Industry (2020) s03e07 Episode Script
Useful Idiot
1
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
BILL ADLER: 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.
(SIRENS WAILING)
ERIC TAO: They're serving Prosecco.
ADLER: Can't afford champagne.
ERIC: It screams sell signal, no doubt.
ADLER: Yeah, I need you to come
to the 13th floor immediately.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Hey, hey, why the fuck did
they not cancel this party?
It's too late. You've got a
I haven't seen a day
this bloody since '08.
- ERIC: 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.
We've got one hour of U.S. trading left
and you need to trade Asia.
People might not be trading
with us come morning.
Book any profit. Take any loss.
Clean house.
Hey, uh, what's going on?
The bell's tolling.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
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.
TOM WOLSEY: That price is low
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
WILHELMINA FASSBINDER:
I haven't seen price action
this aggressive since Lehman Brothers.
Excuse me.
He's about to come on.
Tom! He's about to come on.
(CALL TONE CHIMES)
U.S. OPERATOR: (OVER SPEAKER)
You have the assistant secretary.
GRAHAM STEELE: Graham Steele speaking.
This is Tom Wolsey in dreary London.
I'm told Wilhelmina brought
you up to speed last night.
GRAHAM: Yeah, listen, I've
reviewed your situation.
It looks like you've positioned yourself
as lender, buyer, and seller,
like J.P. Morgan with WeWork.
Yeah, a one-stop shop.
GRAHAM: And you didn't think
this was inappropriately high-risk?
And incestuous. Yep. For
the record, I think it was.
We We liked the risk-reward.
In hindsight, not so much.
We're looking for an
emergency cash injection
of around 15 billion
dollars in short order
to plug the hole and give
us a chance to restructure.
Uh, our current share
price is 45 dollars.
It's now 8:00 p.m.,
U.K., Thursday night.
We need to resolve this before
the U.S. markets open on Friday,
2:30 p.m., U.K.
GRAHAM: Okay.
I don't have the reach
or, frankly, the
influence to advise here.
- (EXECUTIVES MURMURING)
- You're assistant secretary
of the Treasury for Financial
Institutions, Graham.
If you don't have the
authority to do your job,
I want to speak to someone who can.
GRAHAM: (SIGHS) I'm gonna
pull the treasury secretary
out of her 3:00 p.m., okay?
(CALL TONE CHIMES)
WOLSEY: 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.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(INAUDIBLE MOUTHING)
The head of sales should
be at the 150th party.
Keep up appearances.
Trying to contain the
issue to this room is
It's a fool's errand.
You okay?
Yeah, just a little a foggy head.
EXECUTIVE: Ugh, it's a little late
for a fireside chat.
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.
ADLER: Julian? Yeah,
would you excuse us?
(TENSE MUSIC FADES)
ROSE WINTER: 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.
(GASPS)
We all just wanna move on.
I'm sure you can empathize.
But our PR team is
working round the clock
to stage-manage this.
And what we're getting is
the press
want a public face for this scandal.
Well, given a dead one
doesn't work, right?
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
I mean, she's been through enough.
ROSE: We'd like to brief the press
that you knew all about the embezzlement
and were 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 scarlet letter?
Do 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, uh,
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
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.
ROSE: 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 of
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.
(SCOFFS)
What life?
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONCLUDES)
SWEETPEA GOLIGHTLY: Her boob job's
- insane.
- (ANRAJ CHABRA LAUGHS)
SWEETPEA: 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.
(INDISTINCT TV CHATTER IN BACKGROUND)
Have you noticed that none
of the top brass are there?
Uh, 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 scrot 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.
(ANRAJ CHUCKLES)
We're going to be a pod on the buy side.
ANRAJ: Yeah, why would
you take us with you?
Well, I need a doe-eyed little flirt
for the front of house.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
RISHI RAMDANI: And
Sweetpea's actually smart.
(SWEETPEA CHUCKLES)
Look, we all deserve better than this.
Covered in grease while the white gloves
- laugh at us upstairs.
- (SWEET PEAT BREATHES DEEPLY)
I can tell you as sure as
Mother Teresa is in hell
they're not thinking
about us up there. I am.
What happened to your arm by the way?
RISHI: 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.
SWEETPEA: Do you believe him?
Would you work on the buy side?
Ultimately (SIGHS)
your prognosis is
we're dead anyway, right?
Yeah.
Look, even if this
place is burning down
he's still our boss, right?
(TELEPHONE RATTLING)
- (BLOWS RASPBERRY)
- (NUMBER PAD CLACKING)
No.
- What is the point
- What?
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
- (CHUCKLES)
- (SWEETPEA CHUCKLES)
We could, like, commemorate
Pierpoint's last birthday
by getting absolutely fucking hooned.
- (ANRAJ CHUCKLES)
- (TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
How many people know
Pierpoint's 150th is a wake?
RISHI: (OVER PHONE) 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.
RISHI: You need an execution guy.
Someone who can look at flows, levels.
Make sure you're not mistiming things
- and losing upside.
- HARPER STERN: Really?
You're not a little
overqualified for that?
You're not desperate, are you?
RISHI: All right, final
offer. Quid pro quo.
Chatter is that LeviathanAlpha
has 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 want to 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.
RISHI: I don't need to remind you
how loose I am with my seed.
Thanks.
Speak soon.
- Hmm.
- Can I knock again tomorrow?
No, thank you.
(TROLLEY RATTLING)
YASMIN KARA-HANANI: Has
Harper fully moved out?
(TENSE MUSIC FADES)
ROBERT SPEARING: Yeah. Without a word.
Remember to lock the back door tonight.
I always forget. (CHUCKLES)
Where are you going?
Uh, I haven't told Pierpoint,
but I've got a job
interview tomorrow morning.
In Wales.
- YASMIN: What?
- (LAUGHS)
Yeah, uh,
I met this guy, Pierre, who hooked me up
with a medical research center
attached to a university there.
And, um, yeah.
They're doing really cutting-edge work.
Medicine?
Medicine needs its money men.
Uh-huh.
When was the last time
you left the house?
(SERENE MUSIC PLAYING)
There are, like, five paps outside.
I didn't see any.
They're not here for you.
(CAR ENGINES RUMBLING)
ROBERT: There's nobody out there, Yas.
I promise.
Sorry. (CHUCKLES)
They, um
They really get in your head.
Why don't you come with me?
(CHUCKLES) 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.
- (CHUCKLES)
(CELL PHONE VIBRATES)
Nope. Nope. Come on. (LAUGHS)
Let's bail. You know, let's, uh
Let's mistake the open road for freedom.
Like all culture teaches us to.
(BOTH LAUGH)
ROBERT: Yeah?
- Okay.
- ROBERT: Yeah, okay.
(CHUCKLES)
Be ready in 20. I'm grabbing a shower.
- (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
- (SERENE MUSIC FADES)
Who the hell is this?
Uh, 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.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
And how important is
history to us here today?
Well, uh, 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.
(CALL TONE CHIMES)
U.S. OPERATOR: Please hold for
the U.S. Treasury secretary.
TREASURY SECRETARY: (OVER SPEAKER) Tom!
WOLSEY: Madam Secretary.
TREASURY 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.
WOLSEY: You, of all
people, understand the risk
if Pierpoint collapses.
