Too Big to Fail [322]
“If we do that” Cohan, House of Cards,.
Eric R. Dinallo: Matthew Karnitschnig, Liam Pleven, and Peter Lattman, “AIG Scrambles to Raise Cash, Talks to Fed,” Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2008.
Merrill had just sold $8.55 billion of convertible stock: “Thain Gains $2 Mln on Merrill Lynch Share Purchase,” Reuters, July 31, 2008.
the restaurant plays host to Wall Street bigwigs over lunch: Landon Thomas Jr. “Make Your Best Offer and Pass the Parmesan, Please,” New York Times, October 2, 2005.
the “good bank”: Cohan, House of Cards, 445.
“How much equity do you need to raise”: This exchange between Gary Shedlin and Michael Klein was first reported in William D. Cohan’s article for Fortune magazine, soon followed up in his book, House of Cards. According to Cohan, “Shedlin confirmed the exchange to Fortune; Klein did not respond to requests to be interviewed.” See William D. Cohan, “Three days that shook the world,” Fortune, December 16, 2008.
lost $20 billion more than anyone had recorded: Eric Dash and Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Throwing a Lifeline to a Troubled Giant,” New York Times, September 18, 2008.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“I don’t think I can take another day of this”: The “Goldman aide” referenced in the Wall Street Journal is Blankfein’s chief of staff, Russell Horwitz. Susanne Craig, Jeffrey McCracken, Aaron Lucchetti, and Kate Kelly, “The Weekend That Wall Street Died,” Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2008.
not-so-subtle reference to John Whitehead: John C. Whitehead, A Life in Leadership: From D-Day to Ground Zero: An Autobiography, New York: Basic Books, 2005.
“Certain Deal Issues”: Author obtained copy of document.
had posed a decade earlier: “Merrill’s Mr. Allison, reading from a handwritten sheet, spelled out the terms. ‘We think we need $4 billion to assure the fund can withstand any concerted attack by others against its positions.’ Sixteen firms were asked to pitch in $250 million.” Michael Siconolfi, Anita Raghavan and Mitchell Pacelle, “All Bets Are Off: How the Salesmanship and Brainpower Failed at Long-Term Capital,” Wall Street Journal, November 16, 1998.
“What the fuck are you doing?”: Lowenstein, When Genius Failed, 203.
he had contributed only $100 million: Wall Street Journal, November 16, 1998.
Merrill’s market capitalization: According to Standard & Poor’s, Merrill’s market capitalization for Friday, September 12, 2008 was $26.1 billion. “Five Facts About Merrill Lynch and Bank of America,” Reuters, September 14, 2008.
“It looks like we may have the outlines of a deal around the financing”: William D. Cohan, “Three Days,” Fortune.
tapped out a message on his BlackBerry to Michael Gelband: A version of this anecdote was reported by Steve Fishman, “Burning Down His House,” New York, December 8, 2008.
McCarthy, meanwhile, in London…: Nick Mathiason, “Three Weeks That Changed the World,” The Observer, December 28, 2008.
FSA’s refusal to waive shareholder-approval requirements: As reported by Bloomberg, Barclays spokesman Leigh Bruce said: “The only reason it didn’t happen is that there was no guarantee from the U.S. government, and a technical stock-exchange rule required prior shareholder approval for us to make a similar guarantee ourselves. We didn’t have that approval, so it wasn’t possible for us to do the deal. No U.K. bank could have done it. It was a technical rule that could not be overcome.” John Helyar and Yalman Onaran, “Fuld Sought Buffett Offer He Refused as Lehman Sank,” Bloomberg, November 10, 2008.
editorial in the Sunday Telegraph: Mark Keinman, “Barclays Should Be Wary of the Gorilla in Its Midst,” Sunday Telegraph, Sep 14, 2008.
“Those of you who do not want to assist a Barclay deal…”: Author received notes from this meeting, with Paulson