Thanks, Fikret.
Hey, Ken! Just wanted to be on hand to smooth and say welcome home.
- Who are they? - Additional manpower for the new role.
Okay, welcome additional manpower. They can fuck off until I need them.
I just want to show my face, check in with the grays,
and then get to the plane.
I'd rather have more time on the other end, okay?
Maybe I get in early and fucking slip a Mickey in Matsson's meatballs.
Okay, we'll make sure the plane is ready to go.
Before takeoff, might be nice to get a shot of you and Roman,
candid shot, stepping up,
"CE-bros" is kind of the bad version.
Shall we maybe not do the bad version?
Agreed.
Thank you.
Got a knack for the theatrics.
What about one of these?
- You get any sleep? - A little bit.
Did you get the condolence assistance?
Yeah, what do you think?
Old guard loading us up with human listening devices?
Look at you fucking chumps. This the Romey A team?
- This is the team. - What's shaking?
You camp out overnight, I hear?
I got here early, I'm just getting briefed. Should I get Shiv?
Bastian, could you get Shiv, please?
Okay, so what's bubbling? Short range top lines?
Studio would like to schedule a call this morning, red flag.
We're okaying "Kalispitron" reshoots, panicky vibes.
Second producer signed off on leave, citing mental collapse/overload.
We okay it. We're balls deep already.
I think gotta keep spending.
I will say no a lot and shout, obviously, initially, but yeah.
And you got my email on Matsson angles, deal thoughts?
Which one? You sent several.
The last one, ignore previous emails.
Yeah, great, thanks for putting me through all that.
We're good here, by the way, guys. You can all fuck off, yeah.
- Don't talk to my team, Hugo. - So, talk on the plane?
Well, here we go. March of the Emperor Penguins.
- Morning. - Morning.
- Welcome back. - Thank you.
- Congrats. - Nothing to celebrate, but...
So what is this, you guys are reinterviewing for your jobs?
No, just a check-in pre-Norway.
Okay, I think we did the check-in on the board call
and on the follow-up call and with your 33 000 emails.
Well, just anything we can do to be helpful
in terms of like dry running the negotiation or...
Okay, we trust you absolutely, now tell us every single word
you plan on saying to him.
Look, we wanna knock this out of the park.
Squeeze an extra three, four dollars a share.
Rome and me. Shiv, on point here to advise and liaise.
Cool, yeah, did I miss the invite? What's the conflab?
Boomers versus zoomers?
No, this is on schedule, Shiv.
Mom and Dad just stopped by to make sure we have food in the fridge.
Okay, Matsson. He's saying not to freak out.
- What? - Freak out, why?
Why, is he wobbling?
Did you all just get this? Do you have this?
They're asking for everyone. They're requesting us all in Norway,
plus division heads, bunch of EVPs. I've forwarded.
He actually sent a list of names.
- So that's sinister as fuck. - What is it, do we think?
- Cultural compatibility check. - It's early, but it is smart.
But why check cultural compatibility if we haven't done the deal?
I guess because we are probably doing the deal.
- It's positive. - Unless he's looking for a way out.
Yeah, or invite everyone
so he doesn't just have to deal with the B-roll brothers.
Can I have a look at this list?
You should all have it, you're on the list.
No, you didn't send it to me.
What does it look like if we say no? We don't play that weak.
I guess in the interest of doing the deal that we all want,
maybe we should play ball.
Yeah, no, great, great, good.
Let's go get the deal. Let's bleed the Swede.
SUCCESSION
Sir, sir!
Whirlwind, huh? So why Norway, not Sweden?
Annual retreat. Anyway, Norway, Sweden, what's the difference?
All descended from the same rapists.
- Hello! - How are you?
Well, excited to get a feel for Scandinavia and some hotties?
The hotties.
The arctic foxes, bit of Norwegian wood.
Greg, show some respect.
It's not a trip to the Guggenheim, Greg.
It's musical electric chairs.
To see whether they like us after the acquisition.
Find out who they like, everyone else, welcome to the lime pit.
You're on the other plane, by the way.
Yeah, I know, thanks, Hugo.
But you're not worried, right?
Me? No.
With the ATN carve out, I'm not worried about Matsson.
I'm worried about being whacked by the cast of Bugsy Malone over there.
- You got a problem, Tom? - No.
You guys are seriously not concerned about this dad stuff?
- Cuz there's been more. - Sorry, I have to focus.
