know you can have an impact on the world. Next time I'll try to make it a slightly more positive impact..."