The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers [ENG sub] FULL MOVIE

The Last Days of Lehman Brothers is a British television film.
The drama was inspired by the real events that occurred over the weekend leading up to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on 15 September 2008. Investment bank Lehman Brothers is in trouble after a turbulent six months and the leaders of the three biggest investment banks on Wall Street met at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. American Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson declares that the company is not too big to fail and that there will be no bailout using public money.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
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This programme contains strong language.

'If you talk to 100 people, 102 are going
to tell you they hate bankers,

'but most people won't be able
to tell you why.

'Is it because we're privileged?

'It can't be.

'Some of us did dirty jobs
to get through college.

'I know one woman who paid her way
through Princeton

'working as a call girl for the Mafia.

'Is it because we make a lot of money?

- 'Well, some of us do...'
- CASH REGISTER RINGS

'..and some of us don't.

'In general, people resent those
they perceive to be on top.

'That's how the French Revolution happened.

'And in the end, perception can matter
more than the truth.

'You could have been born,

'like I was, on the wrong side
of the tracks in Tennessee.'

Actually, when you're from Tennessee,
it's all the wrong side of the tracks.

'But once you get to Wall Street,
no matter how you got here,

'you give up your right to say
you're a man of the people.

'Here, we're all the same.

'And we all went down together.'

'Dick Fuld had given his life
to Lehman Brothers

'and was well known on Wall Street
for his unique personal style.'

His nickname is "The Gorilla".

I can't give you more collateral!

Not until we've had a chance
to raise a bit more cap...

We're under-capitalised, yes,
like everybody and their...

Jamie... Jamie.

Jamie! I need you up here today.

Jamie... What do you want me to do?

You want me to wire you, now, five bil...
No, you're unreasonable! PHONE RINGS

I've had Paulson up my ass all week,
our stock's dropped 75% since Monday.

We're in freefall! Everyone's dumping our stock!

And you ask me for more... Wait.
Why is this phone ringing?

- You want me to...
- Hello? Hi. ..No. Get on the desk.

Hold on. Jamie, I'll call you back.

Yes, I know, I know, I know...

Christ. You have no idea what...

Yeah, I... These ribs are cold.

Go ahead.

Yeah, give me the list. OK, yeah.

- These ribs are cold.
- Some week.

Three times the usual ribs.

'It's true, Lehman had been
to dark places before,

'and Dick Fuld had always pulled us
back from the brink.

'When he broke the disastrous news
to shareholders over a speakerphone,

'he hoped the world would believe
this was another one of those times.'

We have regretfully had to write down
our commercial real estate assets

from 40 billion to a market value
of 33 billion.

The good news is,

we have a strategy in place
which we feel will appease the markets.

We're currently fine-tuning a plan

to spin off our commercial real estate portfolio

into another company which,
appropriately, will be called SpinCo.

There, it won't be a drag on the balance sheet.

'The market wasn't appeased.'

'There was a run on the bank.
Everyone was dumping shares.

'Our rating was even downgraded.

'By Friday afternoon we were gasping for breath.'

I want everyone on message about this.

Our situation is serious,

but it's not critical.
I repeat, the situation is not critical.

Bank of America wants us.

Barclays wants us. We can choose.

And whichever we choose will fill us with new air!

I need everyone to believe!

You're on the 31st floor, goddammit!

And I want this message to trickle downwards.

Can Mr McDade have a minute?

This better be good news, Bart.

Hank Paulson's flying up here.

Here?!

Federal Reserve. He's calling
a meeting with the banking chiefs.

What for?

He wants them to bail us out.

- He wants our competitors to bail us out?
- He wants us to go to the Fed.

He doesn't want us in the meeting,
he just wants us to be there.

Waiting. Somewhere. I don't know.

Is he kidding? I'm not going
to the Fed to sit outside

some goddamn boardroom while Paulson
and my enemies decide my fate!

Look, Dick,

he doesn't want you there.

He just wants us.

HUSHED CONVERSATION

Thank you all for coming.

I know it must seem a rather cruel joke
for you to get a call at five o'clock on a Friday

asking you to come down to the Fed,

and I have no doubt you were
all eager to start your weekends.

