Have you seen Pierpoint's stock price?
You had a drink yet?
The stock's fucking halved. Would you blame me?
It was like Omaha Beach on the floor today.
Serving Prosecco.
Can't afford champagne.
Screaming sell signal, no doubt.
Yeah, I need you to come to the 13th floor immediately.
- Yeah. - Yeah?
Hey, hey, why the fuck did they not cancel this party?
It's too late. You got a...
Haven't seen a day this bloody since '08.
Don't go home.
Yeah, it's worse there, don't worry.
Don't go to the party.
Whatever's left on the desk's books, however you're axed
long, short, any product, get rid of it now.
You've got one hour of US trading left
then you need to trade Asia.
People might not be trading with us come morning.
Book any profit. Take any loss.
Clean house.
Hey...
what's going on?
The bell's tolling.
How bad is it?
We'll be talking about Pierpoint's stock price
in cents, not dollars soon.
The debt we issued to fund the ESG pivot has matured
and our creditors are banging down our door
- for money that isn't there. - How close are we
- to declaring bankruptcy? - Hours.
The counsel in this room are working avenues
for a capital injection to buy us a stay of execution.
That price is low...
I haven't seen price action this aggressive
- since Lehman Brothers. - All right. Excuse me.
He's about to come on.
Tom, he's about to come on.
You have the Assistant Secretary.
Graham Steele speaking.
This is Tom Wolsey in dreary London.
I'm told Wilhelmina brought you up to speed last night.
Yeah, listen, I've reviewed your situation
and it looks like you've positioned yourself
as lender, buyer, and seller.
Like J.P. Morgan with WeWork.
Yeah, a one-stop shop.
And you didn't think this was inappropriately high-risk?
And incestuous? Yup.
For the record, I think it was.
We liked the risk-reward.
In hindsight, not so much.
We're looking for an emergency cash injection
of around $15 billion in short order to plug the hole
and give us a chance to restructure.
Yeah, our current share price is $45.
It's now 8.00pm UK, Thursday night.
We need to resolve this
before the US markets open on Friday, 2.30pm UK.
Okay.
I don't have the reach or frankly the influence
to advise here.
You're Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
for Financial Institutions, Graham.
If you don't have the authority to do your job
I wanna speak to someone who can.
I'm gonna pull the Treasury Secretary out of her 3.00pm, okay?
Can you get me at least two more packs of this?
If I run out, I'll have to light up
then it'll all get a bit too Glengarry in here.
The head of sales should be at the 150th party.
Keep up appearances.
Trying to contain the issue to this room is a...
it's a fool's errand.
You okay?
Yeah, just a little...
a foggy head.
It's a little late for a fireside chat
- don't you think? - I can stay.
Our voice combined is a voice which speaks
with the authority of half a century in this firm.
This is an existential moment.
There are multiple possible outcomes.
So, let's not let them sell our soul
just because there's a gun to our temple.
Yeah, would you excuse us?
I've spoken to the rest of the Hanani Publishing Board
and we have decided unanimously
that we are going to take care of the damages.
We all just wanna move on.
I'm sure you can empathize.
But our PR team is working around the clock
to stage manage this.
And what we're getting is...
the press want a public face
for this scandal.
What, given a dead one doesn't work, right?
I mean, she's been through enough.
We'd like to brief the press
that you knew all about the embezzlement
and we're its main beneficiary.
Now, they won't be able to finger you
from a legal standpoint but it will be good...
You want her to wear the fucking Scarlett Letter?
Do you know how this country works?
I mean, they'll hang her up as a fucking effigy.
It's a lot of money.
Many millions.
And it's the real world.
You know, there are...
caveats and stipulations to that kind of money.
Yeah, but they'll flay me.
And I mean, they're gonna love it.
I... I didn't do anything.
Come on, I didn't know anything.
I mean, honestly?
It... it doesn't particularly matter.
The truth, it's...
it's not important.
What's important is what's expedient for all of us.
You can't force her to do this.
We are paying back the families.
It's the decent thing to do.
You wanna publicly shame a fucking girl who has nothing
to the point of...
never being able to live a normal life again.
And you're... you're okay with that?
Those are the terms.
The...
alternative is the legal route.
We'll sue the Hanani family.
We'll sue you to claim back
some of the money we pay
in settlement to your father's victims.
It'll be long.
By your own admission
you aren't capitalized enough for that kind of fight.
You well know the end of the story
for young women who are hounded by the tabloids, right?
Accept the money.
Accept your family's culpability and get on with your life.
What life?
Her boob job's insane.
Rish, why did you pull us out of the party, man?