Studio overages, "Kalispitron: Hibernation".
225 mil sunk cost.
Estimating about three weeks of reshoots,
which is like 25 mil plus CGI.
It's a fucking sleepy robot in a cave. How is that a quarter of a bill?
I'm just struck by the number of pieces that knife Dad
and imply that his children, particularly his younger sons,
have been covering for him for quite some time.
- Hugo? - Yeah?
If someone's briefing anything against Dad,
we'll fucking crucify them, okay? Ratfucker Sam, okay?
Okay.
Rome, do you wanna do the Matsson dossier together for angles, yeah?
Let's do it.
Yeah, I don't actually care if you wanna burn Dad's legacy...
Shiv, we're trying to prep to get inside his head
to squeeze every nickel out of this fucking thing
and keeping the numbers straight across five fucking divisions.
Shiv, we're death-wrestling with ogres.
You're reading documents, is what you're doing, Ken.
You know one thing, if you want, just to mention it.
- What? - We can cut Tom's throat.
Well... Yeah, how's he doing?
I mean, he's doing fine.
We thought in case that might be a nice thing for you.
Well, thanks. It's so nice of you to offer that.
You know what?
I'm up to my fucking eyeballs in investor conference shit,
so I should speak to Gerri.
I don't know, guys, I would say there's a lot to admire.
Yeah, did you see?
Their deputy of comms is a ski jumper, ex-Winter Olympian.
- Yeah, I saw. - A ski jumper?
You can hardly stand up. You're fucked.
Fullbrights coming out of their ass. NASDAQ master race.
They're just a bunch of really impressive, very serious young people.
Did you see what happened when they acquired the video game publisher?
Less than 10% retention.
They went through the place like fire ants.
Incredibly meritocratic.
Insular, weird, brutal motherfuckers and we're dead.
Hey, come on guys, listen.
Sure, they're young and they're fit, but they're European.
They're soft.
Hammocked in their social security safety nets.
Sick on vacation mania, and free healthcare.
They may think they're Vikings, but we've been raised by wolves.
Exposed to a pathogen that goes by the name Logan Roy.
And they have no idea what's coming to them, okay?
We're snakes on a plane.
You guys clock that he's a movie guy?
We might need a line in case he queries the fucking cash incinerator
that the studio is right now.
Belt's so fucking tight. It's like strangling me.
You nervous, Ken?
No, he's just some guy.
The Iceman.
I don't know, maybe a little anxious about the deal, sure.
All right, you're good.
Just, you know, fucking every dollar you squeeze makes us stronger
for when we do Pierce-ATN, yeah?
Let's see how it goes.
I'm looking forward to meeting your winter Olympian.
Andreas Bloc? The guy blew a seven point lead
at the Sochi Winter Games. He's a possible choker.
Possible choker!
Where should we go?
Which way to Chairman Matsson's re-education camp?
Take a seat, it's next stop. We're about to leave.
Two more bags coming.
Shiv, pretty nice, huh?
I already got fucking mud on my sneaks.
- Nice. - You like the merch?
I'm gonna jerk off over it while staring at you.
You like that, you little bitch? I see you.
- Look out your window. - Is that you?
Yeah, of course that's me, the handsome one.
Is yours small? Mine is fucking small.
When a bear shits in the woods, it uses one of these, I think.
- Yeah. Let me call you back. - Yeah, great.
So divisional heads, etc. are offered brunch
and Matsson's invited the negotiating team up top
to get into it and they'll escort us if you want.
- Yeah. - Okay.
Hey, you wanna walk the deck once more, talk the angles,
the foreseeable unforeseens?
No, we're good. Good on the plan.
Well, yeah, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
But I might just add, I've seen guys going in,
playing hardball and then not being able to row back.
Your dad, often, he would just start with a joke,
just to establish that no matter how tough things are...
That's the whole thing, right?
Bringing an offer lower than 144, net result unhappiness.
Over 144, net result happiness.
Increasing exponentially with each additional dollar
until such time as Karl creams his pants
while dropping into his golden parachute.
Aiming for 147, hoping for 148,
but with everything, would settle for 145, 146.
Right? That's the whole of the game?
- Rome. - Hey, Con.
- I'm at Frank E. Campbell. - Yeah, now it's not a good time.
Look, are you guys okay to talk?
Because Marcia's been in.
And she's talking about putting him in a kilt,
like a fucking Bay City roller.
What?
It's Con. Marcia's been in, and they're talking about dad with a kilt.