I'm sorry if you had plans.

I hope the presence of
Treasury Secretary Paulson...

Oh, Jesus, Tim.

We all know each other here.

..will impress upon you
the gravity of the situation.

You've all watched Lehman take a nosedive.

They're not going to survive trading on Monday

and we wanted to ask for your...

Inspiration.

You're the best minds on Wall Street...

Tim, I think you can cut the crap about now.

There's no public money for
a bail out of Lehman Brothers.

If we can't figure out a way
to keep them standing,

they're going to be bankrupt
when trading opens in Japan on Monday.

What game are you playing?

There's no taxpayer money for this.

- Bullshit.
- Not a penny.

It's not bullshit.

If it's not bullshit,
what the hell are we all doing here?

We'll arbitrate. We'll facilitate.

- We'll broker a deal... - We get it.

This is your hardball starting position.

This is not a starting position.

This IS the position.

And even if the money were accessible
there would be no political will...

Political will? Was there political
will to bail out Fannie and Freddie?

- Things were different then.
- That was five days ago!

- CHUCKLING
- So...

what do you mean?

Arbitrate what? Facilitate what?

You brought us here to brainstorm?

Damn it, Jamie, are you the only one here
with no exposure to Lehmans?

Or perhaps you've been too busy
bombarding them with demands for collateral

- to notice they're going belly up!
- I have the right!

- Of course. - I have a fiduciary obligation...

How dare you! How dare you...

Calm down, Jamie, he didn't mean...

He did mean it. One more comment like that...

- And why isn't Fuld here?
- You WANT him here?

There's plenty of blame to go round.

But if they go down,

we're all going to take a hit.

You're hanging Lehman out to dry?

So...do it then.

I got a train to catch.

The West is fucked.

We fucked it up.

Oh, not just you and me...

all of us. The West.

It's done. It's over.

You wanna call it a game?

This is the game.

You want your great-grandchildren speaking Chinese?

The dollar's going to go.

We had Rome, then Europe, then this.

Us, this thing with cars and stereos
and hoola-hoops

and we screwed it all up.

We ran through it all, this stuff,

and we've come out on the other side
where it's...

I don't know,

where is this place?

Oh, yeah...

we have this one weekend where maybe
we can come up with something

to hold it all together
a little while longer.

'It seems that you've got about
85 billion worth of troubled loans

'which puts you at least ten billion underwater.

'Ken, you're Bank of America, you're retail.

- 'Let my people go over the books with you.
- We've been over the books.

'But if we go over them with you...

'So that you can help us read them correctly?'

Dick, we're not confused about your numbers.

- Your good assets aren't enough to...
- Our "good assets"?!

We're fucking Lehman Brothers!
Do you know what this company's worth?

Well yes, Dick, I believe I do.

- Have you been to Paulson?
- We asked him to take 70 billion

- 'of the stink off your books, but...'
- 70 billion?!

It's not my number, Dick. We have a board.

Paulson's offering nothing.

He's trying to facilitate some sort
of private sector solution, but...

'Ken, can you...'

- hold on just one...
- 'Sure.'

TOY SQUEAKS

- I'm here.
- 'I'll call you if anything changes.'

If it's any comfort, Paulson is having
another valuation done tonight.

- Another? Of my...
- By a mixed, disinterested group of...
- Ken, don't decide anything yet.

I can get Paulson to turn around.
I'll call you back.

- Zach!
- I'm here.
- I want you down at the Fed tonight.

- Get in on that valuation. Get Paulson
on the phone! - I'm on it!

Mixed? Disinterested?!

I'll bet he's got a team built
a team from his cronies at Goldman Sachs.

Band of fucking villains!

Conspiring like Roman senators!
Private sector... Move!

Paulson's out of reach.

Right.

Harvey, it's Dick Fuld.

I need you in my office.

No, I'm afraid it can't.

So, there are two banks
courting Lehman right now.

Bank of America, and Barclays in the UK.

Neither of them will touch it
while it's loaded down with toxic assets.

You want us to buy Lehman's toxic assets?

Maybe there's a way you could ringfence them.
Something.

Look, if you're telling us you're not
backstopping anyone any more,

we're going to be fighting for our lives.