Yeah, man, I was chirpsing this absolute...
- MILF from Risk. - Stop talking, listen.
The 150 party is a sham.
Have you noticed that none of the top brass are there?
How could this day get any worse?
- Insolvency? - The CEO and CFO
were meant to be in London for it.
Where are they?
- Guys, they're upstairs! - I...
I told you!
That's why it's so fucking scrote in here.
- Look. Look at the bins. - Fucking stinks.
I haven't seen a cleaner on the floor for two days.
Yeah, maybe admin payroll's goosed.
Those at the bottom get fucked first. But listen...
I am working on an off-ramp for us.
We're gonna be a pod on the buy side.
Yeah, why would you take us with you?
Well, I need a doe-eyed little flirt for the front of the house.
And Sweetpea's actually smart.
Look, we all deserve better than this.
Covered in grease, while the white gloves
laugh at us upstairs.
I can tell you as sure as Mother Theresa is in hell
they're not thinking about us up there.
I am.
What happened to your arm, by the way?
Walked into a door. Look, get on the phones
and move every position I have, okay?
Senior secured, AAA
BBB, jewels, junk, the lot.
Eric's mandated it.
I'll work our lifeboat. Move!
Do you believe him?
Would you work on the buy side?
Ultimately...
your prognosis is we're dead anyway
- right? - Yeah.
Look, even if this place is burning down...
he's still our boss, right?
No!
What is the point
of making this whole desk's PNL look good
if this goes under, right?
It's like...
it's deckchairs on the Titanic.
It's... Come on, we could, like...
We could, like...
commemorate Pierpoint's last birthday
by getting absolutely fucking hooned.
How many people know Pierpoint's 150th is a wake?
Look, listen, listen.
How do you fancy a Trequartista
as elegant as me on a Bosman?
A "boss man"?
We're not hiring new fund managers.
You need an execution guy.
Someone who can look at flows, levels
make sure you're not mistiming things
- and losing upside. - Really?
You're not a little overqualified for that?
You're not desperate, are you?
All right, final offer, quid pro quo?
Chatter is that LeviathanAlpha are short Pierpoint in size.
I can give you live missives from the madhouse.
Ear to the ground in the asylum.
And help you manage when to take profit or stop out.
Keep me up to date and maybe we're talking.
And... and...
I wanna bring two smart, cheap juniors with me.
Sweetpea and Anraj.
If you are a serious fund, you need to grow.
Do you want me to leave this?
I forgot you were a family man.
I don't need to remind you how loose I am with my seed.
Thanks.
Speak soon.
Can I knock again tomorrow?
No, thank you.
Has Harper fully moved out?
Yeah. Without a word.
Remember to lock the back door tonight.
I always forget.
Where are you going?
Yeah, I haven't told Pierpoint
but I've got a job interview tomorrow morning...
- in Wales. - What?
Yeah.
I met this guy Pierre
who hooked me up with a medical research center
attached to a university there.
And, yeah...
they're doing really cutting-edge work.
Medicine?
Medicine needs its money men.
When was the last time you left the house?
There are like five paps outside.
I didn't see any.
They're not here for you.
There's nobody out there, Yas.
I promise.
Sorry.
They...
They really...
get in your head.
Why don't you come with me?
I can't promise that I'll be...
exhilarating company, but...
I hired a Zipcar.
I can drive you out of the city.
I really don't see a way out.
You know, a change of setting...
It really helps me
when I'm, you know...
agitated.
No, no, come on.
Let's bail.
Yeah, let's...
let's mistake the open road for freedom.
Like all culture teaches us to.
Yeah?
- Okay. - Yeah, okay.
Be ready in twenty.
I'm grabbing a shower.
Who the hell is this?
Tom, this is Eric Tao.
Thirty years sales at Pierpoint across asset classes.
Closest thing to a loyal lieutenant I have.
If Pierpoint has such a thing as an institutional memory...
- Tao is it. - Okay.
And how important is history to us here today?
Well, given Bill's kind introduction
I see it as incumbent on me to say
value is determined by history...
which is indivisible from legacy.
Institutions like ours don't pop up overnight.
"Too big to fail" isn't an insult.
It's a compliment.
Our global interconnectivity and sheer size are hard-won.
Let's make sure we let prospective buyers know that
and value us accordingly.
You're putting yourself at the center of history.
Humble of you.
Not at all.
I'm putting Pierpoint at the center of the economic history
of the 20th and 21st century.
So, your purpose here is to belabor
how Pierpoint is a "star on the American flag"?
This is an American bank.