- What? - Yeah.
Can he just fucking figure it out? Is it just drama?
Yeah, yeah. I heard that, Ken.
I got a pretty full plate here.
I just had to cancel on a room full of working class whites in Cleveland.
So look, I am genuinely concerned
that he will look odd and I'll be blamed.
Con, we appreciate you holding it down for us,
but what do you need from us?
Carte blanche.
If I go in the embalming room and start throwing my weight around,
I'm gonna need to make some asks, but I don't wanna get blamed.
Sure, okay, Con, carte blanche, you're empowered.
No recriminations.
If you want, send photos or whatever.
Send photos? He's not taking him to the fucking beach.
Don't send photos. Okay, bye, bye!
Can I have a waffle, please?
Looks good.
Serious Scandi spread here. Thank you so much.
What's this guy?
Ambush, he took the bait, fattened for the kill.
- Hi. - Good luck, everybody.
- Hello. - How you doing?
- Hey, gang! - Hi there.
- Hi, morning! - How you doing?
Ebba? Good afternoon! Comms and public affairs.
- Karolina. - Yes, exactly.
You look well, very refreshed.
Hi, Tom.
Oskar? I'm Tom.
Tom, Tom of Siobhan?
Yeah... And ATN.
So I'm not really part of this whole situation.
And yeah, if you want a little guide of our forest,
the mighty oaks of Waystar and the deadwood, just give me a nod.
- Okay? - You're the guy?
I'm the guy. All right, good to see you.
Easy, buddy. Leave some for us.
Would you like some? I'm happy to share.
I metabolize fast because I'm dynamic.
Andreas! Hey, man.
They tell me that you nearly got a bronze at Sochi.
Another lifetime, you know.
Oh, man!
That's almost huge, man, you know?
Those darn tenths of a second, huh?
That guy's a dick.
Hey.
Hey, hey, there he is.
Wow, look at you all. Rolling deep, huh?
Rock Steady Crew. What's up?
Hey. You made it.
- Hey, bro. - What the fuck are you doing here?
- Keen to get into it. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm not sure, what do we do here?
Am I gonna get a lawsuit if I hug you or?
Maybe, wanna find out?
Okay.
Wow, you brought the whole gang, huh ?
Outmaneuvered me.
I'm solo, baby.
Are you guys scared to come talk without the village elders?
No.
We don't wanna outman you, bro.
- I'm just kidding. - Let's talk.
- But seriously... - Just us.
- Let's chat. - If you want...
Fuck him and his dude-bluff.
Thanks for coming out. Appreciate it.
I know it's not ideal.
Yeah, well, felt like our dad died yesterday.
It was a couple of days ago, so...
At least you didn't find him yourself, BMW still running.
- That shit can be traumatic. - Right, sure, sure.
No sorries for Lukas?
No, sure. I'm sorry. Sorry, man.
It's not a competition.
Saw that your little kicky ball team, they won a thing.
They did a win or something. Congrats on that.
Yeah, yeah, thank you. Good dossier.
You wanna know what I have on you?
Yeah.
- So, do you wanna... - Also, in terms of...
Relax, guys. It's just me, we can talk.
- All right? - Okay.
So what the fuck is this place?
Like the fucking 50K wedding mill for lawyers' daughters?
Bridal shots by the window?
I know, it's kind of bullshit, but it's also cool.
I don't give a fuck, honestly. But can we get into it?
I feel like I wanna say shit. Do you want me to wait?
Yeah, yeah, let's get into it.
We've come to say that we like your offer.
But we don't as yet think it reflects the full valuation
of the potential of what you're purchasing.
Okay.
And your stock dropped 20% on Friday?
- And regained 10 Monday. - Okay.
Logan was never gonna be part of the company going forward.
On a business sense, his absence is not relevant.
Our key growth drivers are unaffected by our father's passing.
The dip is the dip.
But I still feel like I'm going to the checkout during the sale
and getting asked to pay more.
Well, Lukas, if you were willing to pay 144 last week,
shareholders won't like...
Can I interrupt you right there?
I'd rather you didn't, but you already did, so...
I would like to propose an offer.
I wanna buy your entire operation
for the price of one...
... single dollar.
- I'm kidding. - That's really good.
That's funny. One single dollar.
Sorry. Your face...
But I do want ATN though.
Well, no, ATN's off the table, Dad carved it out.
Yeah, I'm not sure it makes sense and I want it back in.