But if you did decide to buy them,

- as a consortium...
- That would be...

Is that even legal?

Aren't you asking us to risk our shareholders'...

That's what you do every day,
risk your shareholders' money.

Just running the numbers,
if you took on these assets as a group

you'd take a smaller hit than
you would on a Lehman bankruptcy.

We're not all exposed to Lehman
in the same degree.

Oh, community spirit. That warms my heart.

You're all exposed.

And you're all in line in order of size.

- Merrill is next, then Morgan Stanley.
- We're not next. What are...
- This is bullshit.

- Have you read our statements, Hank?
- Yes, John, I know your figures.

I even know what you spent on breakfast.

You're next in line. Trust me.

OK, so...I want someone to buy our toxic assets.

Huh?

Where does it end?

Where does it stop?

Why them, and not us?

Yeah. Why them?

Maybe we should just let 'em fail.

Maybe that'll be the play
that washes away all our sins.

You decide.

What if we can't agree on a solution?

Then we have to start anticipating what
will happen when Lehman does go bankrupt,

and contemplate how the rest
of the world can contain the damage.

I think Bank of America's free now.

- They're not courting Lehman?
- No. I think that's dead.

They're liquid. They love our shop.

- They love retail.
- It's good to have options.

We should make a move.
You should give Lewis a call.

It's a bad time to look weak.

We'd only be selling a stake.

You know what people will think
if we sell a stake now?

It's a downpayment.
The thin end of the wedge.

Who cares what it looks like?
Nobody's lending.

Lehman's falling apart because
they can't borrow their operating costs.

John, we need a line of credit from Monday,

or I don't think we'll last out the week.

The first thing you need to know
is none of this is happening.

The second thing is you don't discuss
this with anyone.

If anyone saw you come in or sees you go out,
you were here to advise on the sale.

What's not happening?

We're NOT considering bankruptcy.

We do not need to prepare
a Chapter Seven petition.

Barclays wants us, and Bank of America
will come around.

As an exercise, however,

we will put together a bare-bones filing

so that we know every strategic
position has been covered.

- And when do you not want this done by?
- This weekend.

First of all, we don't have a team.

Second, YOU don't have a team.

Everyone's working on due diligence
for the mergers.

Third, nobody can put together
a bankruptcy of this size in two days.

And fourth, the government's not going
to let you go down.

Paulson's opening position is
that we sink or swim.

Are you kidding?

It would be a financial disaster the likes
of which the world has never seen before.

It'd be like the American government
itself going bankrupt.

It would be like the US dollar
being rendered worthless

and everyone being told to start over
with goats and pebbles.

It would be like Rome selling the Vatican
to the Japanese to make it a hotel,

and hiring the Pope as a bellboy.

It's just a fantasy. It's a through
the looking glass world.

It's something from the book of Revelations.

And he cried mightily with a strong voice,

saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,

and is become the habitation of devils,

and a hold of every foul spirit,

and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

For all nations have drunk of the wine
of the wrath of her fornication,

and the kings of the earth
have committed fornication with her,

and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich
through the abundance of her delicacies.

CLOCK TICKS

OK, we've only got a few hours
to value this portfolio...

This is gonna be your best friend.

OK, guys, I know it looks a lot,
but if we put on our best heads...

MUMBLING

A lot of people ask me how the subprime
mortgage crisis brought down Wall Street.

Well, my sister knows.
That's how she got her house.

First we found ourselves a house.

Then we found a mortgage broker.

The waitress at the Cracker Barrel
Restaurant said he could work miracles.

So, we handed him our pay slips
and he made corrections

using a free program you get from
the internet which changes pictures.

A lot of people use it to make
themselves look pretty,

but we just used it to make ourselves
look rich,

which I'm sure the Lord would think
was not as bad

because you're not changing
the looks God gave you,

you're just changing what you earn,
which God allows anyway,

because if he didn't, nobody would
be able to apply for a different job.

Then the Broker phoned somebody called
a Lender and she barely even looked at our paperwork.

She just pushed the 'SEND' button and our forms
were approved and off to New York where people in White Coats

worked throughout the night putting
documents into different kinds of piles.