(SCOFFS) We've dropped
another ten percent
the last hour of U.S. 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, uh, what?
Singing acapella with
the Whiffenpoofs at Yale?
I actually do a very stirring rendition
of "Radio Ga Ga" to this day.
(TREASURY SECRETARY CHUCKLES)
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.
TREASURY SECRETARY:
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?
- (MUTE TONE BEEPS)
- Pull on her heart strings.
- 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.
TREASURY SECRETARY: 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?
TREASURY SECRETARY: Oh, you're
all salaried capitalists, right?
Order some Chinese takeout
and find a solution.
I think the president
might have something
TREASURY SECRETARY: The
president still thinks
we're at war with Japan.
Goodbye and good luck.
(CALL TONE CHIMES, BEEPS)
(EXECUTIVE GRUNTS SOFTLY)
Well, so much for too-big-to-fail.
Surely, there are a number
of sovereign wealth funds
that would like to grow
their stake in Pierpoint.
- (ADLER CHUCKLES)
- PHILLIP BLOUNT: What? Uh.
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.
ADLER: 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 to reputation
(HESITATES)
- Launder.
- ADLER: 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.
WILHELMINA: Quibbling over
the cultural provenance
of the capital that could
save us feels indulgent.
Could be time for some,
uh some realpolitik.
Oh, this from Madam ESG.
I I guess morals really do
become more flexible in an emergency.
Or maybe the answer is closer to home.
Let's take a minute.
Eric, let me steal you. Now.
Phillip, can I have a word?
- BLOUNT: Yeah.
- (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
What 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, no, no, you listen to me.
It's a royal court in
there, you understand?
WOLSEY: 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 favorite 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 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 security
sound to you?
And follow in your slipstream?
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
ERIC: I wonder what
they're talking about.
ADLER: 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.
- (CELL PHONE VIBRATES)
ADLER: O-fucking-kay.
Mitsubishi is live. I've
been, uh, 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?
- (CHUCKLING) What else is there?
- (ERIC CHUCKLES)
The action is the juice.
(TENSE MUSIC BUILDS, CONCLUDES)
("EASY TO BE HARD" BY GOOF PLAYING)
ROBERT: 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?
ROBERT: The active ingredient
is psilocybin, yeah,
but it's in pharmaceutical
form, in LittleLabs product.
So, surely the whole point
is to get as mashed out
of your own fucking head as possible?
ROBERT: 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 It's about
an overall heightening
in your day-to-day state,
your introspection,
your your compassion.
(SCOFFS) 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 it's just
It's like you've joined a cult,
- honestly.
- (LAUGHS)
Finally, you're a little more
fucking animated. (CHUCKLES)
Only took you having to put
someone down to get you there.
(YASMIN CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
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.
- (SONG STOPS ABRUPTLY)
- (CELL PHONE RINGS, VIBRATES)
YASMIN: It's Maxim.
I can call him back.
I need a piss.
(TURN SIGNAL CLICKING)
(URINE TRICKLING)
- Hey, Maxim. Where are you?
- MAXIM ALONSO: Big Basin?
South of San Fran.
I'm not sure being
alone with my thoughts
is worth the 5,000 dollars
a week I'm paying, but, uh
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.
I've 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, uh, who am I kidding?
Just keep having to use it.
YASMIN: Okay, so, um, 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.
- (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
- 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 They're trying
to make me the face
- of this thing.
- MAXIM: 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.
MAXIM: Look, someone slipped me
a screenshot of the payrolls.
The women with the NDAs have
a check next to their name.
What Can Can you send it to me?
MAXIM: 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 want to 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.
- (CELL PHONE THUDS)
- (SIGHS)
Take care.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC FADES)
- Is everything all right?
- Yeah. (CHUCKLES DRYLY)
Super fucking duper.
So, this is it, right?
This is the product that you're selling?
- If you get the job?
- Uh, yeah. Uh
Probably isn't the place
to take it properly, though.
Right.
(SIGHS)
You hungry?
(CHUCKLES, SNIFFLES) Yeah.
(SNIFFLES)
- Yeah, I'm fucking starving.
- (BOTH CHUCKLE)
("21ST CENTURY LIVING"
BY TOMMY DOWN PLAYING)
ROBERT: (SIGHS) Come on, then.
RECEPTIONIST: Oh, gosh. I do
it all the time. It's great.
- ROBERT: Yeah?
- RECEPTIONIST: Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
So, the rooms are next to
each other, six and seven.
- Sorry that we're so late.
- (KEYS JINGLING)
Um, checkout is at 11:00
and breakfast is from 7:00.
- Great, thank you.
- RECEPTIONIST: Thanks.
Just as a pre-warning,
the, um, 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?
Um, she can use mine, it's all right.
(CHUCKLES) Uh, right,
I'm gonna go dump the bags
and then we'll grab a bite?
- Mm-hmm.
- ROBERT: Uh, thank you.
- Thank you, enjoy your stay.
- Cheers, thank you.
RECEPTIONIST: So, do
you two work together?
No, we're a couple.
Oh, I just, um I thought
with the separate rooms
We're very religious.
Do you have a lighter?
Yes.
DENISE OLDROYD: (OVER PHONE)
Yeah, I got your email.
What do you expect me to do with this?
W I mean, it's leverage, no?
It's, like, evidence
of their complicity.
This is on Rose's head.
DENISE: Have you thought
about what making this public
would do to the victims?
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.
DENISE: A publicity battle
is gonna be very hard,
but we can win it.
They go low, we go high.
All right?
- Speak later.
- (SIGHS)
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(TENSE MUSIC CONCLUDES)
- (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
- That cunt never answers.
Tom, Tom, I've engaged Mitsubishi
- in substantive talks
- WILHELMINA: Uh
- ADLER: regarding a
- Uh, 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 dollars,
we are, by all accounts,
a distressed asset.
They might weigh buying us wholesale.
(SCOFFS) 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.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
Mr. Stone, welcome.
MICHAEL STONE: Oh,
call me Michael, please.
WOLSEY'S ASSISTANT: Please, this way.
(CELL PHONE VIBRATES)
- Yeah?
- RISHI: 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.
HARPER: It's definitely him?
Oh, yeah, and he looks horny for assets.
HARPER: Thanks.
Um, 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, um, come in after this
all shakes out and we'll talk.
And how would the floor take
a sale to fucking Barclays?
- (TENSE MUSIC CONCLUDES)
- Maybe they just want
somewhere to come to work.
ADLER: You don't have
20 years of options.
I've never sold a goddamn share.
A Brit takeover would decimate it all.
BLOUNT: You could keep your deferreds.
Chump change.
So, now we see your real motivation.
ADLER: 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.
- You want to take this offline?
(LAUGHS) Does that fake macho
bullshit ever actually
You have the imagination of a fucking
- BLOUNT: Michael!
- MICHAEL: Phillip.
Hi. Hi. Wilhelmina.
- We spoke on the phone.
- MICHAEL: Yes, we did.
- Hi.
- WILHELMINA: Nice to see you. Hi.
WOLSEY: Tom Wolsey.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
- ROBERT: Oi, oi.
- YASMIN: Ah.
