Finance: Why Did He Ever Sell It?

BankAmerica spent last week dodging a $3.4 billion merger bid by First Interstate Bancorp and an informal takeover offer from Citicorp. But the beleaguered San Francisco company realizes that its shareholders will scream foul unless it does something to rescue its foundering finances (more than $1 billion in losses in the past six quarters). To raise cash, BankAmerica has decided to consider selling one of its crown jewels, the highly profitable Charles Schwab discount-brokerage subsidiary. The most probable buyer is none other than Charles Schwab, the company's founder, who sold out to BankAmerica in 1983 for $52 million but remained head of the brokerage unit. To buy it back, banking analysts estimate, he will have to pay between $260 million and $300 million.