Then they send these documents on to bankers,
like my brother.

And from now on they're called Securities,

even though nothing else about them has changed

and they used to be called mortgage contracts.

Then once they're called Securities
they're a product that you can sell,

like...like a table, or make-up.

Now, here's the weird thing they do.

The Bankers pay a man to give
the Securities a grade, like in school.

Now they're called CDOs and the bankers,

they buy and sell these back and forth
to each other for some reason.

Then they mix them up some more, staple a few
together, and send them back to the man for a new rating.

And the bankers keep buying and
selling CDOs and chopping them up

and putting them back together differently

and selling them for double or triple
what they paid for them,

and every time they do this the CDO gets thicker
and thicker and that rating gets weirder and weirder.

TELEPHONES RING

The bankers liked CDOs so much
they wanted more and more of them,

and they didn't care if somebody couldn't pay

because they just wanted the loan papers
to call Securities

and then to turn into CDOs to sell them
as fast as they could anyway

and make a huge whopping profit overnight.

So they didn't care what the paper's worth.

I mean, paper ain't worth nothing unless
two crazy people's willing to pay each other for them.

But when a lot of people didn't pay their
mortgages, some people remembered that the houses

and loans were somehow connected
to the CDOs in some funny legal way,

and that this was bad, then nobody wanted
to buy CDOs any more.

So suddenly people owned and couldn't get
rid of a lot of very, very expensive things

that were really only worthless paper that was
somehow connected to things that weren't even there.

- What?
- This.

We have some of that, but we've marked it at 75.

- We marked it at 90.
- And we're really...

- I know.
- Aggressive.

And look at this. We value this at 43.

You remember how you valued it?

- And you've marked it at 60. That's...
- I didn't personally.

Yeah, but you're here.
You're the one who's here.

I'm here, but I'm not.

Look you're... What do you mean,
you're here but you're not?

I mean, officially.

Shit, I just realized something
about Fight Club.

- The movie?
- Yeah, I just had this vision about it.

You know in the beginning when
Ed Norton can't sleep?

- Yeah. - And he says, when you don't sleep for
a long time, everything seems unreal and far away?

Everything becomes a copy of a copy of a copy?

- He says that?
- Yeah.

Well, I just had that insight.

Wow.

And like... you know how Ed Norton
buys all his furniture from Ikea...

which mass produces the same item
again and again and again...

And then all his furniture blows up in one big
explosion and he's left with nothing, he thinks...

but he's left with his body, right?

He's left with his ability to feel pain.
So he fights.

And then he can feel,

and things aren't a copy of a copy
of a copy any more. He can...

He can experience the world,

and the things of the world

become the real things.

I never knew you could be so profound
without chemicals.

Man, I'm made of chemicals. You see?

The 'nothing' is the 'something'!

PHONE BUZZES

Greg.

I wanted your first thought of the day
to be Bank of America.

- 'I wanted the first words you heard to be Call...'
- I'm still in bed.

We need to make our intentions clear.

'unambiguous, using words of one syllable.'

We want to discuss a deal TODAY.
With a line of credit available Monday.

We're so different, you and I.

You know I come from the school of soft-sell.

- We don't have time to soft-sell.
- 'It's not a question of time.'

Soft-sell is an energy.

It can be done quickly. Now I'm going to get up
I'm gonna have a coffee before I have another thought.

When you watch Bart make his pitch today,
just imagine, next week, being in his place.

What if we save Lehman?
Have you thought about that?

'What if we all pool our resources and rescue them?

'What happens to the next company,
the next one up in size?'

It's us, John. You know it's us.

Can you believe there's nowhere
to get ribs at five in the morning?

What's the report?

They've just finished going through the books.

What's the feeling?

Um... Philosophical.

- Is the Barclays team there?
- 'Can't see them.'

You haven't seen Diamond yet?

I know he's in New York.

I know he's in New York! Is he at the Fed?

There's a lot of work to be done before we
have something to show him. He's probably sleeping.

Probably. Thanks. Probably. Probably!

Samantha! I want you to double security.

I want someone at every elevator, on every floor.

- And triple the guard at the front.
- What happened...?
- Now!

Security?