Bon appétit. (CHUCKLES)
YASMIN: What the fuck
is that? (CHUCKLES)
- ROBERT: Are you kidding?
- No.
I got them to put
scraps on and everything.
YASMIN: Honestly, what is it?
What It's a battered sausage.
I'm not eating a
battered sausage. (LAUGHS)
Have a chip, at least.
- YASMIN: Okay.
- ROBERT: Don't be such a snob.
(BATTER CRUNCHES)
How perfect is this?
YASMIN: Hmm.
You know, um
you could probably invite
that impressionable, young girl
up to your room and fuck her silly.
'Cause (CLEARS THROAT)
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.
(WAVES LAPPING)
(QUIVERING) 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.
(SNIFFLES)
I'm sorry.
I don't know why I act like that.
(SNIFFLES)
(SNIFFLES) I don't know.
I'm good at making people
feel like I love them.
But, um
I don't know that I ever have.
Have you?
Yeah.
Girlfriend at school, Izzy Boon.
- I was fucking obsessed.
- (LAUGHS)
(CHUCKLES)
YASMIN: It's just my first instinct.
Whenever I feel anything,
like love or care, um,
I just want to make it ugly
as quickly as I possibly can.
You know, turn it into something else.
(SNIFFLES) Turn it into
sex. You know, anything else.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Right.
I don't know what to say.
(SNIFFLES)
Uh, all I know is
is that for the first time
in a long time
I've got this feeling in my stomach.
I couldn't work out what it was.
But I know now
that it's anticipation.
It's excitement for the future.
(SOFT MUSIC CONTINUES)
(KEYS JINGLING)
- (DOOR CLOSES)
- (SOFT MUSIC FADES)
Our short is about to turn.
How do you know?
Uh, well, um
(INHALES) Listen, I
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 gray.
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.
Uh-uh. 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?
HARPER: 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.
(CLOCK TOWER BELL RINGING IN DISTANCE)
PETRA KOENIG: What
aren't you telling me?
HARPER: Um, again, moving
forward with honesty
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
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 they know we were in there.
There's 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.
PETRA: Okay, okay.
The whole thing is
fucking information soup.
That is the point.
(GROANS, EXHALES SHARPLY)
You've backed us into
a major fucking corner.
Okay, well
I've said my piece.
Yeah.
- (SIGHS)
- (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC FADES)
MICHAEL: 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?
(SCOFFS SOFTLY)
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,
I'll make some phone calls.
I mean, you know, that is
if you're still interested.
(CHUCKLES) Please.
(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
Tell me how that was appropriate.
ADLER: 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.
(LAUGHS)
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.
- WILHELMINA: This is great news.
- MICHAEL: Yeah.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ADLER: So, this is
what death feels like.
One hundred and fifty years to build it.
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
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 infighting,
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.
(SCOFFS)
You don't buy that BS
about the workforce, do you?
The guy usually pops a chub
for reducing head count.
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.
(WATER BURBLING)
(YASMIN BREATHING DEEPLY)
(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC CONCLUDES)
("MODULAR 4" BY GODFORD PLAYING)
PETRA: 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, uh
I think it's becoming
untenable with Harper.
Are you coming to bed?
OTTO MOSTYN: Hmm. You're one
of my best performing projects.
What's happened?
PETRA: She's being
reckless with our AUM.
Reckless how?
Legally.
OTTO: Hmm.
You mean she's reckless with my money?
That is simply something
I cannot countenance.
(SONG CONCLUDES)
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.
WILHELMINA: Bill, can
I have bad news.
(SMACKS LIPS) Um
We need significantly more time
to get us over the
line with the regulator.
We don't have any more time.
(SIGHS) Talk straight. What's going on?
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
Well, between us, I've
just got off the phone
with the chancellor,
and 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
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.
WOLSEY: Fuck!
(DOOR CLOSES)
EDDIE: 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?
ALEXANDER NORTON: Maybe
after the election.
(KEYBOARD KEYS CLACKING)
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.
("YOU MAKE ME FEEL (MIGHTY REAL)"
(BY JIMMY SOMERVILLE PLAYING)
SWEETPEA: If he thinks this leads
to a fashion-adjacent lifestyle,
it's immediately a red flag.
He was a hundred percent a misogynist,
- and possibly a psychopath.
- (LAUGHS)
RISHI: What in the
good fuck is going on?
You better have sold the
rest of my fucking positions.
Where have you been? (CHUCKLES)
I've been playing the fruities
with a client.
Some, uh Some guy keeps
calling the desk for you.
RISHI: Who?
Vin? Vinnie?
- Vinay?
- That's the one.
- RISHI: He called here?
- Yeah.
ANRAJ: You're a dickhead, bruv.
A fucking dickhead.
So, Anraj is on ecstasy.
He was catatonic drunk,
but hey, he insisted,
and, well, we dragged
some people to the floor
and, hey, they can't fire
us twice, right? (LAUGHS)
You bully me
'cause you were bullied
at school, innit?
Shut the fuck up!
No, you're pure
small-man syndrome, bruv.
You got no taste, bruv.
Look at your car, your
taste level's dead.
Why didn't you sell my fucking axes?
Your IG Explore page must be
- a crime against humanity!
- Shut the fuck up!
ANRAJ: No, I'm done being quiet.
Now, look look, we're
not we're not sick, 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.
Huh? Why would we? To what end, anyway?
Best of luck drowning.
Fuck.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(COUPLE MOANING)
(SONG FADES)
WOLSEY: What's the time, please?
WILHELMINA: It's just gone 4:00 a.m.
- (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
- WOLSEY: Okay.
We have around ten hours till U.S. open.
Put a fucking solution in front of me.
Mitsubishi is still in play.
I can wake the head
of their London office.
They 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 plugged the immediate hole.
Why do you keep talking when
the value add of your ideas
is less than zero?
- (CHUCKLES)
- WOLSEY: We need to pivot.
Mitsubishi?
Wake them up. Get them in the room.
(FOOTSTEPS DEPART)
(ADLER SPEAKING JAPANESE)
(FINGERS SNAPPING)
Yes!
(SNAPS FINGERS) Eric.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ADLER: It's a good thing Tom said yes.
I soft launched this to Mitsubishi's
European Executive Committee already.
ERIC: It's lunchtime in Japan, right?
Uh, they're just in from Düsseldorf,
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 20 and
call an associate in IBD up
to triple-check the numbers in the deck.
No missteps.
Fast 20 still takes 20.
WOLSEY: I need stronger nicotine.
Any delivery vessel, I'm beyond caring.
YASMIN: Ow! Ow!
(GROANING)
- (CONTINUES GROANING)
- Yas?
(YASMIN GROANS)
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONCLUDES)
Ow!
I just wanted to make a cup of tea.
What the fuck have you done?
- (GROANS)
- Hey, come here, come here.
- (GROANS)
- Are you hurt?
(GROANS)
Hey, hey. Yas, look at me.
- Have you taken
something? Yeah? - Uh-huh.
What have you taken?
Rob, do you think I'm a bad person?
No.
- No, you're not a bad person.
- You do. Rob, look at me.
Tell me that you think
that I'm a bad person.
Look, you're not a bad person!
Tell me that I'm allowed
to want to do bad things.
(PANTS) What?
You can do what you want.