I need practical thinkers
who present workable options to me, not zealots.
Please hold for the US Treasury Secretary.
Tom.
Madam Secretary.
Graham filled me in on the situation.
I don't wanna waste your time.
The Treasury can't offer you a solution.
Not today.
Not tomorrow.
Oh, Jesus...
You of all people understand the risk if Pierpoint collapses?
We've dropped another 10% the last hour of US trading.
Surely, the lesson from '08 is that
administration should act early to stop contagion.
Tell me exactly where you were in '08, Tom.
If I remember correctly
I was the Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve
and you were...
What?
Singing acapella with the Whiffenpoofs at Yale?
I actually do a very stirring rendition
of "Radio Ga Ga" to this day.
The lesson from '08 is no more bailouts.
We're not asking for TARP scale relief here.
'08 happened.
Moral hazard isn't a thing.
Nobody will care.
We're asking for less than a tenth of the packet.
You are out of your mind
if you think we're putting our hands into the coffers
for a financial institution
in an election year!
Pull on her heartstrings. It's worth a shot.
She's a Democrat.
She only pretends to have a heart.
Think about what you're doing.
The only person you're hurting is the man on the street.
The people on the pavement foot the check.
The people you're supposed to protect.
And in the immediacy
the person who is footing the check eventually
does not want to know they are footing it right now.
It's an election year.
So, you'll gladly let us fail?
Oh, you're all salaried capitalists, right?
Order some Chinese takeout and find a solution.
I think the President might have something...
The President still thinks we're at war with Japan.
Goodbye, and good luck.
Well, so much for "too big to fail."
Surely, there are a number of sovereign wealth funds
that'd like to grow their stake in Pierpoint.
Well, no, hear me out. Hear me out.
Credit Suisse was the last bank to go through this kind of thing
and the Gulf clearly had a huge appetite
- for a legacy banking name. - And look how that ended
with them being subsumed into UBS, their biggest rival.
I'm sorry, but I think I speak for our 45,000 employees
when I stand in opposition to the idea of Pierpoint's name
being used to reputation, to reputation...
- Launder. - Launder.
I know the fucking word, thank you.
Reputation launder, that sort of state-backed money.
Right, Eric?
Their values are anathema to everything we hold dear.
Quibbling over the cultural provenance
of the capital that could save us
feels indulgent.
Could be time for some... some realpolitik.
Oh, this from Madam ESG?
I guess morals really do become more flexible in an emergency.
Or maybe the answer's closer to home.
Let's take a minute.
Eric, let me steal you. Now.
Phillip, can I have a word?
Yeah.
The fuck are you doing? Don't correct me.
I don't need you to finish my fucking sentences.
- Bill, I was just trying to... - No... you listen to me.
It's a royal court in there, you understand?
It's getting rather pungent in here, isn't it?
Too much meat in the room.
I thought tonight was more important
than jockeying for favor and position.
I thought we cared about the soul of the firm.
We do.
The more senior we become, the more influence we have.
Listen...
Wilhelmina, she's not the head
of Banking Asset Management, Corporate Credit.
But her... her ideology gave her a crusader's zeal
to instruct those people.
She wanted to be proven right and be first on ESG.
That's why she pushed this shit so hard.
That's why we overstretched.
She should be strung up for it.
This is all going to end in a purge.
Which for us means...
a putsch.
How does Eric Tao...
"Global Head of Institutional Securities"
sound to you?
And follow in your slipstream?
I wonder what they're talking about.
Whatever outcome suits them.
It's key we lay as much shit as we can at her feet.
She can be ESG's headstone.
Bury it beneath her.
Oh-fucking-kay.
Mitsubishi is live. I've been close to them
since my stint in Tokyo in the aughts.
I've been priming them on a capital injection angle
for the last few weeks.
It'll allow us to fight another day and keep Pierpoint's autonomy.
When I'm CFO
I'll fucking drag you up with me.
I'll place you anywhere in the world.
How do you still have the energy for this?
What else is there?
"The action is the juice."
They're fundamentally non-toxic, right?
So that means you could get it to be as integrated
into your daily life as...
- as your morning coffee. - You are talking about
magic mushrooms, right?
Well, the active ingredient is psilocybin.
Yeah, but it's in pharmaceutical form.
In Little Labs product.
So, surely the whole point
is to get as mashed out of your own fucking head as possible?
No, no, it's clearly an attitudinal thing.
You know, it's about dose, and mindset, setting.
You know, it...
it's not about taking a fucking hero dose
and seeing the face of God, or whatever.
It's about an overall heightening
in your day-to-day state.