So the idea is that we spin off
another company, a 'bad bank'

where we can place all of our toxic assets.

We're gonna call it SpinCo.

And we just need the shortfall f
unded by outsider investors.

Then we just shift 33 billion dollars
in real estate into a new company, a 'good bank',

which we're gonna call CleanCo.

- And who would control SpinCo?
- We would.

Go on, take it.

Now, Jamie, we need to put our bad debts
aside so we can carry on doing what we do best.

- Which is?
- Jamie Jamie, come on Jamie.

- We're all friends.
- Here's ten bucks for a happy ending.

If these valuations are accurate
there's a 15 billion dollar hole.

Accurate? They were done overnight
with a pot of coffee.

If Paulson had let me put a team...

Right. The blind leading the blind.

Oh, sure, you do everything by the book.

Tell me, Jamie, could you value a CDO?

- No, but I know a man who could.
- No you don't, no.

You know a man who'll stamp triple-A on your ass

if you get him a floor seat at the Lakers game.

You can't value a CDO?

Whoever says he can is full of shit.

We might as well pick a number out of the air.

How much do you need for the bad bank?

- 25 billion.
- What?! Last week it was worth 40 billion,

Wednesday it was 33, and last night
it was valued at 21.

If we hurry and buy it now we should be able
to lose all our money by Friday.

Our portfolio is supported by at least
8 billion in equity, and that's a conservative estimate.

Conservative?! Who taught you how
to be conservative, McDade? Dick Fuld?

Conservative! Where does this end?

What happens when Merrill goes down?

We're not going down.

Thain, if you stepped away from
the Bloomberg cameras long enough

to read your own balance sheet,
you'd see it was as bad as Dick Fuld's.

Today we're here to deal with
Lehman Brothers. Whatever happens next...

maybe Paulson won't be so...

- What?
- Intransigent.

We won't be needing government money.

I'm afraid I have to excuse myself.

And what about you, Mack?

When are you going to hold out your hand?

Ah, fuck you, Diamond.

We're healthy.

- We're looking for opportunities.
- I'll bet you are.

- What's that supposed to mean?
- Just what I said.

He's trying to be mysterious.
There's nothing behind it.

- Is that true?
- Think what you like.

- He did it again!
- Hey. Hey, hey!

What are we doing here?

The point is not which one of us
happens to be weakest, right now.

We're all in each other's pockets.

What happens to one of us,
happens to all of us.

Ah, does it? Ah, Jesus, send me
toward the nearest confessional.

I'm gonna excuse your behaviour
because I think you have a chemical imbalance.

Ken it's John Thain...

Mr Thain. To what do I owe this pleasure?

I'm at the Fed in New York.

'Yes, I heard something was going on down there.'

I heard you've closed the book on Lehman.

My due diligence team is
flying back this afternoon.

Perhaps they should stay.

- Meaning?
- 'Perhaps you'd like to discuss other opportunities.'

This sounds like the sort of chat
we should be having in person.

Yes. I believe it is.

I have Dick Fuld on the other line.

Tell him I've left for New York.

'I believe he's in the air already. Any message?'

No. He's got my numbers.

Look, If we're going to get Barclays we need
to buy it at a premium to the market value.

- I agree.
- I think we should pay the 25.

You're all crazy!

Bart, Ian, could you give us a few?

Yeah, OK.

I think we should backstop Lehman.

So they overvalued their portfolio.

- We all try to maximise our perceived value.
- You wrote the book, Blankfein.

But I think we should structure
the deal in such a way

that the mortgages pay us back over time.

Yes. But also, now we know none of us
is too big to fail.

None of us is too precious that the government
will step in at the last minute and save our asses.

Did he say asses or assets?

I think we might also talk about
structuring a rainy day fund

for those of us who...

Survive?

- Samantha, get...
- Yes?

Don't worry. I'll do it.

MOBILE RINGS

Paulson.

Hank Paulson.

It's Dick.

Yeah, I know, Dick, we helped Bear,

and they're a lot smaller than you are.

Got any new material?

'Have you guys come up with anything?'

Nothing legal.

If you say it would be illegal
to help us because we're under-collateralised...

I'd be off your Christmas list?

I think you do what you do.