(MOANS, SOBS) I want you.
I want you. Oh, you're hard.
- ROBERT: What are you doing? No!
- (CHUCKLES)
- Stop.
- I want you.
Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!
Stop!
Stop!
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Henry used to get
hard when I cried, too.
Hey. Shh.
(YASMIN BREATHES DEEPLY)
(URINE TRICKLING)
WOLSEY: Bill tells me
you've been here 30 years.
Aren't you bored?
(SOFT MUSIC CONCLUDES)
Been dropped into a few
of these restructurings.
They all have their own
mythos and history, but
ultimately, they're much for muchness.
They're corporations.
(ZIPPER ZIPS)
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?
(ZIPPER ZIPS)
(WATER RUNNING)
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?
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
I don't believe in anything.
I believe in the trade, when it works
when it stops working.
By the way,
nostalgia's only useful when
you're selling something.
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
ADLER: Any color that'll
help us in the pitch?
Nope.
- (ZIPPER UNZIPS)
- A whole lot of nothing.
(URINE TRICKLING)
ADLER: Deck look good to your eyes?
Perfect.
(ADLER LAUGHS)
- I'll see you out there.
- ADLER: I'll see you out there.
(ADLER GREETS IN JAPANESE)
(CELL PHONE BUZZING)
WOLSEY: 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?
(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)
RECEPTIONIST: Did you enjoy your stay?
Very much. Thank you.
("BEGIN AGAIN" BY FREDDIE AND THE
SCENARIOS, DIEGO HERRERA PLAYING OVER RADIO)
Did you want a bandage?
Sure.
Do you reckon she's a Libra?
(SCOFFS)
Uh, I threw in an extra 20
quid for the busted kettle.
- RECEPTIONIST: Oh, thanks.
- Ah, it's all right. Uh, cheers.
Cheers.
Have a safe trip.
ADLER: Our proposal is that
the Mitsubishi Financial Group
invest nine billion dollars in equity
in Pierpoint for a 19-percent
interest in the company
on a fully diluted basis.
How did that get there? (CHUCKLES)
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.
(PAGES RUSTLING)
ADLER: 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-percent decrease
in the true PE multiple,
which should otherwise
be seven-point-six times,
well below peers.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
ADLER: I'm so sorry we missed this.
That's like a two-to-three
percent uplift in IRR.
WOLSEY: After ten years of what we know
will be a mutually
beneficial relationship.
ADLER: How could we have missed that?
It's sloppy. (CHUCKLES)
- Eric.
- (CHUCKLES)
ERIC: Bill, it's fine.
Leave it. It's late.
(CHUCKLES) 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.
ADLER: 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. (CHUCKLES)
- We can move on.
- (CHUCKLES)
That That didn't happen.
Did it?
It's not mission critical here.
No, it is. When did we discuss it?
I I don't think we did, did we?
- Maybe I'm just misremembering.
- I think you can move on.
You You have to
understand it's very important
- that I didn't misremember.
- Bill.
What's going on?
ERIC: Hey, Bill.
There's no shame.
ADLER: (CHUCKLES) I'm
so I'm so sorry, if
I've been quite sick,
and I I really
didn't wanna bring it up
in this forum, but, uh
You are fit to continue.
- (ADLER SCOFFS)
- (CHAIR CREAKS)
WOLSEY: Uh, gentlemen,
and, uh lady,
could you give us five?
This isn't what we expect
in these circumstances.
No, there should be
multiple layers of review.
My apologies.
ADLER: (CHUCKLES) I
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.
What's wrong with you?
I have a malignant tumor. I
I've not noticed much, if
any, cognitive impairment.
- That's why it's
- 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. (CHUCKLES)
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.
WILHELMINA: Eric
why don't you put Bill in a cab?
(SNIFFLES)
Come on.
It's okay. Come on.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(DIAL TONE RINGING)
- DENISE: (OVER PHONE) Hello?
- Hi.
Denise, um, I've slept on it,
and I don't want to take Rose's offer.
And I know I have thought
about the implications
- (DENISE SIGHS)
- 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.
DENISE: Have you stopped to think about
how this is gonna affect
the other victims?
Yes, of course!
Of course I have thought
about that, Denise!
Of course I have!
But you have to understand,
it is them or it is me!
(CELL PHONE THUDS)
(TENSE MUSIC CONCLUDES)
- (ROBERT SIGHS)
- How was it?
(ROBERT PANTS)
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-conditioned trials
on treatment for
various mental disorders.
YASMIN: Why?
ROBERT: Well, it's still
illegal, but LittleLabs,
they want to be the first mover.
Now, imagine being early
on cannabis in California.
- Sorry.
- ROBERT: Well, no.
See, they've been flirting with the idea
of relocating to Silicon Valley.
All right? And they said if
I can help unlock VC dollars
for them out there,
then there might be a position open.
- Head of business development.
- What?
- Yeah, I know.
- (YASMIN CHUCKLES)
- I couldn't believe it as well.
- (YASMIN CHUCKLES)
- (LAUGHS)
- YASMIN: So, wait wait.
Would that mean that
you move to the States?
Maybe.
Here.
(CHUCKLES)
Hmm.
Sleep will help. I'll, uh
I'll get a couple more hours
and come straight back in.
I don't think anyone
in there wants that.
- (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
- Stay home. For yourself.
I'll smooth out Mitsubishi. It'll work.
ERIC: Peer to peer, stay home.
More time for your family.
The institution doesn't suffer.
- (ELEVATOR DINGS)
- AUTOMATED VOICE: Door opening.
You made me distrust my
For what?
AUTOMATED VOICE: Door closing.
(TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CAR ENGINE REVVING)
(BRAKES SCREECH)
You Harper Stern?
Yeah.
Otto wants to see you. Get in the car.
Now?
He'd prefer it.
WOLSEY: Well, I hope he's
getting the care he needs.
I've heard that
- tumors can have certain
- (TENSE MUSIC FADES)
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.
You know, 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
(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
it is something
our executive committee
would be willing to consider.
WILHELMINA: Hmm.
He has seemed a little
out of sorts.
(WOLSEY SIGHS)
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.
(WOLSEY CHUCKLES)
(BREATHES DEEPLY)
(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC FADES)
So, fuck him then, right?
("BOMBTRACK" BY RAGE
AGAINST THE MACHINE PLAYING)
(LAUGHS)
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.
ERIC: Ali. Gentlemen.
It's Pierpoint's anniversary.
How would you like to
buy a piece of history?
Uh ♪
Ayy, yo ♪
It's just another bombtrack ♪
Uh ♪
Ayy, yo ♪
It's just another bombtrack ♪
Yeah ♪
It goes a one, two, three ♪
Yeah, and it's just
another bombtrack ♪
And suckers be thinkin'
that they can fake this ♪
But I'ma drop it at a higher level ♪
'Cause I'm inclined to stoop down ♪
Hand out some beatdowns ♪
Could run a train on punk fools ♪
That think they run the game ♪
But I learned to burn
that bridge and delete ♪
Those who compete at a
level that's obsolete ♪
Instead, I warm my hands
upon the flames of the flag ♪
To recall the downfall
and the businesses ♪
That burnt us all ♪
Burn, burn ♪
Yes, you're gonna burn ♪
Burn ♪
(SONG CONCLUDES)
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
BILL ADLER: 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.
