Going Private

The Spiral - Part VI - Crescendo Partners

Part VI of the Going Private miniseries "The Spiral." It is getting increasingly difficult for the firm's executives and senior managers to travel about without being attacked by shareholders and activists.  A new head of mortgage trading is appointed.  The CFOs brutal betrayal is revealed by a famous online gossip magazine.  The nature of consultants and their place in society is discussed.  The Chairman and CEO reveals his plans for a daring defense, but are they realistic?

cres.mov [6 minute 23 second, 118.6mb quicktime H.264 movie]

Bank of Merrill American Lynching

The Spiral - Part VII - The Kitchen

Part VII of the Going Private miniseries "The Spiral." The CFOs aide has vanished.  The Chairman and CEO begins to rebuff anxious minions for their disloyalty.  The dreaded "non-compete" clause strikes terror into the hearts of traders, once committed to the firm, but now despondent over the pay cuts they will be forced to endure.  If unable to keep them in the style to which they have grown accustomed, will they be able to withstand the wrath of their wives?  How will they break the news?

kitch.mov [3 minute 38 second, 69.6mb quicktime H.264 movie]

The Spiral - Part VIII - Jet A

Part VIII of the Going Private miniseries "The Spiral." The wives and mistresses still in the dark, bad news begins to slip in from all over.  Capital reserves are almost gone.  A full fledged liquidity crisis is amiss.  The Chairman and CEO makes a rash and desperate decision.  Will his minions carry it out faithfully?  Will he face the troops?  Call an "all-hands" meeting?

jeta.mov [4 minute 30 second, 79.6mb quicktime H.264 movie]

Ahoy!

Avast, ye lubbers and learned readers.  Ya scallywags be interested t' know that I hav'n come 'longside and boarded HMS DealBreaker.com, as Captain 'n Interim Editor in Chief, replac'in t' old sea dog Captain John "Jameson" Carney who now find 'im marooned on t' bleak desert isle 'arrr Clusterstock.com.  Aye, he's a whisky drinker and sips no rum f' sure.  Come aboard and enjoy t' fray. (Also, know ye that it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day today.  Y'arrrrr!).

The Spiral - Part IX - Paulson

Part IX of the Going Private miniseries "The Spiral." With the Chairman and CEO missing in action, the margin calls come in.  A team of bankers meets secretly as they prepare to gut The Firm.  The complicity of certain regulators leaves a foul stench in the air as the Firm's negotiators prostrate themselves before the presence of a Wall Street luminary.  The offers are low.  Very low, and turmoil threatens to destroy what is left of the Board of Directors.  Despondent, one mistress resorts to an old habit for consolation.

paulson.mov [3 minute 30 second, 59.3mb quicktime H.264 movie]