I think you get something in your head...

Just like you do.

I think the two of us should learn
to dither a little more.

This is a beautiful old bank.

'25,000 jobs.'

- History.
- Oh, that history.

We're all made of the same stuff.

How can we just be cut apart from the rest?

'It doesn't make sense.'

I don't know if we aren't making sense now

or if we're just starting to make sense.

'You can't say we've run out of money.'

- This isn't the kind of money you can run out of.
- You're right.

There's money out there.
There's money all over the place.

'It's just not so obvious how to get your hands on it.'

- Hank...
- 'Not to say you didn't get close.'

Blackstone, Colony, JE Robert...

- Why jump to sell just after a dip in the share price?
- 'And Korea.'

The money was on the table, Dick.

Only you never thought it was enough.

'You could've solved your liquidity
problem right there, but no,'

you were just sure your luck was going to change.

"If I only hold out one more trading day."

You were holding a pair of eights, Dick,

and you bet the farm on the river card.

If I thought there was a note of superiority...

'The time came when you should have folded,
and you didn't.'

Something in you told you to take the leap.

You were remarkable.

'The blindness was exquisite.'

The problem is we're not dealing
in months any more.

Now it's a matter of hours, minutes.

Can I ask you something?

And will you...you know?

Sure.

Is this...

anything to do with...

you know, you and me, things
that have happened?

I don't remember everything.

I probably don't remember anything.

But I know there's been some...

- ..sour...
- You and me?

LAUGHS

You think I feel any differently
about you than anyone else on the Street?

You think these other guys are my buddies?

No.

No, this goes way beyond personal.

The laws for this weekend haven't
even been written yet.

Nobody knows what to do.

Nobody knows what their job is.

Let me ask you this.

Is what you're doing now,

is this the thing that's most likely,
when you look back in a year, to make you say...

..shit, with what little we knew, we did it,

we put the pieces back together.

I couldn't see the future, but I just...

had that luck and it all fell together just right.

Is that what you're going to say?

No.

No, I don't think anything I do
this weekend is going to make me say that.

What would you do...if you were me?

Don't pick at the boneyard.

Bank of America's dead.

You've got Barclays.

That's what you've got.

Barclays.

PHONE DOWN

They agreed to 25.

And what is Barclays saying?

They're reviewing some of the initial deal points.

But the chiefs agreed to 25!

- Dick, it's a victory for us.
- Fuck the chiefs! How did Barclays react?

We didn't see anybody from Barclays.

Diamond wasn't at the Fed?

- He could have been there.
- You didn't notice if Bob Diamond was at the Fed?

I heard somebody laughing.
It sounded like his laugh.

Where did you hear the laughing?

Well, sort of...all over.

Get back to the Fed. Tell me
when Diamond shows.

I understand you sold more than
30 billion dollars worth of CDOs

at 22 cents on the dollar.

It was a risk-reduction strategy.

But it left us well capitalised.

If you were well capitalised
you wouldn't be here.

What I want to know is, what other time
bombs have you got on the books?

Everyone has risky assets.

But you want me to buy your company as is.

I'm going to need to know where
the dirty laundry is buried.

We don't want to sell Merrill Lynch.

We want to offer you a 10% stake.

But we want to buy it outright.

That's our only position.

I've always loved your shop.

I love how you bring Wall Street
to New Mexico.

We're both retail.

- We're a good fit.
- I only took over Merrill nine months ago.

I didn't take it over to sell it.

You see those pictures?
They're what I call real art.

They would form the kind of exhibitions
Bank of America might once have bankrolled,

but now we find ourselves
funding modern art as well,

art that can insult everything you and I
have worked our whole lives to make sacred.

Some of it to me looks like a road
accident or a human being turned inside out,

but those who matter, culturally
I mean, like to stand back,

arms folded, brows furrowed in just
the right way,

assessing the disturbed minds
of psychopaths

and getting from this a grim kind
of satisfaction

I freely admit remains unavailable
to my own sensibilities.

The Judas Kiss.

Exquisite, isn't it?

But time has moved on, Mr Thain.

The brand has to move on.

The world is different now.

We're currently financing
an exhibition of paintings

by Francis Bacon at the Tate Museum
in London.