- Why? - Why?
Why?
I feel like I don't have to say why, do I?
It's the original deal. We have the shape.
This can be fast, you can get the sugar that you came looking for.
- The price is what? - I don't think we're at price.
Like 187 per share.
50/50 cash-stock for the whole thing.
Are you gonna tell me what you think?
Yeah, yeah, sure.
All right, maybe you guys haven't done this before,
but how it usually works is, I say something
and then you say something.
- Cuz if you don't say anything... - Can I interrupt you and say fuck off?
Thanks for the pro tip.
We weren't expecting that,
and I'm not sure that that works.
It works.
Okay, yeah, well, we're not sure that it does work.
It works.
Do you maybe wanna check in with the boiled eggs out there?
Well, yeah, this is a material change, we need to...
Of course, of course, all that. 100%.
But do you like it?
Just between us.
You like it a little bit, don't you?
There's something there.
You don't have to answer, but maybe an indication?
Bit of bubbles?
I think we're just gonna take a beat, actually.
We're just gonna, yeah.
- We'll talk later. - Yeah.
Okay?
So fucking eager.
- We say, yeah? - Yeah, we say.
Hi, so the offer is 187,
but he wants ATN.
He's right there.
Okay, well, why don't you tuck your boner away, Karl?
- But he wants the deal? - Yeah, he wants the deal.
And I think he knows ATN is an emotive issue,
and he's being a fucking asshole.
Sure, sure, sure, but excellent news, gents.
- Excellent. - You effectively achieved a bump.
Yeah, we did amazing, we're amazing people.
So we take it to the board.
Well, first we have to run through it and make sure it works.
- Where's Shiv? - She went back down.
Okay. We will talk to her too.
Let's go do that.
Excellent.
You think he's just trying to fuck with us?
He actually wants ATN or is this a move
so that we have to subtract and he goes low?
Who cares, what do we want?
Well, we want to keep it, right?
We do dad's deal, keep ATN, we add PGN,
and you, me, and Shiv, you know, the Three Fuckateers.
So I just got a bad rumor in my ears.
Apparently ATN has an open line to Jeryd Mencken's campaign team
and they're just dialed in on editorial morning conference.
Did you know that?
I did not know that.
Rome, if this comes out, this blows any credibility.
- Yep. - It's not okay.
- Yeah. - Rome.
Yeah, I don't know, fucking Cyd. Cyd is in operational charge.
- It's a mutual back scratch. - Even Dad had a line.
Look, Shiv, we should get into that.
It's not okay.
But we do need to focus.
Big picture, we should discuss what do we think on ATN folded back in.
ATN back in?
Fuck, well then yeah, sure, fine, get rid of it.
It's a toxic asset.
It's also Dad's pride and joy he died trying to keep.
Let's just keep one of his old sweaters, less racist.
You know, there's leverage in not looking too thirsty.
He needs to know that if there's no deal, we're good, we survive, thrive.
But do we? Can we?
Well, Ken and I have been doing a pretty good job.
In the last 24 hours.
Price is stabilized, markets seem to like us.
Yeah, the markets like that you're selling to Matsson.
Well, Dad wanted to keep ATN.
Yeah, but he also wanted to poison Brezhnev
and hang Mandela, doesn't mean he's always right.
I think that overall, he wanted the deal, so...
Well, we don't know. We can't navigate by Dad maps.
- He's not here. - I know he's not here.
I have a giant hole in my heart and a 24 hour migraine.
I'm just saying, I don't think we know
would he have done the deal, would he not have done the deal?
You know what? Whatever. Let's get the deal done.
Okay, so we need to play this very delicately.
Laid before you is a chess board, so every move is crucial.
So what have you got?
Matsson, pretty cold.
When he's fucking randos, he does noise cancelling headphones.
Podcasts.
He just lies back, cans on, watches them slide the bean pole.
Okay. Well, I'm not sure how I'm gonna use that to my advantage.
And what about in terms of the cage fighting?
So some say Ebba, some say Oskar.
In terms of who's keeping the kill list.
So there is a kill list?
I have it on good authority. There's a kill list, yeah.
Like, eight, nine names. It's evolving.
Okay, I'm going in. Fuck it. I need profile.
But keep your eyes out, okay?
If I need a pawn sacrifice, I'm gonna give you the eyes. Okay?
Can I take a beer, please?
The bankers will give the number yellow light,
so that gives us room for maneuvers.
Okay.