Your...
Your introspection, your compassion.
- I mean, do I sound stupid? - Word of warning
you have no idea how annoying it is just listening to someone
proselytizing about the benefits of hallucinogens.
It's like, it's just...
it's like you've joined a cult.
Honestly.
Finally, you're a lot more fucking animated.
Only took you having to put someone down to get you there.
Anyway
you're missing the point, you know, this is just...
it's a chance for me.
You know, to do something off my own bat.
For once.
It's Maxim.
I can call him back.
I need to piss.
Hey, Maxim.
- Where are you? - Big Basin.
South of San Fran.
I'm not sure being alone with my thoughts
is worth the $5,000 a week I'm paying, but...
Yeah, well, your mind is squalid enough to need airing
so, it's probably money well spent.
Look, I'm sorry for falling out of your life.
Been dealing with my own shit, you know?
I saw those appalling photos of Charlie
and honestly, I...
I couldn't sleep.
You know, I'm supposed to lock my phone
in a lockbox here, but...
who am I kidding?
Just keep having to use it!
Okay. So...
what is it?
Look, for all the reservations I had about your father
you need to know
the company were complicit in all of the fucked-up shit he did.
How?
I have some pretty heinous
anti-woke pals at Hanani
who are on the board with me
and they hate its "new hypocrisy."
The NDAs your father had
don't just cover his personal life.
Some of Charlie's women
only started working for Hanani Publishing
after they had signed.
Hanani gave them these made-up jobs
bogus accounting lines on the payroll.
Rose and the company bought their silence for years
just as much as he did.
They're trying to make me the face of this thing.
Yeah.
Because it's an open secret at Hanani
maybe it's a matter of time before someone leaks it.
If they feed you to the press now
your vestigial board seat means
you'll be perfectly placed to be tarred
if it ever comes to light.
You're pre-packaged to take the blame as you're already the headline.
That sneaky little cunt.
Look, someone slipped me a screenshot of the payrolls.
The women with the NDAs have a check next to their name.
Well, can you send it to me?
Yeah, I can. But it's probably illegal
to send this kind of proprietary information.
Your lawyer will advise you not to use it
but I'll send it along.
I just don't think they should be compounding your guilt.
Sorry...
grief.
I don't wanna tell you how to feel about him.
You know, I think Charlie found it difficult
to see people as people.
Yeah, you don't fucking say.
Take care.
- Is everything all right? - Yeah.
Super fucking duper.
So, this is it, right?
This is the product that you're selling
- if you get the job? - Yeah.
Probably isn't the place to take it properly though.
Right.
You hungry?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm fucking starving.
Come on then.
Oh, gosh, I do it all the time, it's great.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
So, the rooms are next to each other.
Six and seven.
Sorry that we're so late.
Check-out is at 11.00 and breakfast is from 7.00.
- Great, thank you. - Thanks.
Just as a pre-warning, the...
kettle in your room is a little bit iffy.
Oh, is there any way that I could get one that works?
Not tonight, sadly.
It's just... it's a pretty basic amenity, though, no?
She can use mine. It's all right.
Right, I'm gonna go dump the bags and then we'll grab a bite?
Yeah. Thank you.
- Thank you. Enjoy your stay. - Cheers. Thank you.
So, do you two work together?
No, we're a couple.
Oh, I just...
I thought with the separate rooms...
We're very religious. Do you have a lighter?
Yes.
Yeah, I got your email.
What do you expect me to do with this?
Well, I mean, it's leverage, you know?
It's like evidence of their complicity.
This is on Rose's head.
Yeah, have you thought about what making this public
would do to the victims?
I mean, these women, like you, have been through a lot.
Leaking this to the public would re-traumatize them.
I didn't think about that, no.
A publicity battle is gonna be very hard
but we can win it.
They go low, we go high.
All right?
Speak later.
That cunt never answers.
Tom, Tom, I've engaged Mitsubishi in substantive talks...
- regarding a nine-billion... - Michael... Sorry.
Michael Stone from Barclays is on his way into the building.
Michael and I have a personal relationship.
Horse driven mostly.
Off the record, they've always been interested
in our business.
Okay, so what's the play?
Sell a division?
They did do that with Lehman's core North American operations.
Given that our share price has now closed at $35
we are, by all accounts, a distressed asset.
They might weigh buying us wholesale.
We need strategic investment, not a sale.
In our 150th year, we cannot become a subsidiary
to a fucking British high street bank.
I appreciate how romantic a soul you have
in a room like this, truly
but we need to be practical.
Barclays buying Pierpoint may be our best option.