Starts today.

Do you know what his paintings look like?

I leave that sort of thing to my wife.

Our name, Bank of America,
is on that exhibition.

History is happening, Mr Thain...

right now, this weekend.

No-one is going to blame you
for keeping up with it.

ELEVATOR PINGS

DOOR OPENS

- Is that Diamond?
- No.

I hope he looks pleased when he reads this.

- I hope he doesn't.
- Why?

Because if he looks pleased, it might mean
he intends to pull Barclays out of the game.

Whereas if he's poker-faced,

it probably means he's come
to play hardball.

Some people look poker-faced even
when they're happy.

Some people distrust ecstasy.

So, if he goes for these deal points, you think
our chances are pretty good then, don't you?

There's a lot of other stuff to get through.
But this term sheet looking the way it does...

that's one gigantic problem off our hands.

I'm glad you think so.

To me, there's either getting rid
of the whole problem

or being stuck with the whole problem.

There's nothing in-between.

DOOR OPENS

It's Diamond. He's coming.

FOOTSTEPS AND VOICES

I think I heard them say "Nebuchadnezzar".

That's got to be a good thing.

I hear you're talking to Ken Lewis.

Um...we've...had an informal, um...

Don't worry about it.

We don't need you to stay if your time
can be better spent elsewhere.

- Thank you. - If you can work out a deal with
him, it's one less thing we have to worry about.

The world is going to hell in a hand basket.
AIG is in the building.

They're haemorrhaging liquidity.

By Wednesday they're going to be worth
minus five billion.

Jesus, these numbers... Twenty years ago
you never heard them.

Are you going to help them?

AIG.

We have to.

Their credit default swaps insure
half the western banking system.

If we didn't bail them out,
all that is solid melts into air.

I'll go and see Lewis.

Hank...

I'm going to push for a good price.

I'd expect nothing less.

Go. Our prayers go with you.

Oh, and John?

Just so we're clear,

I'm not telling you what to do.

- Oh!
- Rise and shine to a brand-new day.

I thought I was dreaming.

- We got it?
- They agreed to the terms.

I heard Bob Diamond even had a little twinkle
in his eye.

- He agreed to the terms? - I heard
he liked the terms, but that's just the
first hurdle, Dick... - We got it.

Of course we fucking got it!

We're the survivors, aren't we?
Who wouldn't want Lehman Brothers!

At this price? For Barclays
it's like Christmas fucking day!

- SAMANTHA!
- I'm here!
- Get me some new clothes. Zach!

- I wouldn't go out. There's press down there.
- Still?

They're propagating.

Zach!

Go and get rid of the press.

Parasites. Tell them nothing!

Give them nothing, watch them make something
out of it. We'll have a laugh about it later. Go!

- Maybe you should turn on the news.
- Why should I watch the news?

We know what's happening.
They don't. Clothes!

HUBBUB

Can you please tell us what's happening?

I can assure you...
I can assure you we have no comment,

not even a comment about a comment,
so if you could please just...

That was support in helping you
to reach the imaginary yellow line

beyond which you could be accused
of trespassing.

HUBBUB

Guys, guys, guys, Nothing's happening up
there. Nothing's happening anywhere.

We thank you for your interest and
if there's anything our press secretary can do to help...

Please! Please, guys,
the yellow line, please!

We could accept 35 dollars.

35 dollars!

I know you've had difficulties,
but I was prepared to pay

at least a few thousand dollars
for a firm like Merrill Lynch.

35 dollars a share.

I suppose I could convince
my board to rise to 25.

I suppose with gargantuan effort
I might convince MY board to drop to 32.

- Why don't we just cut the crap and
state the numbers we'll accept. - 29.

- 27.
- 29.

28.

29.

I stay where I am.

I like where I am.

My title will be President of Global Banking,
Securities and Wealth Management.

I'm sure your title won't be
my board's chief concern.

We'll need an answer by midnight.

You don't have to worry, Mr Thain.

We have no intentions of taking
your stripes away from you.

Your face is part of the package.

Call in the board for twelve noon.

We'll need to ratify Barclays.

And I want food. Catering.

Goodies. Ribs. Meat.