What's up? What's the counter?
What?
Just saying, in case you guys wanna sling some ideas around.
Just within the safety of the quad.
- The quad? - Yeah, the quad squad.
The Roy Patrol, the old team, the family.
The fuck? Yeah, maybe you could get me a coffee or something.
Hey. Mind if I perch?
Sure, no problem.
Lukas, you remember we laughed. We were at Sun Valley.
We were mocking Sundar's cargo shorts, the creases.
Okay. Yeah.
Well, we were just discussing... Is France gonna make it?
Sorry, in terms of...
As in like, will France make it?
Birth rate, youth unemployment, sclerotic state,
fucking angry Arabs, all that.
Will they make it or will they pull a Greece?
Well, I think what you need to know about,
from a US news perspective, is that we really don't give a fuck.
US is late imperial and we don't know.
Because we don't really wanna know.
We have our own Paris and when it burns, we'll build another.
Wow, Tom.
I read a great article recently in The Economist about this.
Excuse me. "The Economist", s'il vous plait!
Tell us more. No, no, go on, go on, go on.
Yeah, just in terms of education and quality of life,
old lady France, fucking don't fucking bet against the old fucking...
The baguette might be mightier than the bagel.
Sorry. Who are you? I don't remember you from the list.
- Me? - Yeah.
Therein hangs a tale.
Greg Hirsch, Ory. Gregory Hirsch.
He's a cousin. He's Logan's nephew.
Wait, are you serious?
He's my cousin. He's good.
There's more of them.
Wait, are you all related? This is one big...
Did we end up at one of those incestuous family reunions?
Six-foot nine of pure nepotism. Inbred Hapsburg giant.
- Yeah, you agree? - Yeah, I do. I do actually.
Are you done? Maybe it's funnier with subtitles.
Sorry, man, sorry.
It's fine, I've seen enough of this shit.
But, yeah, you do what you like.
We're just passing time till you come up with a counter.
You wanna do this here?
All right.
- Thanks, Ken. - Yeah, give us a minute.
Okay, well...
I don't wanna preempt the board,
but my view, our view, it's not necessarily compelling.
We're running the numbers,
but we wanna explore options for us keeping ATN.
Okay, bad.
We just wanna hear you on price for dad's deal, no ATN.
You don't want ATN.
Okay, sure, but we kinda do.
You don't.
I've been talking to Oskar and we see a way back.
You see a way back?
Okay, wow, okay.
You see a way back for our phenomenally lucrative
and influential news operation?
You gonna save that? Thanks, bro.
It's fine, but the graph is horrible.
Well, look, honestly, we're concerned about the fit,
about your vision,
and with half our value coming in stock, 50/50 split,
we stand to lose a lot of value if you screw it up, so it's complicated.
It's not complicated, I've seen it.
It's a lot of yelling, small men, big veins.
Fat wallets.
Sure, but long term, I don't think news for angry old people works.
I don't, I would fold it in, fat pipe that shit,
make it more Bloomberg grey.
Simple, cheap, huge, Ikea'ed to fuck.
Dude, I gotta say,
I think maybe you don't understand what you're buying.
And maybe that's why there's a disconnect here on value.
Sure, lecture me, Vaulter guy.
Hey, took a big swing.
If you look at experiences, you look at the high ceiling on parks, cruises,
IP turboed residential from a trusted brand...
- Did you call it a trusted brand? - Yeah.
No, no, it's a parts shop.
Good parts, yes, bad brand.
Gotta say, I just think fundamentally you're wrong.
Yeah, well, I don't care what you think, you're a tribute band.
- We okay? - Yeah, we're okay.
I'm just trying to make you fucking rich.
Already rich.
Okay, well, on the offer, I think I am what I am what I am.
Okay, Popeye, we'll check in, take it back to the board, right?
Hate to see this break down.
Yeah, let's make it work.
All right, it's time, time for sauna.
Sauna, sauna, sauna! Come on!
My God!
Poor bastards.
Hanging in the window like Peking duck.
- Hey. - Hey.
Sorry about the shit weather here. Should have been here last week.
Yeah, well, everything was better last week.
So, Siobhan, this is Ebba, our head of comms.
Hey, hi.
Ebba's like an estrogen air freshener we keep around
to try to keep us smelling clean.
It's okay, I keep notes.
When I walk, it either goes in my book or they pay me off.
You'll never walk, you fucking love it.
I love it?
So how bad was this thing?
