Andy stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of Lehman's CEO's office, looking out at the dark and gloomy night sky, looking down at the array of reporters from various TV stations and major media outlets around the world lined up on the street opposite downstairs.

"Al, do you like it here?"

"Not bad... ”

Andy looked back at Al, who was drinking coffee on the side, and said, "Then, this building will be used as the headquarters of Gaia Company in the future." ”

。。。。。。

At 8 p.m. on September 14, 2008, Lehman was finally pushed to the precipice of bankruptcy. The directors waiting in the conference room of Lehman's headquarters all fell silent at the moment, and Forder, who was sitting in the main seat, looked around with a dejected expression.

"I did everything I had to do, I put down all my self-esteem and called everyone who could be a savior, hehe, believe it, almost no one wanted to answer my call... ”

"Damn it! he's a robbery! shameless bandit... One of the board members cursed angrily with a black face.

"I agree with Andy Smith's acquisition, don't look at me like that, is there any other way to get back to the point where it is? It's more important than anything else to recover the loss, guys, look outside, almost everyone is waiting for us to fall, and then flock to eat our wealth, what are you waiting for... ”

"Jingle bell—"

At this moment, the telephone in the middle of the conference table rang, and everyone, including Fold, changed their faces abruptly, and the atmosphere in the conference room became even more oppressive.

"Good evening, Mr. Forder, I am Christopher Cox, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission... ”

At this time, Christopher Cox, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, also had an extremely ugly face, and almost cursed the US Treasury Secretary who forced him to make this call with the most vicious curse in his heart.

Originally, according to the regulatory framework in the United States, the SEC was the main regulator of Lehman Brothers, a listed company. However, with regard to the risks accumulated by Lehman, the SEC has clearly failed to fulfill its regulatory responsibilities. Paulson was very unhappy with Cox, and he was marginalized by Paulson and Bernanke during the subsequent government interventions.

Cox was very reluctant to make the call. Because Lehman is not a private enterprise after all, if it cannot operate, it will automatically declare bankruptcy according to normal procedures, and it is very rare for government regulators to take the initiative to pressure a certain enterprise to go bankrupt.

I thought that I had asked Paulson and New York Fed President Geithner to announce it together, but Paulson refused. In response to that sentence, the official level crushed people to death, and under Paulson's high pressure, Cox had to announce the bad news alone.

His call was from the New York Fed, and the sound quality was somewhat noisy.

Cox's voice was a little hoarse, and he announced to the Lehman Brothers board of directors helplessly: "I will not tell you how to do it, I can only tell you that the decision must be made quickly." ”

There was a dead silence in the Lehman room, except for the sound of heavy breathing, when Cox's voice continued from the phone: "This is a grim time, and the board has a big choice to make. ”

At this time, someone in the conference room finally lost his breath in anger and let out a sneer like a night owl, and John, the director of Lehman Brothers, knowingly asked, "Are you instructing us that we should file for bankruptcy?"

Cox fell silent, and there was silence on both ends of the phone.

After a while, Cox's voice came word by word on the phone: "You have a great responsibility for the current situation, and you need to act on the opportunity." ”

Di Di 。。。。。。

The dead silence of the conference room was only the screeching hustle of busyness, and the directors of Lehman Brothers leaned back in their chairs in despair, not knowing what to say, and the results of the resolutions of the Lehman Brothers board of directors below had no real meaning. Exhausted, Forde leaned back in his chair and said dejectedly, "I think this is the farewell." ”

Bang!

"Sell! Sell to Andy Smith! Sell him whatever he wants! The vultures on Wall Street have begun to hover over us, and they will laugh at us while dividing up the still warm corpse of Lehman Brothers, even if they die, they will not let them succeed!"

"Agreed!"

"I agree!"

。。。。。。

The whole conference room was full of excitement, and almost everyone was gritting their teeth and roaring hideously.

Click-

The CEO's office was slammed open, and Andy, who was sitting on the sofa, watched a large group of board members led by Forde hula rush in, and Andy, who was smiling, stood up and began to shake hands with Al and the other party.

"You've won!" said Foul as he looked at Andy with a complicated expression and a hoarse voice.

"No, we're a win-win! you can get the money and keep going... Andy smiled and comforted himself with words he didn't believe.

"There's no more time for them to ask us ... There is no point in saying this, all the directors are here today, so let's start trading!" Foul shook his head and said in a sad tone.

Whew-

Andy exhaled a heavy breath in his heart, glanced back at Al with some excitement in his heart, suppressed his excited expression and said, "Let our people come up!"

Al's eyes shone sharply, nodded slightly, took out his mobile phone and dialed it。。。。。。

Gloomy hangs over Wall Street. At 10:30 p.m., at the entrance of Lehman Brothers' headquarters in Manhattan, some employees walked out of the building with cardboard boxes, large handbags and even trolley suitcases, some with umbrellas and crafts emblazoned with Lehman Brothers. The police used the fence to maintain order and traffic around the perimeter, and across the building, there was a line of reporters from major American television stations broadcasting live.

"Look, someone is coming out ... It's Chadfold... ”

"Oh my God, who did I see, it was Andy Smith... ”

"God, they're rushing here, is it possible that the peak has turned around... ”

。。。。。。

The group of reporters on the opposite side of the road suddenly moved, the flash lights suddenly dispersed the night, Andy and Forder, who walked side by side to the group of reporters, were shrouded in a curtain of light, and the police, Lehman security, and bodyguards began to isolate the entire area as if they were facing a great enemy, and the passers-by who watched the bustle and the depressed Lehman employees all gathered around.

In the night, the area in front of the Lehman Building was illuminated as if it was daylight, crowded with people, and the scene was unusually quiet, even the reporters who liked to talk indiscriminately remained quiet at this moment, focusing their eyes on Andy and Forde in the field.

"Two hours ago, we closed a deal with Mr. Smith to sell Lehman's New York headquarters, two data centers in the U.S., and our core business units in North America and Europe to Gaia Investment Advisors... ”

Buzz –

The audience was in an uproar, the reporters widened their eyes one by one, their expressions were excited and they wanted to poke the microphone in the faces of the two, and they struggled to restrain the questions they wanted to ask, waiting for the two to continue to reveal more information.

Andy glanced at Forde, who didn't want to say anything more, and knew that it was time for him to appear, and with a calm smile on his face, he took a small step forward slightly, and calmly spoke in front of everyone on the scene and all the American people in front of the TV sets that followed the news of Lehman's bankruptcy.

"When I learned about 1 p.m. today that the British had abandoned the acquisition of Lehman at the last minute, and were kindly asking, 'What will the U.S. government do if Lehman Brothers fall?'

As I left the Fed Tower, I saw the desperation on everyone's face. They fought to the death all weekend and I felt sorry for them.

Back at home, I couldn't calm down, and a wave of fear suddenly came over me at the thought of the winds and waves that were coming. If Lehman were to die in name, Wall Street's problems could spiral out of control.

As the U.S. sinks deeper and deeper into the quagmire of recession, the collapse of any large financial institution would trigger a catastrophic ripple effect – far beyond our control...

。。。 I told myself that I had to do something, even if it was something I could, to try to stop the terrible catastrophe from coming sooner, and although it was only a drop in the bucket, I did my best. ”

Andy said with emotion, ignoring Foul's strange expression that was about to vomit, but looked at him and said, "Chard, don't thank me, in the end, good luck to you, God bless you, God bless America!"

Regardless of Falder's expression of eagerness to bite him to death, he gave him a hug, then turned around and walked away quickly, not paying attention to the group of reporters who had exploded behind him, and the noisy sound resounded throughout the scene.