- Champagne. A spread.
- You brought us back from the brink.

This place is my life.

Did you think I was going to let it go down?

Where else would I go?

What else could I do?

It's hard not to agree with you
on that score.

Well, then I think we've covered
just about everything, don't you?

No, don't worry.

I think we both have our hands tied on this one.

LOW CHATTER

DOOR OPENS

Well, gentlemen,
I'm afraid Barclays is dead.

By British law, Barclays can't guarantee
Lehman's obligations without a shareholder vote.

- So why can't they vote?
- They can.

But not until Tuesday.

Can't the British government make
an exception for just a couple of days?

They're under no obligation to do that.

I thought I could get Darling to issue
a waiver, but I couldn't.

But...

why can't the Fed just backstop us
till the vote?

If it's only two days away...

There is no public money for a backstop.

Have I said that before?

We're at the end. The deal is dead.
Now you need to talk to your board.

Harvey, they want you down the Fed.

They want us to file now.

You're asking me to draw up the biggest
bankruptcy in history and you want it done by midnight?

I heard you were good at what you do.

A reckless bankruptcy is going to be Armageddon.

We have a program. We have a series of press releases
which we firmly believe will calm the markets.

Press releases!

Lehman has assets worth 639 billion!

That's higher than the GDP of almost
every country in the world.

I know the arguments against this!

I've been on the phone with Dick
for six months trying to get him to sell.

But the price was never high enough
for him.

He thought he had all the time
in the world. Well, he didn't.

He thought he was playing with
the casino's money. Well, he wasn't.

That's enough now!
We've got to clean up this mess.

Somebody had to fail.

Lehman Brothers has failed.

LAUGHTER

PHONE RINGS

Yeah?

John, it's Dick.

- 'We should talk.'
- About what?

Once upon a time we said we'd have
that chat, you and I.

Dick, you're going to file.

We've done some work in that direction

but even this late in the day,
with an injection of capital...

Dick, it's really, really over.

'Call me soon. We'll play golf.'

PHONE RINGS

Mr Lewis's phone.

Donna, it's Dick Fuld.

Is Ken...by any chance...

No. He isn't.

Look... I don't think there's any point
repeatedly calling the house.

Mr Lewis has your messages.

I'm sure if he wants to call you, he will.

PHONE RINGS

PHONE CONTINUES TO RING

Get up, gentlemen. Take a break,
have a celebratory glass.

I suppose now they can get some sleep.

Don't be silly. Due diligence won't
be finished until we sign on the line.

- You're a wise man, Mr Lewis.
- Not at 29 a share.

My board was quick to point out

that's a 70% premium on your
Friday closing price,

and naturally they thought
I was losing my marbles.

- Maybe hunches like yours are only
for men of genius. - Hmm.

GOSPEL MUSIC: # Take me to the water

# Take me to the water... #

Can you please tell us what's happening?

# Take me to... #

I read somewhere that writing was
originally invented to keep track of debt.

If that's how history began,
then maybe when we wrote off

this giant mountain of debt,
history came to an end.

It was definitely the end
of history for some.

National economies collapsed.

Ireland and Italy nearly went bankrupt.

Iceland did.

It was a good thing George Bush
legalised sleep deprivation,

because our Chief Financial Officer,
who hadn't slept in three days,

had to stay awake to approve
the bankruptcy petition.

And it had to be done before midnight.

Everyone before us
and everyone after got bailed out.

Four days after the Lehman collapse,
Hank Paulson went to Congress

asking for 700 billion in Federal aid.

John Thain and Bank of America
parted company in January 2009,

but not before he'd paid out
three and a half billion dollars

in bonuses to Merrill Lynch staff.

He was already in the news for
spending 1.2 million decorating his office.

He spent over a thousand bucks
on a wastebasket.

Some of us expected big changes, a new age.

Some of us are still waiting.

There was a well-known con artist who said,

"The reason some people can be conned
is because they want something for nothing.

"Well, I give them nothing for something."

There was something else he said.

People are 99% animal, 1% human.

And it's the human part that causes
all the trouble.

Huh, you'd think it would be
the other way around.

GOSPEL MUSIC FINISHES

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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