Mr. Stone, welcome.
Oh, call me Michael, please.
Please, this way.
- Yep. - Yeah, H.
Listen, you might have hit your take profit level.
The Barclays CEO just arrived and he looks like he means business.
And Pierpoint's stock will rip on any merger or takeover chatter.
That's Nagasaki for your short.
It's definitely him?
Oh, yeah. And he looks horny for assets.
Thanks.
Hey, you know, I can't hire three people, Rish.
What do you wanna do?
Babes, come on, you know it's only ever been me.
Okay.
Come in after this all shakes out and we'll talk.
And how would the floor take a sale to fucking Barclays?
Maybe they just want somewhere to come to work.
You don't have 20 years of options.
I've never sold a goddamn share.
A Brit takeover would decimate it all.
You'd keep your deferreds.
- Chump change. - So now we see your real motivation.
And what's your motivation?
Brokering a deal that obliterates us
so long as you're central enough to keep your seat at the table?
You know what?
I think I've finally made up my mind about you.
- Oh, go on, please. Enlighten me. - Yeah, you wanna take this offline?
Does that fake macho bullshit ever actually work?
You have the imagination of a fucking...
- Michael! - Phillip.
Hi.
Wilhemina, we spoke on the phone.
- Yes, we did. - Nice to see you, hi.
Tom Wolsey.
Oi, oi.
Bon appétit.
What the fuck is that?
- You're kidding? - No.
I got 'em to put scraps on and everything.
Honestly, what is it?
Well, it's a battered sausage.
I am not eating a battered sausage.
Have a chip, at least.
- Okay. - Don't be such a snob.
How perfect is this?
You know...
you could probably invite that impressionable young girl
up to your room and fuck her silly.
'Cause...
there's not gonna be any...
room hopping tonight here.
Just FYI, you know.
As fun as that might be.
What are you doing?
What do you mean?
You don't have to.
Not everything with us has to be a fucking game.
Whatever vulnerability
that you're feeling right now...
sit in it.
All right?
'Cause we are...
we are beyond the game.
Sorry.
I'm sorry.
I don't know why I act like that.
I don't know.
I'm good at making people feel like I love them.
But...
I don't know that I ever have.
Have you?
Yeah.
Girlfriend at school. Izzy Boon.
I was fucking obsessed.
It's just my first instinct whenever I feel anything
like...
love, or care...
I just wanna make it ugly as quickly as I possibly can.
You know, turn it into something else.
Turn it into sex.
You know, anything else.
Right.
I don't know what to say.
Look, all I know is...
except for the first time...
in a long time...
I've got this feeling in my stomach.
And I couldn't work out what it was.
But I know now...
that it's anticipation.
It's excitement for the future.
Our short is about to turn.
How do you know?
Well...
Listen, I think we are diametrically opposed
when it comes to the relationship between information
and how it's traded upon, right?
I think
everything and everyone
is moving in a big sludge of grey.
Don't over-intellectualize this shit.
What have you done?
I have it on good authority
Michael Stone has just gone into Pierpoint.
It's an acquisition target.
We need to take profit before they buy it
and Pierpoint stock rallies.
No, I don't think we should do that.
Why?
Think about the risk-reward.
I mean, what percentage chance
do you ascribe to him being there to buy it?
I mean, like a hundred percent.
It's too big a coincidence.
They're throwing a party for financial luminaries, no?
And look, I mean, even if it's true
so the stock gets a bump on the headline.
I mean, what about the due diligence, the regulator, the government?
Balance that against what we stand to gain
if we hold the line, if Pierpoint trades to zero.
Where's your stomach?
I just don't know what it looks like to the regulator
if we're always on the right side of this trade
at precisely the right time.
What aren't you telling me?
Again, moving forward with honesty.
I know Pierpoint are terminally ill.
How?
I overheard it.
In the toilet.
In Pierpoint?
Holy fucking cunting Christ. I...
Okay, that...
is a completely different beast.
I mean, trading on anything that you hear in there
is privileged information.
They... know we were in there. There's cameras, there's records.
Okay, but, like, how is an SEC, FCA investigation
gonna put anything together based on that?
It would be speculative at best.
What, we took a meeting and placed a short?
Lock us up. Throw away the key. Come on!
Okay, okay.
The whole thing is fucking information soup.
That is the point!
You've backed us into a major fucking corner.
Okay, well...
I've said my piece.
Yeah.
People damn Lehman
because of poor risk management in one area...
housing derivatives.
But we benefited hugely
from acquiring the bond trading and EM businesses.