(SIRENS WAILING)
ERIC TAO: They're serving Prosecco.
ADLER: Can't afford champagne.
ERIC: It screams sell signal, no doubt.
ADLER: Yeah, I need you to come
to the 13th floor immediately.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Hey, hey, why the fuck did
they not cancel this party?
It's too late. You've got a
I haven't seen a day
this bloody since '08.
- ERIC: 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.
We've got one hour of U.S. trading left
and you need to trade Asia.
People might not be trading
with us come morning.
Book any profit. Take any loss.
Clean house.
Hey, uh, what's going on?
The bell's tolling.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
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.
TOM WOLSEY: That price is low
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
WILHELMINA FASSBINDER:
I haven't seen price action
this aggressive since Lehman Brothers.
Excuse me.
He's about to come on.
Tom! He's about to come on.
(CALL TONE CHIMES)
U.S. OPERATOR: (OVER SPEAKER)
You have the assistant secretary.
GRAHAM STEELE: Graham Steele speaking.
This is Tom Wolsey in dreary London.
I'm told Wilhelmina brought
you up to speed last night.
GRAHAM: Yeah, listen, I've
reviewed your situation.
It looks like you've positioned yourself
as lender, buyer, and seller,
like J.P. Morgan with WeWork.
Yeah, a one-stop shop.
GRAHAM: And you didn't think
this was inappropriately high-risk?
And incestuous. Yep. For
the record, I think it was.
We We liked the risk-reward.
In hindsight, not so much.
We're looking for an
emergency cash injection
of around 15 billion
dollars in short order
to plug the hole and give
us a chance to restructure.
Uh, our current share
price is 45 dollars.
It's now 8:00 p.m.,
U.K., Thursday night.
We need to resolve this before
the U.S. markets open on Friday,
2:30 p.m., U.K.
GRAHAM: Okay.
I don't have the reach
or, frankly, the
influence to advise here.
- (EXECUTIVES MURMURING)
- You're assistant secretary
of the Treasury for Financial
Institutions, Graham.
If you don't have the
authority to do your job,
I want to speak to someone who can.
GRAHAM: (SIGHS) I'm gonna
pull the treasury secretary
out of her 3:00 p.m., okay?
(CALL TONE CHIMES)
WOLSEY: 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.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(INAUDIBLE MOUTHING)
The head of sales should
be at the 150th party.
Keep up appearances.
Trying to contain the
issue to this room is
It's a fool's errand.
You okay?
Yeah, just a little a foggy head.
EXECUTIVE: Ugh, it's a little late
for a fireside chat.
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.
ADLER: Julian? Yeah,
would you excuse us?
(TENSE MUSIC FADES)
ROSE WINTER: 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.
(GASPS)
We all just wanna move on.
I'm sure you can empathize.
But our PR team is
working round the clock
to stage-manage this.
And what we're getting is
the press
want a public face for this scandal.
Well, given a dead one
doesn't work, right?
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
I mean, she's been through enough.
ROSE: We'd like to brief the press
that you knew all about the embezzlement
and were 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 scarlet letter?
Do 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, uh,
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
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.
ROSE: 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 of
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.
(SCOFFS)
What life?
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONCLUDES)
SWEETPEA GOLIGHTLY: Her boob job's
- insane.
- (ANRAJ CHABRA LAUGHS)
SWEETPEA: 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.
(INDISTINCT TV CHATTER IN BACKGROUND)
Have you noticed that none
of the top brass are there?
Uh, 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 scrot 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.
(ANRAJ CHUCKLES)
We're going to be a pod on the buy side.
ANRAJ: Yeah, why would
you take us with you?
Well, I need a doe-eyed little flirt
for the front of house.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
RISHI RAMDANI: And
Sweetpea's actually smart.
(SWEETPEA CHUCKLES)
Look, we all deserve better than this.
Covered in grease while the white gloves
- laugh at us upstairs.
- (SWEET PEAT BREATHES DEEPLY)
I can tell you as sure as
Mother Teresa is in hell
they're not thinking
about us up there. I am.
What happened to your arm by the way?
RISHI: 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.
SWEETPEA: Do you believe him?
Would you work on the buy side?
Ultimately (SIGHS)
your prognosis is
we're dead anyway, right?
Yeah.
Look, even if this
place is burning down
he's still our boss, right?
(TELEPHONE RATTLING)
- (BLOWS RASPBERRY)
- (NUMBER PAD CLACKING)
No.
- What is the point
- What?
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
- (CHUCKLES)
- (SWEETPEA CHUCKLES)
We could, like, commemorate
Pierpoint's last birthday
by getting absolutely fucking hooned.
- (ANRAJ CHUCKLES)
- (TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
How many people know
Pierpoint's 150th is a wake?
RISHI: (OVER PHONE) 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.
RISHI: You need an execution guy.
Someone who can look at flows, levels.
Make sure you're not mistiming things
- and losing upside.
- HARPER STERN: Really?
You're not a little
overqualified for that?
You're not desperate, are you?
RISHI: All right, final
offer. Quid pro quo.
Chatter is that LeviathanAlpha
has 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 want to 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.
RISHI: I don't need to remind you
how loose I am with my seed.
Thanks.
Speak soon.
- Hmm.
- Can I knock again tomorrow?
No, thank you.
(TROLLEY RATTLING)
YASMIN KARA-HANANI: Has
Harper fully moved out?
(TENSE MUSIC FADES)
ROBERT SPEARING: Yeah. Without a word.
Remember to lock the back door tonight.
I always forget. (CHUCKLES)
Where are you going?
Uh, I haven't told Pierpoint,
but I've got a job
interview tomorrow morning.
In Wales.
- YASMIN: What?
- (LAUGHS)
Yeah, uh,
I met this guy, Pierre, who hooked me up
with a medical research center
attached to a university there.
And, um, yeah.
They're doing really cutting-edge work.
Medicine?
Medicine needs its money men.
Uh-huh.
When was the last time
you left the house?
(SERENE MUSIC PLAYING)
There are, like, five paps outside.
I didn't see any.
They're not here for you.
(CAR ENGINES RUMBLING)
ROBERT: There's nobody out there, Yas.
I promise.
Sorry. (CHUCKLES)
They, um
They really get in your head.
Why don't you come with me?
(CHUCKLES) 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.
- (CHUCKLES)
(CELL PHONE VIBRATES)
Nope. Nope. Come on. (LAUGHS)
Let's bail. You know, let's, uh
Let's mistake the open road for freedom.
Like all culture teaches us to.
(BOTH LAUGH)
ROBERT: Yeah?
- Okay.
- ROBERT: Yeah, okay.
(CHUCKLES)
Be ready in 20. I'm grabbing a shower.
- (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
- (SERENE MUSIC FADES)
Who the hell is this?
Uh, 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.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
And how important is
history to us here today?
Well, uh, 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.
(CALL TONE CHIMES)
U.S. OPERATOR: Please hold for
the U.S. Treasury secretary.
TREASURY SECRETARY: (OVER SPEAKER) Tom!
WOLSEY: Madam Secretary.
TREASURY 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.
WOLSEY: You, of all
people, understand the risk
if Pierpoint collapses.