This, the majestic stag sparring with their memory foam hard-ons?
It was a breathtaking spectacle.
Listen, I like to fuck around.
I do, but I like to fuck around like psilocybin at breakfast.
When it comes to money, just say the fucking number.
Sure, so what am I, the messenger girl?
Is it there? The fucking deal.
Yeah, potentially.
It's potentially there.
What do you think? How does it feel?
Yeah, I don't know.
Not great, but also I guess that's the thing, right?
We're selling, it's like have we won or lost?
It's kind of hard to tell.
Because...
... I think I'd like to tank the deal.
Keep ATN?
I think tank the whole deal.
Like kill it, blow it up.
Well, that's quite the high risk. piece of fucking swords swallowing.
I like running the ship, I think we're good at it,
and I don't want to stop. I mean, do you?
Well, everyone wants the deal, it's dad's deal.
He's a bad fit.
You know it, he's a bad fit.
He doesn't get the company, and I think he's gonna fuck it.
We've seen him up close, and he's a card trick,
and he's gonna destroy everything dad built.
You wanna chew it with Shivy?
Yeah, I just think...
What?
Can Pinky dance?
I mean, no, obviously not, but...
You like it though?
Go from fucking weekend warriors to bossing full time?
It's dad's deal.
It just, it feels, fucking do the deal.
Finish his breakfast, you know. What do you think he would do?
- What do I think he would do? - Yeah.
Exactly whatever the fuck he wanted, right?
That's right.
Well, we have to make him walk, right?
- So that he thinks it's his call? - Yeah.
I mean, if the old guard smells that we're getting smart,
they're gonna shit their beans, go crying to the board,
and we're fucking toast.
It's a fucking tightrope walk on a straight razor.
500 foot reputational drop.
Okay, why is that making you smile? That shouldn't make you smile.
Who likes tightrope walking a straight razor, nut bag?
I just think it's fucking feel the force time.
Choose our adventure.
Full bore. Fuck the living shit out of this thing.
You with me?
Yeah, let's do it.
Let's tank it. Let's fucking do it.
All right.
I can find it hard to see the angles on people. You know?
Like I get into things
and then I don't have very good boundaries.
Like, I'm doing it now.
Okay, so I think a meaningful bump gets you over the line.
All right.
So you're saying if I keep offering more and more money,
eventually I'll get it.
- Thanks, top mind. - You got it.
What do you think of Ebba?
- I don't know. - Ebba is not good.
She's very, she won't let me in.
What's your Karolina like?
She's good. Yeah, she's solid.
- Here. - Sure.
Well, I might be in a bit of a pickle.
People are judging me.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Lots of judging.
So what's going on with your husband situation thing?
Well, we're fucked. It's a disaster.
I broke his heart and he broke mine.
And we lost our footing. I don't know.
Hey, I'm not gonna give you
the whole backstory and everything, but I was seeing this girl.
And after we broke up,
because of some things that we said when things were nice
and intense, a sort of a nasty, friendly joke
about what I shouldn't do.
I sent her some of my blood.
Okay...
Half a liter of frozen blood brick.
- As a joke. - Half a liter?
Yeah.
Well, I mean, obviously, first of all, good one.
Yeah.
Well, she got a bit weirded when I did that.
But I just kept doing it again and again and again.
And then it became not a joke, and then a joke again.
And now it's apparently not a joke.
Yeah.
Who is this?
It's Ebba.
Actually, it's Ebba. Yeah.
It's a complex situation.
But I'll just deny it, right?
I'll call bullshit and just lawyer it out.
Well, deniability is difficult given she has so much of your blood.
Man, your head of comms...
I don't know who you got advising you on this,
but whatever they're telling you, you gotta 10x it.
People don't know you, and if this acquisition goes through,
US media are gonna be all over you.
So if you're the creepy stalker guy who sits in the dark writing code,
dripping into an IV bag and harassing his direct reports,
it's gonna have an economic impact.
That's bad.
Well, three point PR plan just off the top of my head.
Point one, might be hard for you,
but stop sending people your blood.
And then catch and kill maybe, or just have a really open meeting.
Do not fire her.
Yeah, you know Gerri would be good on this.
And I can give you some informal advice if you like.
I would like that.
I would.
I like you. You're cool.
You're not judgy. You can take a joke.
I like that. Like your dad.
Yeah...
- Hey, Kenny! - Greg, hey.
Listen, I need some help.
