♪ (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!
(IN ENGLISH) It's on. It's on.
(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!
♪ (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) ♪