I'm sure Pierpoint's suite will be...
similarly exciting synergistically for us.
We can give the market the soft signal this is happening
and allay the share price, stave off any more panic.
Give us some breathing room.
Can I ask, would we be Barclays-Pierpoint
or Pierpoint-Barclays?
Do we care about the cosmetics?
As someone who's been here longer than a fortnight
you should care about the weight of our name.
If you're addressing me
could you look me in the face, please?
Do we care about saving the name
or saving the jobs of the people who work for us?
Well, maybe you can tell us.
Or maybe our potential suitor
is best placed to answer that question?
You guys are trading off a 150-year reputation
which we respect, of course.
But practically
we are interested in your infrastructure.
Now, as time is of the essence
may I make some phone calls?
I mean, you know, that is if you're still interested?
Please.
Tell me how that was appropriate.
What's inappropriate is not drilling down
on what this guy means by "infrastructure."
Is that our... our tech, our terminals?
Is that the fucking building in Midtown, what?
I'm sure that'll be shaken out.
Go fuck yourself.
I do that regularly, thank you.
Can I ask what the actual fuck it is you're doing here?
You're barely 40.
You're a fucking British management consultant.
Bill, calm down.
What we need is a capital injection
so we're not backed into a corner and into a deal not on our terms.
We need thinking time.
It's a Band-Aid. A Band-Aid is not a solution.
Mitsubishi will tide us over.
They want us to be us.
With no stipulations.
There is no such thing as free money.
We will thrash out a palatable acquisition multiple
for all parties
but I guess we can now shake hands.
That's pending dotting the I's and crossing the T's
for the regulator.
And we'll pen an announcement to cushion the share price.
- That's great news. - Yeah.
So, this is what death feels like.
One hundred and fifty years to build it...
A two-minute phone call to bring it all down.
Bill can't behave like that
when the rest of Barclays management come in.
He has our best interests at heart.
Has he promised you the world if he comes out on top?
He has a habit of doing that.
Why is he turning this into a political zero-sum game?
These factions, it's child's play.
If we play this right and quell the in-fighting
everyone in the room will be safe.
Do...
do I count as in the room?
Get in Bill's ear. That's how you count.
Bring him to heel
convince him not to embarrass us
in front of the people who are offering us a lifeline.
You don't buy that BS about the workforce, do you?
The guy usually pops a chub for reducing headcount.
He's weaponizing them.
He's self-interested.
He just wants to play Christ with the Mitsubishi plan.
We both know it's not gonna work.
And as far as he's concerned...
you're a useful idiot.
Otto, look, I wouldn't be calling you if it wasn't a last resort.
And I feel terrible about going behind her back
but I need my working relationships
to be predicated on trust and...
on that basis, I...
I think it's becoming untenable with Harper.
Are you coming to bed?
You're one of my best-performing projects.
What's happened?
She's been reckless with our AUM.
Reckless how?
Legally.
Oh, you mean she's reckless with my money?
That is simply something I cannot countenance.
I'm sick of talking around the fact
that you are solely to blame for Pierpoint's insolvency.
It was a strategy agreed upon by a committee.
It was only a committee when it failed.
Bill, can...
I have bad news.
We need significantly more time
to get this over the line with the regulator.
We don't have any more time.
Talk straight. What's going on?
Well, between us
I've just got off the phone with the Chancellor.
He understands the gravity of the situation
but he can't be seen to be ratifying
the effective bailout of another bank.
He's on thin ice as it is
and he's got this bloody caucus of populist Tory backbenchers
making his life hell.
So, yeah.
Sorry, I can't be of more help.
So, what, we're just at the mercy
of someone else's ambition?
Aren't we always?
Look, I need to get some sleep.
Best of luck.
Fuck!
So, this is what we have at the moment.
The Chancellor now looks like an ally
of the financial sector's lawlessness
and weak
for kowtowing to an influential group of backbenchers.
Led by his successor?
Are we ready for that move?
Maybe after the election.
But these headlines won't hurt your chances.
Eddie, thank you for staying so late.
Let's have this online before the country wakes up.
Got it.
...fashion-adjacent lifestyle.
That's immediately a red flag.
He's a hundred percent a misogynist and possibly a psychopath.
What in the good fuck is going on?
You better have sold the rest of my fucking positions!
Where have you been?
Been playing the fruities...
- with a client. - Some...
some guy keeps calling the desk for you.
Who?
Vin? Vinnie.
- Vinay? - That's the one.
- He called here? - Yeah.
You're a dickhead.
A fucking dickhead.
So, Anraj is on Ecstasy.