Yeah, sure, what do you got for me?
I have a contact. They're gonna be calling you on this line.
Any additional context?
You're just telling a journalist the truth,
which is that nobody's getting along.
The two cultures don't mesh and the deal vibes are bad.
Okay, yeah, sour the vibes to give us juice in the room.
- Yeah, something like that. - Quad squad.
- It's quad squad type shit. - Yeah, you can do that?
Yeah.
Jess, I need you to liaise with their AV guy.
Set up a screening.
"Kalispitron: Hibernation" rough cut, 4K,
fucking giant screen, full three hours.
- For when? - Tomorrow morning.
Sure, yeah.
Killing off GoJo members, one by one like Kalispitron.
Hey! Hey, you seen this?
Nasty little piece about out here, no one getting along, bad vibes.
You know where this is coming from?
Shiv...
Them, I'm sure.
They're probably trying to put the squeeze on you.
You were getting pretty close to Lukas last night.
Yeah, you jealous?
Just working the case, looking for angles.
Right, you get anything we can use?
- Where you going? - Yeah, I'm gonna go back.
It's so intriguing.
I mean, honestly, no, I think he wants ATN for real
and he's gonna go high to get it.
So what's the plan?
Up on the ridge, crunch time.
Okay, pitch is we retain ATN and we'll bite at 146,
or he takes ATN, but we need a crazy premium.
- Good? - Yeah, very good.
- Good, great. - Let's take it to the ridge.
Rock it! Rock it, fellas!
Shut up.
- Hey. - Hey.
What are you hearing?
I hear that Jimenez thinks he's gonna be tap dancing across...
You know, you should be careful, Tom.
Why?
Cuz people are coming down from molly
and their pupils are dilated.
And your shoes are like looking at the sun.
No, they're dangerous.
What are you doing?
I'm helping you, Tom.
This is why people don't take you seriously,
cuz your shoes are so fucking white.
Your earlobes are thick and chewy.
- What the fuck? - Yeah, like barnacle meat.
How was your little chat with Lukas?
Good. I mean, he's boring, but he's very conventionally attractive.
He's broad.
I used to think you were broad,
but, compared to him, you're wiry.
You're like a fucking spelunker.
Jesus fucking Christ! Goddammit!
What?
Connor, dad, but it's not dad. Fucking sent the picture.
Jesus Christ!
- I'm sorry. - Yeah.
Do you wanna see it?
No, I don't.
Is it okay?
No. Yeah, it's fine. It's not, it's just... Fuck!
Sending out cool tweets?
- Hey. - Hi.
People are fucking tiny, right?
Not us.
So thanks for the link. I saw the movie.
Yeah, no worries. You know, it's early cut.
Still some work, but we're excited.
- It's the big one. - Yeah?
Yeah. I mean, it needs to be strategically.
You know, a few issues, but exciting.
Everything is fine is the headline.
I feel like there's a but.
Yeah. I mean, yeah.
The first two hours of the movie is a sleeping robot,
but we can fix it. We got control of the cut.
But the low down is that it's spiraling
and tomorrow or soon there's gonna be a press thing
about it being in crisis or whatever, something like that.
You know, Hollywood's always in fucking crisis, right?
Yeah, right, right. But it's a big one, huh?
Yeah, fucking LA studio is out of control.
It's cultural issues, but it's cool. The fix is easy.
We only flag it so you know we're not hiding.
Appreciate that, thanks.
Hey, guys.
Are you for real?
- What? - The movie.
What about these fucking press stories?
Are you Scooby Doo-ing me here?
Is that where you went?
Hanna-Barbera fucking business school?
You tell me the theme parks are haunted.
Your big movie is shitty. Are you tanking the deal?
No, man. We're just being open.
Look, on our models and the bank's models,
I think there needs to be more value for the board to get conviction on this.
Right, the banks. Of course.
Also the pace.
You know, we might need to slow it down a little. It's a behemoth.
Slow it down a bit.
And we got the election coming up, and then there'll be the transition.
And we have relationships, so, you know, in terms of regulatory issues...
I preferred doing this with your dad.
He was a prick, but at least he knew what he wanted.
Pedant's corner. Our dad was not a prick, okay?
Sure, but he was.
There are just some issues, is the honest truth,
fucking streamers, studio news, it seems a lot.
I need to make this happen fast.
Totally.
We're committed, but it's a long distance run.
It's not a sprint.
I think he'd be embarrassed if he saw you two now.