(SCOFFS) We've dropped
another ten percent
the last hour of U.S. 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, uh, what?
Singing acapella with
the Whiffenpoofs at Yale?
I actually do a very stirring rendition
of "Radio Ga Ga" to this day.
(TREASURY SECRETARY CHUCKLES)
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.
TREASURY SECRETARY:
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?
- (MUTE TONE BEEPS)
- Pull on her heart strings.
- 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.
TREASURY SECRETARY: 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?
TREASURY SECRETARY: Oh, you're
all salaried capitalists, right?
Order some Chinese takeout
and find a solution.
I think the president
might have something
TREASURY SECRETARY: The
president still thinks
we're at war with Japan.
Goodbye and good luck.
(CALL TONE CHIMES, BEEPS)
(EXECUTIVE GRUNTS SOFTLY)
Well, so much for too-big-to-fail.
Surely, there are a number
of sovereign wealth funds
that would like to grow
their stake in Pierpoint.
- (ADLER CHUCKLES)
- PHILLIP BLOUNT: What? Uh.
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.
ADLER: 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 to reputation
(HESITATES)
- Launder.
- ADLER: 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.
WILHELMINA: Quibbling over
the cultural provenance
of the capital that could
save us feels indulgent.
Could be time for some,
uh some realpolitik.
Oh, this from Madam ESG.
I I guess morals really do
become more flexible in an emergency.
Or maybe the answer is closer to home.
Let's take a minute.
Eric, let me steal you. Now.
Phillip, can I have a word?
- BLOUNT: Yeah.
- (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
What 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, no, no, you listen to me.
It's a royal court in
there, you understand?
WOLSEY: 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 favorite 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 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 security
sound to you?
And follow in your slipstream?
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
ERIC: I wonder what
they're talking about.
ADLER: 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.
- (CELL PHONE VIBRATES)
ADLER: O-fucking-kay.
Mitsubishi is live. I've
been, uh, 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?
- (CHUCKLING) What else is there?
- (ERIC CHUCKLES)
The action is the juice.
(TENSE MUSIC BUILDS, CONCLUDES)
("EASY TO BE HARD" BY GOOF PLAYING)
ROBERT: 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?
ROBERT: The active ingredient
is psilocybin, yeah,
but it's in pharmaceutical
form, in LittleLabs product.
So, surely the whole point
is to get as mashed out
of your own fucking head as possible?
ROBERT: 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 It's about
an overall heightening
in your day-to-day state,
your introspection,
your your compassion.
(SCOFFS) 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 it's just
It's like you've joined a cult,
- honestly.
- (LAUGHS)
Finally, you're a little more
fucking animated. (CHUCKLES)
Only took you having to put
someone down to get you there.
(YASMIN CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
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.
- (SONG STOPS ABRUPTLY)
- (CELL PHONE RINGS, VIBRATES)
YASMIN: It's Maxim.
I can call him back.
I need a piss.
(TURN SIGNAL CLICKING)
(URINE TRICKLING)
- Hey, Maxim. Where are you?
- MAXIM ALONSO: Big Basin?
South of San Fran.
I'm not sure being
alone with my thoughts
is worth the 5,000 dollars
a week I'm paying, but, uh
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.
I've 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, uh, who am I kidding?
Just keep having to use it.
YASMIN: Okay, so, um, 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.
- (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
- 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 They're trying
to make me the face
- of this thing.
- MAXIM: 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.
MAXIM: Look, someone slipped me
a screenshot of the payrolls.
The women with the NDAs have
a check next to their name.
What Can Can you send it to me?
MAXIM: 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 want to 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.
- (CELL PHONE THUDS)
- (SIGHS)
Take care.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC FADES)
- Is everything all right?
- Yeah. (CHUCKLES DRYLY)
Super fucking duper.
So, this is it, right?
This is the product that you're selling?
- If you get the job?
- Uh, yeah. Uh
Probably isn't the place
to take it properly, though.
Right.
(SIGHS)
You hungry?
(CHUCKLES, SNIFFLES) Yeah.
(SNIFFLES)
- Yeah, I'm fucking starving.
- (BOTH CHUCKLE)
("21ST CENTURY LIVING"
BY TOMMY DOWN PLAYING)
ROBERT: (SIGHS) Come on, then.
RECEPTIONIST: Oh, gosh. I do
it all the time. It's great.
- ROBERT: Yeah?
- RECEPTIONIST: Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
So, the rooms are next to
each other, six and seven.
- Sorry that we're so late.
- (KEYS JINGLING)
Um, checkout is at 11:00
and breakfast is from 7:00.
- Great, thank you.
- RECEPTIONIST: Thanks.
Just as a pre-warning,
the, um, 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?
Um, she can use mine, it's all right.
(CHUCKLES) Uh, right,
I'm gonna go dump the bags
and then we'll grab a bite?
- Mm-hmm.
- ROBERT: Uh, thank you.
- Thank you, enjoy your stay.
- Cheers, thank you.
RECEPTIONIST: So, do
you two work together?
No, we're a couple.
Oh, I just, um I thought
with the separate rooms
We're very religious.
Do you have a lighter?
Yes.
DENISE OLDROYD: (OVER PHONE)
Yeah, I got your email.
What do you expect me to do with this?
W I mean, it's leverage, no?
It's, like, evidence
of their complicity.
This is on Rose's head.
DENISE: Have you thought
about what making this public
would do to the victims?
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.
DENISE: A publicity battle
is gonna be very hard,
but we can win it.
They go low, we go high.
All right?
- Speak later.
- (SIGHS)
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(TENSE MUSIC CONCLUDES)
- (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
- That cunt never answers.
Tom, Tom, I've engaged Mitsubishi
- in substantive talks
- WILHELMINA: Uh
- ADLER: regarding a
- Uh, 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 dollars,
we are, by all accounts,
a distressed asset.
They might weigh buying us wholesale.
(SCOFFS) 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.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
Mr. Stone, welcome.
MICHAEL STONE: Oh,
call me Michael, please.
WOLSEY'S ASSISTANT: Please, this way.
(CELL PHONE VIBRATES)
- Yeah?
- RISHI: 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.
HARPER: It's definitely him?
Oh, yeah, and he looks horny for assets.
HARPER: Thanks.
Um, 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, um, come in after this
all shakes out and we'll talk.
And how would the floor take
a sale to fucking Barclays?
- (TENSE MUSIC CONCLUDES)
- Maybe they just want
somewhere to come to work.
ADLER: You don't have
20 years of options.
I've never sold a goddamn share.
A Brit takeover would decimate it all.
BLOUNT: You could keep your deferreds.
Chump change.
So, now we see your real motivation.
ADLER: 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.
- You want to take this offline?
(LAUGHS) Does that fake macho
bullshit ever actually
You have the imagination of a fucking
- BLOUNT: Michael!
- MICHAEL: Phillip.
Hi. Hi. Wilhelmina.
- We spoke on the phone.
- MICHAEL: Yes, we did.
- Hi.
- WILHELMINA: Nice to see you. Hi.
WOLSEY: Tom Wolsey.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
- ROBERT: Oi, oi.
- YASMIN: Ah.
Bon appétit. (CHUCKLES)
YASMIN: What the fuck
is that? (CHUCKLES)
- ROBERT: Are you kidding?