He was catatonic drunk
but, hey, he insisted and...
Well, we... we dragged some people to the floor and, hey...
can't fire us twice, right?
You bully me 'cause you were
- bullied at school, innit? - Shut the fuck up!
No, you're pure small man syndrome, bruv.
You've got no taste, bruv.
Look at your car, your taste level is dead.
Why didn't you sell my fucking axes?
Your IG Explore page
- must be a crime against humanity. - Shut the fuck up!
Nah, I'm done being quiet.
Now, look, we're not... we're not thick, Rishi.
We're not gonna play Santa
wrapping coal in a bow for your clients.
We're not gonna torch our reputations in the market
selling your worthless positions.
Why would we?
To what end anyway?
Best of luck drowning.
Fuck.
What's the time, please?
It's just gone 4.00am.
Okay.
We have around ten hours 'til US open.
Put a fucking solution in front of me.
Mitsubishi is still in play.
I can wake the head of their London office.
They... want this as much as us.
This solve is not viable long term given the state of our balance sheet.
To assuage market fears
all that matters is we can prove we've plugged the immediate hole.
Why do you keep talking when the value add of your ideas
is less than zero?
We need to pivot.
Mitsubishi...
Wake them up. Get them in the room.
(Japanese) Shotaro, can we pick up the conversation
on that opportunity we've been discussing?
Yes!
It's on. It's on!
Eric.
Oh, it's a good thing Tom said yes.
I soft-launched this to Mitsubishi's European executive committee already.
It's lunchtime in Japan, right?
Oh, they're just in from Duesseldorf where the European subsidiary is.
Now, they're gonna come with terms that Tom finds attractive
because I've prepped them on the financials.
So let's take a fast twenty and call an associate in IBD up
to triple-check the numbers in the deck.
No missteps.
Fast twenty still takes twenty.
I need stronger nicotine.
Any delivery vessel, I'm beyond caring.
Yas?
I just wanted to make a cup of tea.
What the fuck have you done?
Hey, hey. Come on, come on.
Are you hurt?
Hey, hey, Yas, look at me.
Have you taken something?
Look, what have you taken?
Rob. Do you think I'm a bad person?
- No! No, you're not a bad person. - Yes, you do.
Rob, look at me, tell me that you think
- that I'm a bad person. - You're not a bad person.
Tell me that I'm allowed to wanna do bad things.
What?
You can do what you want.
I want you.
I want you. Oh, you're hard.
What are you doing?
- Come on. Just stop. - I want you.
Stop...
Stop... stop.
Henry used to get hard when I cry too.
Hey.
Bill tells me you've been here 30 years.
Aren't you bored?
Been dropped into a few of these restructurings.
They all have their own mythos and history, but...
ultimately, they're much of a muchness.
They're corporations.
Not the people.
The people are different.
Are they really?
There's a self-centeredness
at the heart of Bill's romanticization of it all.
False heroism.
Do you think there's room for nobility in there?
I was hoping Bill would be my mouthpiece
to the wider Pierpoint family but...
he seems like more of a problem than a solution.
You're not a romantic, are you?
What do you believe in?
I don't believe in anything.
I believe in the trade.
When it works.
When it stops working.
By the way
nostalgia is only useful when you're selling something.
Any color that'll help us in the pitch?
Nope.
A whole lot of nothing.
Deck look good to your eyes?
Perfect.
I'll see you out there.
(Japanese) It's very nice of you to come here.
Welcome to London.
Thank you for meeting us so early.
I'm sorry it's a little ripe in here.
- Where the hell are you going? - I gotta take this.
Thanks for calling me back. Sorry, it's early.
Bill Adler told me about a connection
that landed you on my desk.
Can you flesh that out for me a little?
Did you enjoy your stay?
Very much, thank you.
Did you want a bandage?
Sure.
Do you reckon she's a Libra?
I threw in an extra 20 quid for the busted kettle.
- Oh, thanks. - That's all right.
Cheers.
Have a safe trip.
Our proposal is that the Mitsubishi financial group
invest $9 billion in equity in Pierpoint
for a 19% interest in the company
on a fully diluted basis.
How did that get there?
As I was saying, our friends at Mitsubishi
are the best partners we could have.
They have enough dry powder to buy up our distressed debt
and to support the other assets on our books.
And they want us to be us.
They have reverence for our name.
We want to help build Pierpoint back to what it could be
in its 150th year.
We expect a very healthy ROI for you
on a decade-long horizon.
But of course, apologies for the small inaccuracy
on page 12.
What inaccuracy?
I am assuming this reference is linked incorrectly.