His two big boys playing Scooby-Doos.
Am I gonna have to go around you? Talk directly to the board?
Talk to the old ones?
Unbelievable.
- Rome? - Yeah.
Hey, I was just thinking...
Do you remember when you asked when my dad was gonna die?
Yeah, that was a joke, Roman.
You really couldn't push this a week, could you?
There was no part of you that could just be like,
hey, let's reschedule and move this cause their dad just died.
My sister's kinda, she's fucked up about it
and her brother's a mess and I'm gone.
I'm on the fucking, I'm dead. It's over for me.
It's okay, it's fine.
But you just drag us out here, you inhuman fucking dog man.
- Crazy... - Easy, brother.
You fucking killed him too. You're the one who did it.
You did. You drained the life out of him.
You dragged this thing out for six fucking months
and then you bring us out here now. You couldn't wait like a few days.
You actually couldn't do that for us. No idea, huh?
God!
- This is good. - Shut the fuck up, man.
We're not selling to you, okay? We're not doing that.
We are gonna grind you down, man. We are sanding the gears.
Every email's gonna take like six months.
We're all gonna spend hundreds of millions of dollars and in the end,
you're gonna get fucking bored and move on.
It's not happening, okay?
- Really? - Yeah.
Yeah, I fucking hate you.
And if you tell the board I said any of this,
I'm just gonna say it was a negotiating tactic.
And you know what? Maybe it is, but it's not.
- So fuck you! - Wait, wait.
- You just fucked yourself. - Did I?
- Good. - Really?
Did you hear what little brother said?
- Did you hear it? - Was that clear?
You know, it's a negotiating tactic, you stupid cunt.
- All right. - It is.
You piece of shit!
You heard that, right?
It wasn't the plan, but maybe it plays.
If a deal collapses in the woods and no one hears it,
is it an SEC violation?
I feel like he looks solemn.
Maybe danger, maybe no deal.
No, no, Ken's unreadable.
It's Roman you want to eyeball. I think they got it over the line.
You.
How are you? Thanks for calling.
Hey, it's Matsson.
- Matsson? - Yep, yep.
Okay.
Well, thank you.
I'd be glad to pass that message along.
Would you like to speak to one of them yourself?
No.
Revised offer, 192.
5 dollar bump, okay!
- He really wanted ATN. - Hey, it's a home run, boys.
- Hail the conquering heroes. - Your dad would be really proud.
- You're welcome. - 192, amazing.
Very good. Excellent.
Let's run the numbers and take it to the board. Shall we?
Good, good, yeah, terrific.
192, it's undeniable.
192.
We came, we saw, we pillaged. We raided the Vikings.
Are you kidding me?
- Great job, guys. - Thanks.
Thanks, Jess.
So there's apparently a deal.
- Deal? - Yeah, Matsson takes ATN.
Whole caboodle.
Okay.
Come on, Tom, you can be happy. It's the great escape.
Well, we'll see.
Yeah, we're looking at some moves at ATN.
I'm not happy.
Okay, you're really gonna do this?
Yeah.
Cyd's getting too close to Mencken.
She's a little bit power crazed post-dad,
so she's gotta go.
You think?
Yeah, you wanna let her know?
Sure, yeah.
Don't get an erection, Tom. It's weird.
You wanna get dinner when we get back?
- Well, I don't know. - Hang on.
Important call.
- Hey. - Are you with your brothers?
Can you send me a photo of their faces?
Yeah, sure.
Congrats, congrats, congrats!
What's going on there? What is that?
Is that the kill list? It is, isn't it?
Yeah, yes, it is.
Early draft, GoJo finance list of potential severance costs.
It's highly provisional, it's caveated, it's subject to change.
It would just be an interpretation.
Come on, Gerri, don't leave us hanging.
- Who's on it? - Okay, if you insist.
In seemingly no particular order,
just potentially surplus to requirements are Ray...
God fucking damn it!
- Mark. - Shit!
- Hugo. - That slalom motherfucker!
- Frank. - Naturally, it's just speculation.
Karl.
Let the good times roll.
Wait, what about Karolina?
She's not on the list, so retained.
- Retained? - And you? Congratulations.
- Also not on the list. - Tom, what about Tom?
Tom must be on the list.
- Oh my God. - I don't see him.
Great fucking trip, highly fucking productive.
So much for being raised by wolves.
- Congratulations, you guys! - Nothing to it.
- 192. - You did it.