[jdmartin]

Bloomberg

Apparently PNC's going to acquire them for a couple bucks less than what their stock was trading at. With money from "the bailout".

I guess that's one way to keep the banks in business

[Peepers]

This is pointless hyperbole.

NCC was selling at $3 per share yesterday. PNC bought them for $2.23 today. Yes, it was a discount, but not as draconian as you've made it sound.

NCC could have made it independently of a buyout. They had $7 billion from a capital infusion earlier this year that covered all of their existing mortgage debt and new checking accounts with more than $15 billion in cash opened in 2008. In other words, NCC regained enough strength to generate interest among potential suitors.

So if I fixed up my junky car to the point that it attracted an offer from someone to buy it, does that mean my car bit the dust by your hyperbolic definitions??

[jdmartin]

Hmm...I'd say if the only reason you were able to sell it to me was because I got an interest-free, risk-free loan from the bank in order to buy it, with no risk to my money if it died on the way out the driveway, and that further it wasn't really fixed up, only given a Maaco paintjob, then yes I'd say it still fit the definition of "bit the dust"

"NCC could have made it independent" . Says you. Obviously they didn't think so, or they wouldn't have sold it at a discount to what the stock was trading yesterday, nevermind what it had been trading for in the last 12 months.