Too Big to Fail - Andrew Ross Sorkin [322]
“a quality which, for lack of a better word, I can best describe as epic.” Christopher Gray, “Mix of Limestone and Sandstone, in Florentine Style,” New York Times, November 11, 2001.
a three-level vault: www.newyorkfed.org.
Emergency meeting at NY Fed: Evan Thomas and Michael Hirsh, “Paulson’s Complaint,” Newsweek, May 16, 2009.
“He is in denial,” Paulson continued: Author obtained notes from the emergency meeting at the New York Federal Reserve.
“There is no political will for a federal bailout”: Deborah Solomon, Dennis K. Berman, Susanne Craig, and Carrick Mollenkamp, “Ultimatum by Paulson Sparked Frantic End,” Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2008.
“I assume we are going to talk about AIG?”: Tett, Fool’s Gold, 233.
“Stop being such a jerk”: Kate Kelly, “The Fall of Bear Stearns,” Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2008.
Fuld swallowed his pride and dialed Lewis’s home in Charlotte: According to the Wall Street Journal, Fuld placed the call to Lewis on the afternoon of Sunday, September 14, 2008. Subsequent reporting by the author has revealed that the call was actually made on the evening of Friday, September 12, 2008. See Susanne Craig, Jeffrey McCracken, Aaron Lucchetti, and Kate Kelly in “The Weekend That Wall Street Died,” Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2008.
the same home he had purchased in 1958 for $31,500: Roger Lowenstein, “King Midas—Warren Buffett,” Independent on Sunday, February 18, 1996.
David Bonderman of Texas Pacific Group: Riva D. Atlas and Edward Wong, “Texas Pacific Goes Where Others Fear to Spend,” New York Times, August 25, 2002.
watched his investment lose virtually all of its value in less than half a year: Peter Lattman, “WaMu Fall Crushes TPG,” Wall Street Journal, September 27; Geraldine Fabrikant, “WaMu Tarnishes Star Equity Firm,” New York Times, September 27, 2008.
Paulson hated Flowers, and the antipathy was mutual: Peter Truell and Joseph Kahn, “Goldman Sachs Nears Decisive Talks on Going Public,” New York Times, June 2, 1998.
“Urgent. Code name: Equinox”: Craig, McCracken, Lucchetti, and Kelly, “The Weekend that Wall Street Died,” Wall Street Journal. For a more detailed account of Weil Gotschal’s involvement in the Lehman bankruptcy, see Ben Hallman, “A Moment’s Notice; Weil Gotshal put together the largest bankruptcy in U.S. History in Record Time.” American Lawyer, December 1, 2008.
“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.