Too Big to Fail - Andrew Ross Sorkin [184]
“And then he says, ‘Can you do it in twenty-four hours?’” Mack reported as the table erupted in laughter.
“No fucking way,” Colm Kelleher said.
Once the laughter died down, Mack raised the biggest question before them: Given the scope of the crisis now enveloping the industry, did they need to do a deal?
Chammah spoke up first. “Listen, there are not too many dancing partners out there that we want to dance with. If there’s ever going to be a time to talk, now’s probably the time.”
Gorman stepped in and explained that Merrill Lynch, given their conversation just an hour ago with Thain, was likely to merge with Bank of America, perhaps within the next twenty-four hours. That meant that Bank of America would be taken off the table as a merger partner. Gorman was still shaking his head over the audacity of Thain, Kraus, and Montag’s attempt to sell Merrill, a firm they had only recently joined and hardly knew.
“We could call Lewis,” Gorman suggested.
Mack had always thought that Bank of America could be a natural merger partner for Morgan Stanley; indeed, before the crisis, he had often half-joked with friends that it was his “exit strategy.” When his stock price was higher, he had often thought a deal with Bank of America would be one triumphant way of demonstrating that he had restored Morgan Stanley, the firm he loved, to its former glory. Strategically, they were a perfect fit: Bank of America was an outstanding commercial and retail bank, but its investment side was weak. Morgan Stanley had the opposite configuration: It was a superior investment bank but had few stable deposits. Perhaps the best part of the merger would be that Mack, born near Charlotte, where Bank of America was based, could retire there with his family as the new, combined bank’s chairman.
But tonight, Mack understood, it wasn’t meant to be. “If Merrill goes to BofA, what do you think about Wachovia?” he asked as plates of Timballo di Baccala con Patate, Fave e Pomodoro arrived at the table.
For the next two hours, they debated the merits of reaching out to Wachovia, also based in Charlotte; JP Morgan Chase; or HSBC. They could call China Investment Corporation, the nation’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Kelleher suggested, while Paul Taubman mentioned Mitsubishi.
Whomever they might select, Mack was adamant on one point: “We shouldn’t be rushed into anything.” While it might be ugly out there, he reminded everyone of the obvious: They were Morgan Stanley, the global financial juggernaut. The firm’s market value was still more than $50 billion as of that Friday—a lot less than a month earlier but hardly a joke. And they had $180 billion in the bank.
Kelleher, the bank’s CFO, had been diligently building up liquidity for months, in the event of just such a situation in which they now found themselves. There was no way there could be a run on Morgan Stanley; they had too much credibility in the market. At the same time, he recognized that if Lehman was sold to Barclays, and Merrill was sold to Bank of America, his firm would be in the hot seat.
Chammah, taking a sip of wine, said soberly, “We could be up next.”
It was after 8:00 p.m., and Jamie Dimon, who was starving, made his way up to the executive dining room on the forty-ninth floor of JP Morgan’s headquarters. The operating committee had been working flat-out for the entire day, calculating the firm’s exposure to Lehman, Merrill, Morgan Stanley, Goldman, and, of course, AIG, and the dining staff had been called in to work overtime to feed everyone. Tonight was tacos, and though the food may not have been as good as what the Fed offered downtown, it was better than Dimon had remembered. It was also the first time he’d eaten dinner in the recently renovated partner’s dining room.
In the middle of his meal, Dimon stood up and began pacing back and forth in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, surveying the cityscape.