1.
Friday.
KMM Capital Management. Midtown Manhattan.
RICK reads something on his phone.
JENNY enters RICKâs office.
JENNY. You wanted to see me?
RICK. Yes.
JENNY. Is this about Landmark Luggage? I saw you stop into Sethâs meeting. I have some thoughts on that.
RICK. Are you speaking to a finance class at NYU?
JENNY. Oh. Yes. In two weeks.
RICK. Why are you speaking to a finance class at NYU?
JENNY. Remember that consultant we brought in on American Saddle? Baljeet Nair? Orthopedic shoe, skin issues.
RICK. No.
JENNY. He teaches finance undergrads at NYU now. He asked me to come in and speak to them.
RICK. About what?
JENNY. He said to talk about whatever I want.
RICK. You will not say whatever you want.
JENNY. Why not?
RICK. What are you planning to say?
JENNY. I only have a rough draft at this stage.
RICK. Let me hear it please.
JENNY. What?
RICK. Please let me hear what youâre going to say to a roomful of college kids with video-recording devices while I am getting eviscerated daily because of this goddamn layoff announcement.
JENNY. Oh. Wait are you serious?
RICK. Yes Jenny.
JENNY. Why would we do that with our time?
RICK. Because theyâre going after our LPs now â thatâs all of our investors.
JENNY. Of course theyâre protesting, thatâs what unemployed people do.
RICK. Well theyâre doing it outside the Beckwith office today. Howard just had his coffee slapped out of his hand.
JENNY. Theyâre just a bunch of socialists and whack-jobs.
RICK. The media isnât portraying them as whack-jobs.
JENNY. Of course not.
RICK. The media is portraying me as an unprecedented asshole.
JENNY. But who takes The New York Times seriously?
RICK. The Earth. The entire Earth.
JENNY. I meant: who in our world.
RICK. They were outside the Snyder office too. Did you know that? Geneâs car got surrounded.
JENNY. Is he okay?
RICK. I talked to Gene, heâs fine. Itâs very clever, harassing our
LPs like this â theyâre going right after our money. Itâs a good thing the Gjertsons are based in Oslo.
JENNY. Our past two funds were top quartile. Legitimately top quartile. Our LPs arenât going to abandon us because some jealous reporters made fun of your party elephants.
RICK. Elephant. There was just one.
JENNY. Thought I saw two.
RICK. Why does everyone think there were two?
JENNY. Were there mirrors in the ballroom?
RICK. Fucking elephant. I shouldâve talked her out of it. She had to have an engagement party that tied thematically to the wedding.
JENNY. Thereâll be elephants at your wedding?
RICK. No just because itâs in Bali.
JENNY. There are elephants in Bali?
RICK. Yes Jenny. I have a home there. I engage in philanthropy there.
JENNY. Okay.
RICK. I should have cancelled the goddamn party.
JENNY. Yeah. Successful people donât deserve engagement parties. We should all just move to caves.
RICK. It is painfully obvious that you donât understand how serious this is.
JENNY. No, I understand. Iâm sure the protests are annoying our LPs, and Iâm sure The Times article was upsetting for Katie.
RICK. Yes.
JENNY. But youâve worked seventy hours a week for thirty years. Youâve earned every cent of your wealth. Youâre allowed to have any kind of party you want.
RICK. Thatâs not the issue, Jenny. The issue was having the party on the exact day of the layoff announcement.
JENNY. The layoffs were inevitable. Itâs not your fault ShopGreat allowed itself to be commandeered by unions.
RICK. That is also not the issue. This is about timing and perception. And boy, do you not have talent in either of those areas.
JENNY. Itâs not a lack of talent. Itâs being rational. I donât waste time trying to prevent outcomes I canât change.
RICK. I could have changed the outcome.
JENNY. How?
RICK. I could have listened to Seth. He told me to cancel the party. But you advised me not to. Which is hilarious, because you donât even enjoy parties.
JENNY. Sure I do.
RICK. No you donât.
JENNY. It was very fun.
RICK. I donât want to hear any more about the party.
JENNY. I apologize.
RICK. And on top of this unbelievable nightmare, Xu Wei called again.
JENNY. He did?
RICK. Wanted us to fly to Hong Kong. Can you imagine if that got out in the press?
JENNY. How much?
RICK. He wanted to commit fifty-five million. I told him the fundâs closed.
JENNY. I mean fifty-five millionâs / fifty-five million.
RICK. / I said Wei, do not call here again. You are an international joke. And particularly right now, I do not need to be doing business with a corrupt asshole like you.
JENNY. Oh, wow, you said that?
RICK. I wasnât quite that polite.
JENNY. Was he upset?
RICK. I donât want him calling anymore.
JENNY. I heard Lakeshireâs taking a commitment from him.
RICK. Of course they are. Theyâre classless. Everyone knows where his money comes from.
JENNY. Can we talk about Landmark Luggage? Whatâs the price?
RICK. We will talk about that later.
JENNY. I bet itâs seven-hundred million at least. I had one of my analysts take one of Sethâs analysts out for bibimbap so he could pump him for data on Landmarkâs assets. Did you know Landmark owns a jet and huge building in downtown Sacramento?
RICK. So itâll be easier to raise debt.
JENNY. Okay but even if itâs highly leveraged, Iâm not seeing this as worthwhile.
RICK. It looks like an intriguing opportunity. You know how good Seth is at finding unique deals.
JENNY. I donât know that thatâs how Iâd put it.
RICK. Oh you donât? How about this? When it comes to bringing me targets, heâs about a thousand times more effective than you are. Now tell me what youâre going to say at NYU.
JENNY. My notes are i...