It looks like you are linking to enterprise value
instead of equity value.
It's causing a 15% decrease in the true P-E multiple
which would otherwise be 7.6 times...
well below peers.
I'm so sorry we missed this.
That's like a two to three percent uplift in IRR.
After ten years of what we know
will be a mutually beneficial relationship.
How could we have missed that?
It's sloppy.
Eric?
Bill, it's fine. Leave it.
It's late.
It happens.
It's just a book.
That's a huge decrease in the valuation.
How didn't I spot it?
Bill, you did spot it.
What? When?
We ran through it about an hour ago.
I raised it again in the bathroom just now.
You said it wasn't a deal breaker in the room.
That they know the numbers already.
Which they do.
We can move on.
That didn't happen.
Did it?
It's not mission-critical here.
No, it is. When did we discuss it?
I... don't think we did, did we?
- Maybe I'm just misremembering... - I think you can move on.
You have to understand
it's very important that I didn't misremember...
Bill...
What's going on?
Hey, Bill...
There's no shame.
I'm so...
I'm so sorry...
I've been quite sick
and I... I really didn't wanna bring it up in this forum, but...
You are fit to continue...
Gentlemen and...
lady...
could you give us five?
This isn't what we expect in these circumstances.
There should be multiple layers of review.
My apologies.
I'm so sorry.
I should have just breezed past it but it's...
it's quite important...
it's quite important for my prognosis
- that I... - What's wrong with you?
I have a malignant tumor. I...
I've not noticed much, if any, cognitive impairment.
- That's why... - And you've been keeping this
to yourself?
You shouldn't be in here.
Your health is of paramount importance.
My performance has never been compromised.
Apart from when it just mattered.
High stress. No sleep.
This isn't the place for a sick man.
Look...
I want you to go home. That isn't a suggestion.
I'm fit to work if I say I'm fit to work.
I want you to go rest.
Eric...
why don't you put Bill in a cab?
Come on.
It's okay, come on.
- Hello. - Hi, Denise.
I've slept on it and I don't wanna take Rose's offer.
And I know
I have thought about the implications.
But it's Rose and Hanani, okay?
They're the ones that are being inhumane.
And you can think that I'm meeting them on their level
if you want, that's fine.
But they have literally given me no choice.
- Have you stopped to think about - Yeah. Yes...
how this is going to affect the other victims?
Of course, I have thought about that, Denise.
Of course, I have.
But you have to understand
it is them, or it is me.
How was it?
So...
they've had their funding from the university totally cut off.
They balked at the idea
of any commercial application of psychedelics.
Only lab condition trials on treatment
for various mental disorders.
- Why? - Well, it's still illegal.
But Little Labs...
they wanna be the first mover.
Imagine being early on cannabis in California.
Sorry.
Well, no.
See, they've been flirting with the idea
of relocating to Silicon Valley, right?
And they said if I can help unlock VC dollars for 'em out there
then there might be a position open...
Head of Business Development.
- What? - Yeah, I know.
I couldn't believe it as well.
So, wait, would that mean that you move to the States?
Maybe...
Here.
Sleep will help. I'll...
I'll get a couple more hours and come straight back in.
I don't think anyone in there wants that.
Stay home.
For yourself.
I'll smooth out Mitsubishi. It'll work.
Peer to peer?
Stay home.
More time for your family.
The institution doesn't suffer.
Doors opening.
You made me distrust my...
For what?
Doors closing.
You Harper Stern?
Yeah.
Otto wants to see you. Get in the car.
Now?
He'd prefer it.
Well, I hope he's getting the care he needs.
I've heard that...
tumors can have certain...
neurological effects
as pertains to people's willingness
to take risk.
Well...
while I take some responsibility for my bullishness
over ESG as a concept...
Bill had the underlying relationship with Debt Syndicate
from his bond trading days.
He was the one pushing their appetite for risk.
Yes.
Fixed income was more Bill's background.
Hell, we can't let someone go because of their declining health.
But...
Eric...
as the closest to him...
if you think an indefinite period of absence
would be in his best interest...
it is something our executive committee
would be willing to consider.
He has seemed a little...
out of sorts.
While I respect the rules of the game...
I find pinning this all on a sick man
morally unconscionable.
But tomorrow is more important than yesterday
for Pierpoint.
So fuck him then, right?
Is Mitsubishi worth pursuing?
It's a Band-Aid. No more.
Phillip was onto something when he told us
that we should be looking towards the Gulf.
So I've brokered an introduction.
Ali, gentlemen...
it's Pierpoint's anniversary.
How would you like to buy a piece of history?