Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Page #3

There's 15,000 jobs on the line right now.

Somebody's after us, right?

Somebody's trying to hurt us.

There's a reason this is happening.

I need to know how and why.

You know that dream you got about

that little energy company in California?

You may not get there,

but you hold on to that.

Because everything else is just noise.

It's not just noise.

There's 15,000 jobs on the line.

Fifteen thousand people here.

That's not noise.

- Are we going under?

- I never liked this damn dog.

Louis, are we going under?

You're asking the wrong question, Jacob.

What's the right question?

Who isn't?

(CHILDREN LAUGHING)

ZABEL:
China's out.

BILL:
You said...

ZABEL:
I know what I said, Bill.

Two months we negotiated

with these pikers.

They pulled out at 7:00 p.m.

So what's new? They're Chinese.

And while they were negotiating,

we lost the Koreans.

BILL:
So you're saying

you don't have an out.

No, I'm saying, just give me one week.

We're still talking to the British.

And the Arabs are back in,

and this time it's for real.

PAUL ON SPEAKER:

Lou, we've heard this before.

Jesus. Paul, we lost billions this week.

If the markets don't roll over our paper

Sunday night, before Asia opens,

Keller Zabel cannot do business

on Monday.

Tuesday, 15,000 people are gonna be

out of a job, worldwide!

BILL:
Lou, you understated

the scale of your bad loans.

Your valuations are no longer believable.

After all these years,

you say this to me?

Me?

Three-quarters of the banking houses

at this table

are holding the same paper,

and you're gonna let Keller Zabel fail?

You're all committing suicide.

What do you say, Harry?

Will you come in on this?

Look, if you want us

to bail out Keller Zabel,

all of us will have to participate.

Like Long-Term Capital, '98.

And we will need substantial guarantees

from the US Treasury.

Bill, I think we should talk privately.

PAUL:
I think that's a good idea, Bill.

BILL:
Gentlemen, give us a minute.

What about moral hazard, Jack?

We bail out Keller Zabel, who's to say

it's not gonna happen again and again?

You vindictive bastard.

Who are you to talk about moral hazard?

BRETTON:
I'm sorry, Lou.

The Street needs to make a statement

here to the world.

ZABEL:
It was eight years ago!

You just can't let it go, can you, Bretton?

BILL:
All right, Lou, knock it off.

I'd like to speak with you, Bill. Jack.

And Lou.

Separately.

BRETTON:
Thirty of our people

have been through the Keller Zabel books

for the last three days.

And they still say it's impossible

to get to the bottom of this.

This could be a 10-billion dollar hole for us.

Or it could be a 200-billion dollar hole

and there's no way we can risk that money

without a backstop

from Treasury or the Fed.

You started this, didn't you, Bretton?

I said knock it off, Lou.

Or this meeting is over, you hear me?

You're asking us

to take a large risk here, Bretton.

What are you offering?

Under these conditions, and assuming

you refine your guarantee,

Jack, Julie and I, and our partners

who have been consulted,

are prepared to risk $2 a share.

Two bucks?

(LAUGHS) Jesus. You're out of your mind.

The stock was trading at 79 a month ago!

Our building alone is worth more

than two bucks a share.

Julie.

If only we had more time, Lou.

ZABEL:
My board will never accept this.

There is no way I'm gonna sell

for two bucks a share.

BILL:
The government,

if we guarantee this deal,

could never justify a high price

for your company.

And if you don't sell, Lou,

you're in bankruptcy.

This is a public spectacle now.

No, it's a public execution,

and you'll be leading it, Bill.

I built this company.

And your exit will help restore faith in it.

Who the hell are you to tell me to get out?

You're out, Lou!

One way or the other, you're out.

Then the hell with you!

I'll take my chances in bankruptcy court

before I sell to that barracuda.

(WHISTLES)

Then we have nothing more to talk about.

Six.

Three, and that's it.

If I can sell it to the board.

Five.

- Three.

- All right.

We'll call it an even four,

so it don't look so goddamn pathetic.

Three.

And not a dime more.

(DOOR SHUTS)

(ALARM BEEPING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(TRAIN APPROACHING)

(PEOPLE SCREAMING)

MARIA ON TV:

We have breaking news right now.

Earlier this morning

in a New York City subway,

Keller Zabel managing partner

and head of one of the biggest

investment firms on Wall Street,

Louis Zabel, 75,

apparently jumped

in front of an oncoming train

in front of hundreds of bystanders.

The stock is currently halted,

pending news...

Churchill Schwartz is making out

like a bandit right now

with government funding.

But Keller Zabel as an independent

investment bank is essentially finished.

BECKY:
Tom, this news

about Louis Zabel today

comes as a shock to everyone.

But how are you holding up there?

TOM:
The guy was an icon on Wall Street.

I always thought of him

as sort of a mentor to me.

So to see this happen under

the circumstances that it did happen,

it's devastating.

What's it mean to the employees

at Keller Zabel?

TOM:
I think they've lost their leader.

They're going to be...

Frankly, financially,

a lot of them are gonna be badly hurt.

This is gonna hurt on so many fronts.

BECKY:
I know it's still difficult

to think about it

with this news just coming out about Louis

but you have to wonder what this means

for the future of Wall Street.

Another firm gone, it leaves very

few players left on the Street.

TOM:
One thing I know for sure is

more competition

is better than less competition.

I just heard. I'm so sorry.

Will you marry me, Winnie?

Will you marry me?

What's wrong?

It's just something Lou said

about not waiting, you know?

And I love you.

Yes.

Yes?

You know, I should tell you due diligence.

There's some...

I'm out of a job and probably

on the other side of broke, you know.

(LAUGHS)

Awesome.

(HOMEPLAYING)

I'm looking for a home

Where the wheels are turning

Home

Why I keep returning

Home

Will infect whatever you do

FEMALE PROFESSOR: In one of

the harshest sentences ever given

to a white collar criminal at that time,

in 1993,

he was sent off to Otis Federal Prison

for almost eight years.

And so, here in person, I welcome

the man himself, Mr. Insider,

Gordon Gekko.

Thank you.

You're all pretty much f***ed.

(STUDENTS LAUGHING)

(STUDENTS LAUGHING)

You don't know it yet,

but you're the NINJA generation.

No income.

No job.

No assets.

You got a lot to look forward to.

(STUDENTS CHUCKLING)

Blood, buddy. He's gonna be your blood.

Someone reminded me the other evening

that I once said, "Greed is good."

Now it seems it's legal.

(STUDENTS LAUGHING)

But, folks,

it's greed that makes my bartender

buy three houses he can't afford

with no money down.

And it's greed that makes your parents

refinance their $200,000 house for 250.

And then they take that extra 50

and they go down to the mall.

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