- No.
I got them to put
scraps on and everything.
YASMIN: Honestly, what is it?
What It's a battered sausage.
I'm not eating a
battered sausage. (LAUGHS)
Have a chip, at least.
- YASMIN: Okay.
- ROBERT: Don't be such a snob.
(BATTER CRUNCHES)
How perfect is this?
YASMIN: Hmm.
You know, um
you could probably invite
that impressionable, young girl
up to your room and fuck her silly.
'Cause (CLEARS THROAT)
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.
(WAVES LAPPING)
(QUIVERING) 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.
(SNIFFLES)
I'm sorry.
I don't know why I act like that.
(SNIFFLES)
(SNIFFLES) I don't know.
I'm good at making people
feel like I love them.
But, um
I don't know that I ever have.
Have you?
Yeah.
Girlfriend at school, Izzy Boon.
- I was fucking obsessed.
- (LAUGHS)
(CHUCKLES)
YASMIN: It's just my first instinct.
Whenever I feel anything,
like love or care, um,
I just want to make it ugly
as quickly as I possibly can.
You know, turn it into something else.
(SNIFFLES) Turn it into
sex. You know, anything else.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Right.
I don't know what to say.
(SNIFFLES)
Uh, all I know is
is that for the first time
in a long time
I've got this feeling in my stomach.
I couldn't work out what it was.
But I know now
that it's anticipation.
It's excitement for the future.
(SOFT MUSIC CONTINUES)
(KEYS JINGLING)
- (DOOR CLOSES)
- (SOFT MUSIC FADES)
Our short is about to turn.
How do you know?
Uh, well, um
(INHALES) Listen, I
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 gray.
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.
Uh-uh. 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?
HARPER: 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.
(CLOCK TOWER BELL RINGING IN DISTANCE)
PETRA KOENIG: What
aren't you telling me?
HARPER: Um, again, moving
forward with honesty
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
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 they know we were in there.
There's 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.
PETRA: Okay, okay.
The whole thing is
fucking information soup.
That is the point.
(GROANS, EXHALES SHARPLY)
You've backed us into
a major fucking corner.
Okay, well
I've said my piece.
Yeah.
- (SIGHS)
- (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC FADES)
MICHAEL: 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?
(SCOFFS SOFTLY)
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,
I'll make some phone calls.
I mean, you know, that is
if you're still interested.
(CHUCKLES) Please.
(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
Tell me how that was appropriate.
ADLER: 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.
(LAUGHS)
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.
- WILHELMINA: This is great news.
- MICHAEL: Yeah.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ADLER: So, this is
what death feels like.
One hundred and fifty years to build it.
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
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 infighting,
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.
(SCOFFS)
You don't buy that BS
about the workforce, do you?
The guy usually pops a chub
for reducing head count.
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.
(WATER BURBLING)
(YASMIN BREATHING DEEPLY)
(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC CONCLUDES)
("MODULAR 4" BY GODFORD PLAYING)
PETRA: 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, uh
I think it's becoming
untenable with Harper.
Are you coming to bed?
OTTO MOSTYN: Hmm. You're one
of my best performing projects.
What's happened?
PETRA: She's being
reckless with our AUM.
Reckless how?
Legally.
OTTO: Hmm.
You mean she's reckless with my money?
That is simply something
I cannot countenance.
(SONG CONCLUDES)
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.
WILHELMINA: Bill, can
I have bad news.
(SMACKS LIPS) Um
We need significantly more time
to get us over the
line with the regulator.
We don't have any more time.
(SIGHS) Talk straight. What's going on?
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
Well, between us, I've
just got off the phone
with the chancellor,
and 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
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.
WOLSEY: Fuck!
(DOOR CLOSES)
EDDIE: 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?
ALEXANDER NORTON: Maybe
after the election.
(KEYBOARD KEYS CLACKING)
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.
("YOU MAKE ME FEEL (MIGHTY REAL)"
(BY JIMMY SOMERVILLE PLAYING)
SWEETPEA: If he thinks this leads
to a fashion-adjacent lifestyle,
it's immediately a red flag.
He was a hundred percent a misogynist,
- and possibly a psychopath.
- (LAUGHS)
RISHI: What in the
good fuck is going on?
You better have sold the
rest of my fucking positions.
Where have you been? (CHUCKLES)
I've been playing the fruities
with a client.
Some, uh Some guy keeps
calling the desk for you.
RISHI: Who?
Vin? Vinnie?
- Vinay?
- That's the one.
- RISHI: He called here?
- Yeah.
ANRAJ: You're a dickhead, bruv.
A fucking dickhead.
So, Anraj is on ecstasy.
He was catatonic drunk,
but hey, he insisted,
and, well, we dragged
some people to the floor
and, hey, they can't fire
us twice, right? (LAUGHS)
You bully me
'cause you were bullied
at school, innit?
Shut the fuck up!
No, you're pure
small-man syndrome, bruv.
You got no taste, bruv.
Look at your car, your
taste level's dead.
Why didn't you sell my fucking axes?
Your IG Explore page must be
- a crime against humanity!
- Shut the fuck up!
ANRAJ: No, I'm done being quiet.
Now, look look, we're
not we're not sick, 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.
Huh? Why would we? To what end, anyway?
Best of luck drowning.
Fuck.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(COUPLE MOANING)
(SONG FADES)
WOLSEY: What's the time, please?
WILHELMINA: It's just gone 4:00 a.m.
- (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
- WOLSEY: Okay.
We have around ten hours till U.S. open.
Put a fucking solution in front of me.
Mitsubishi is still in play.
I can wake the head
of their London office.
They 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 plugged the immediate hole.
Why do you keep talking when
the value add of your ideas
is less than zero?
- (CHUCKLES)
- WOLSEY: We need to pivot.
Mitsubishi?
Wake them up. Get them in the room.
(FOOTSTEPS DEPART)
(ADLER SPEAKING JAPANESE)
(FINGERS SNAPPING)
Yes!
(SNAPS FINGERS) Eric.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ADLER: It's a good thing Tom said yes.
I soft launched this to Mitsubishi's
European Executive Committee already.
ERIC: It's lunchtime in Japan, right?
Uh, they're just in from Düsseldorf,
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 20 and
call an associate in IBD up
to triple-check the numbers in the deck.
No missteps.
Fast 20 still takes 20.
WOLSEY: I need stronger nicotine.
Any delivery vessel, I'm beyond caring.
YASMIN: Ow! Ow!
(GROANING)
- (CONTINUES GROANING)
- Yas?
(YASMIN GROANS)
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONCLUDES)
Ow!
I just wanted to make a cup of tea.
What the fuck have you done?
- (GROANS)
- Hey, come here, come here.
- (GROANS)
- Are you hurt?
(GROANS)
Hey, hey. Yas, look at me.
- Have you taken
something? Yeah? - Uh-huh.
What have you taken?
Rob, do you think I'm a bad person?
No.
- No, you're not a bad person.
- You do. Rob, look at me.
Tell me that you think
that I'm a bad person.
Look, you're not a bad person!
Tell me that I'm allowed
to want to do bad things.
(PANTS) What?
You can do what you want.
(MOANS, SOBS) I want you.
