BofA?s Countrywide bid falls by $1 billion

Countrywide's continued bleeding of cash (more than $2.5 billion over the last 3 quarters) has reduced the value of the Bank of America buyout deal by a billion dollars, reports Bloomberg.  The original $4 billion bail out is now valued at a $3 billion deal. The retail branches, servicing portfolio and remarketing opportunity numbers must pencil out at some huge profit number for BofA to put up with the political, publicity and legal nightmare that is Countrywide. From Bloomberg on the shaky deal: Bank of America Corp.'s offer for Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, has lost $1 billion, or a quarter of its value since January, as the housing slump points to additional losses for lenders. After four months of falling share prices, Bank of America's stock swap