I want you. Oh, you're hard.
- ROBERT: What are you doing? No!
- (CHUCKLES)
- Stop.
- I want you.
Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!
Stop!
Stop!
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Henry used to get
hard when I cried, too.
Hey. Shh.
(YASMIN BREATHES DEEPLY)
(URINE TRICKLING)
WOLSEY: Bill tells me
you've been here 30 years.
Aren't you bored?
(SOFT MUSIC CONCLUDES)
Been dropped into a few
of these restructurings.
They all have their own
mythos and history, but
ultimately, they're much for muchness.
They're corporations.
(ZIPPER ZIPS)
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?
(ZIPPER ZIPS)
(WATER RUNNING)
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?
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
I don't believe in anything.
I believe in the trade, when it works
when it stops working.
By the way,
nostalgia's only useful when
you're selling something.
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
ADLER: Any color that'll
help us in the pitch?
Nope.
- (ZIPPER UNZIPS)
- A whole lot of nothing.
(URINE TRICKLING)
ADLER: Deck look good to your eyes?
Perfect.
(ADLER LAUGHS)
- I'll see you out there.
- ADLER: I'll see you out there.
(ADLER GREETS IN JAPANESE)
(CELL PHONE BUZZING)
WOLSEY: 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?
(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)
RECEPTIONIST: Did you enjoy your stay?
Very much. Thank you.
("BEGIN AGAIN" BY FREDDIE AND THE
SCENARIOS, DIEGO HERRERA PLAYING OVER RADIO)
Did you want a bandage?
Sure.
Do you reckon she's a Libra?
(SCOFFS)
Uh, I threw in an extra 20
quid for the busted kettle.
- RECEPTIONIST: Oh, thanks.
- Ah, it's all right. Uh, cheers.
Cheers.
Have a safe trip.
ADLER: Our proposal is that
the Mitsubishi Financial Group
invest nine billion dollars in equity
in Pierpoint for a 19-percent
interest in the company
on a fully diluted basis.
How did that get there? (CHUCKLES)
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.
(PAGES RUSTLING)
ADLER: 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-percent decrease
in the true PE multiple,
which should otherwise
be seven-point-six times,
well below peers.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
ADLER: I'm so sorry we missed this.
That's like a two-to-three
percent uplift in IRR.
WOLSEY: After ten years of what we know
will be a mutually
beneficial relationship.
ADLER: How could we have missed that?
It's sloppy. (CHUCKLES)
- Eric.
- (CHUCKLES)
ERIC: Bill, it's fine.
Leave it. It's late.
(CHUCKLES) 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.
ADLER: 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. (CHUCKLES)
- We can move on.
- (CHUCKLES)
That That didn't happen.
Did it?
It's not mission critical here.
No, it is. When did we discuss it?
I I don't think we did, did we?
- Maybe I'm just misremembering.
- I think you can move on.
You You have to
understand it's very important
- that I didn't misremember.
- Bill.
What's going on?
ERIC: Hey, Bill.
There's no shame.
ADLER: (CHUCKLES) I'm
so I'm so sorry, if
I've been quite sick,
and I I really
didn't wanna bring it up
in this forum, but, uh
You are fit to continue.
- (ADLER SCOFFS)
- (CHAIR CREAKS)
WOLSEY: Uh, gentlemen,
and, uh lady,
could you give us five?
This isn't what we expect
in these circumstances.
No, there should be
multiple layers of review.
My apologies.
ADLER: (CHUCKLES) I
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.
What's wrong with you?
I have a malignant tumor. I
I've not noticed much, if
any, cognitive impairment.
- That's why it's
- 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. (CHUCKLES)
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.
WILHELMINA: Eric
why don't you put Bill in a cab?
(SNIFFLES)
Come on.
It's okay. Come on.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(DIAL TONE RINGING)
- DENISE: (OVER PHONE) Hello?
- Hi.
Denise, um, I've slept on it,
and I don't want to take Rose's offer.
And I know I have thought
about the implications
- (DENISE SIGHS)
- 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.
DENISE: Have you stopped to think about
how this is gonna affect
the other victims?
Yes, of course!
Of course I have thought
about that, Denise!
Of course I have!
But you have to understand,
it is them or it is me!
(CELL PHONE THUDS)
(TENSE MUSIC CONCLUDES)
- (ROBERT SIGHS)
- How was it?
(ROBERT PANTS)
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-conditioned trials
on treatment for
various mental disorders.
YASMIN: Why?
ROBERT: Well, it's still
illegal, but LittleLabs,
they want to be the first mover.
Now, imagine being early
on cannabis in California.
- Sorry.
- ROBERT: Well, no.
See, they've been flirting with the idea
of relocating to Silicon Valley.
All right? And they said if
I can help unlock VC dollars
for them out there,
then there might be a position open.
- Head of business development.
- What?
- Yeah, I know.
- (YASMIN CHUCKLES)
- I couldn't believe it as well.
- (YASMIN CHUCKLES)
- (LAUGHS)
- YASMIN: So, wait wait.
Would that mean that
you move to the States?
Maybe.
Here.
(CHUCKLES)
Hmm.
Sleep will help. I'll, uh
I'll get a couple more hours
and come straight back in.
I don't think anyone
in there wants that.
- (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
- Stay home. For yourself.
I'll smooth out Mitsubishi. It'll work.
ERIC: Peer to peer, stay home.
More time for your family.
The institution doesn't suffer.
- (ELEVATOR DINGS)
- AUTOMATED VOICE: Door opening.
You made me distrust my
For what?
AUTOMATED VOICE: Door closing.
(TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CAR ENGINE REVVING)
(BRAKES SCREECH)
You Harper Stern?
Yeah.
Otto wants to see you. Get in the car.
Now?
He'd prefer it.
WOLSEY: Well, I hope he's
getting the care he needs.
I've heard that
- tumors can have certain
- (TENSE MUSIC FADES)
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.
You know, 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
(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
it is something
our executive committee
would be willing to consider.
WILHELMINA: Hmm.
He has seemed a little
out of sorts.
(WOLSEY SIGHS)
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.
(WOLSEY CHUCKLES)
(BREATHES DEEPLY)
(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC FADES)
So, fuck him then, right?
("BOMBTRACK" BY RAGE
AGAINST THE MACHINE PLAYING)
(LAUGHS)
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.
ERIC: Ali. Gentlemen.
It's Pierpoint's anniversary.
How would you like to
buy a piece of history?
Uh ♪
Ayy, yo ♪
It's just another bombtrack ♪
Uh ♪
Ayy, yo ♪
It's just another bombtrack ♪
Yeah ♪
It goes a one, two, three ♪
Yeah, and it's just
another bombtrack ♪
And suckers be thinkin'
that they can fake this ♪
But I'ma drop it at a higher level ♪
'Cause I'm inclined to stoop down ♪
Hand out some beatdowns ♪
Could run a train on punk fools ♪
That think they run the game ♪
But I learned to burn
that bridge and delete ♪
Those who compete at a
level that's obsolete ♪
Instead, I warm my hands
upon the flames of the flag ♪
To recall the downfall
and the businesses ♪
That burnt us all ♪
Burn, burn ♪
Yes, you're gonna burn ♪
Burn ♪
(SONG CONCLUDES)