Industry

(OVER INTERCOM) Look, as much as I love spending

these calls ducking and weaving,

I'm not sure why I'm getting such a grilling

from the bank that brought us to market.

Henry, it's Frank Wade,

Pierpoint Equity Research.

I need to publish a buy-sell recommendation

by the end of the week.

And the eight-percent fall in share price

means the market is finally waking up to the fundamentals.

But, of course, there's always...

Lumi is still the future of the sector.

I... I've been invited to speak

at the Global Climate Conference this week.

Our panel is going to be a positive catalyst

for the stock, and it will rally.

Do drop in if you're in Bern.

Don't worry, I'll be there.

- Um, but... - (SIGHS)

...getting back to business...

Why is that in-house analyst being so confrontational

about a stock that he's supposed to support?

...have you modeled any spike in gas prices?

What would that do to your suppressed price point?

I've bought more stock since the lock-up period

ended a few days ago.

You don't get more of a bullish signal from a CEO than that.

Frank doesn't sound like a guy who's publishing a buy.

The equity story is just getting worse and worse.

And is it normal for there to be, like, 20 analysts

and a thousand investors on one call like this?

Either it's still a hot story or they're rubbernecking.

Look, Pierpoint publishing a research report on Lumi

at the climate conference could be a disaster.

Adler's on that climate panel with Henry.

With all the chatter on Lumi,

I've no idea how he intends to fight that fire.

Look at our numbers.

We've had record subscriber growth.

That is the key metric for our business. Sub-growth.

We continue to drive new users.

Do you think you could get me a membership at Koko House?

It's not a very hedge-fund... - Um...

- ...friendly community... - Why did you book me coach?

Uh, short haul,

lower carbon footprint in the back.

Hmm. Well, this conference needs to go well

after that shitty Lumi earnings call.

How's my diary looking?

After the Lumi panel... - (KEYBOARD CLACKING)

...you have a sit-down

with the Qatar Investment Authorities,

and Carlyle's ESG arm

just got back to me. So, fully stacked.

Hmm! Harder to get a res with me than Carbone.

Cheers.

Anna hates that phrase...

Has Anna broached

a contract renegotiation with you personally?

No. Why?

Her lawyer contacted me direct.

She's offering a re-up. A five-year deal.

As your counsel, this looks a lot like

one of those "Rokos-Howard golden handcuff" situations.

It's a lot of money...

But if I sign and if I'm bid away, or I decide

to breach my contract, Anna lays claim to what?

Five, ten percent of my future earnings

- for what? - Twenty percent for five years.

- That feels spiteful. - I totally agree.

She's also added something called a philosophy clause.

Come again?

To protect the philosophy of the fund,

she wants sign-off on any trade

- you execute in any size... - Fucking cunt!

Apologies, that was... ...beneath me.

So, I'm not allowed to have my own ideas here,

but if I leave and have my own ideas,

she wants the money I make from them.

Have you got other offers on the table?

Your current deal has a pretty iron-clad non-compete.

If you so much as blink at a competitor,

this year's comp becomes fully at Anna's discretion.

What if I become the competitor?

Well...

you'll leave a lot of money on the table today.

Or you can roll the dice on your talent, maybe.

Okay.

Say we're at the negotiation table,

make it look like we're interested.

- What will that buy us? - Maybe a few days.

FutureDawn has become a cult of personality.

It's not about the best idea, it's about pleasing Mother.

All she wants to do is sit on another fucking panel

and act like an omniscient moral barometer.

I'm not going to sit here and outperform

while the fund underperforms and collects passive fees

from investors for being politically correct.

Well, then maybe...

her offer just simply expedites your decision?

Would you come with me?

In what capacity?

Jerry Maguire's goldfish?

you like life behind your screens.

You're not a fundraiser.

I can help you sell fund.

You use your salesman's voice to pitch me as a newfangled

equity long-short with macro-overlay.

- Sell my ideas. - Yeah.

But I back your intellect. So, you back mine,

we test the views together and we back it.

Okay.

But we don't hand-wring, or moralize or equivocate.

You put on the ideas that you think

will make money tomorrow. That's your mandate.

How far along were your other conversations?

Were they like a jump-off for seed capital?

Very embryonic.

How much do we need?

So that banks will take us seriously enough to cover us

and give us research and trading lines?

Three hundred million dollars.

- (SOFTLY) Shit. - You have Anna's schedule at COP, right?

Yeah.

She is hunting some serious ESG heavy hitters, like,

sovereign wealth funds, asset managers,

very deep pockets.

When are they meeting?

Tomorrow afternoon, after her panel.

Why don't we check if they're morning people?

See if we can get them to join our cause

and swipe them from under Anna's nose

before she's hoovered down

that inedible continental breakfast.

These are, like, flagship ESG vehicles.

They're going to a climate conference.

I bet I can prove returns trump ideology.

You ready to sell this idea?

What flight are we on?

Fuck yeah.

As you know, Bill Adler was meant to be

on that Finance and the Climate Crisis panel

with Lumi and FutureDawn partners.

I want you to go instead.

Adler is taking some family time in Europe.

Lumi just had a pretty rocky earnings call.

Well, everyone is pointing fingers

about how this has been mismanaged.

Who are you pointing fingers at?

All anyone's talking about in the advisory world

is that we may have overvalued Lumi.

And now all the other companies in our ESG pipeline

are wondering whether we're the right bank

to take them public. Europa Gaz is up next.

Am I right to be concerned about our ESG pivot?

Someone of Adler's level dropping out this soon

after the shitshow IPO is very bad PR,

and it is making Europa even more nervous.

This panel is critical

to displaying an air of competency to our clients.

I need you to sit next to the CEO of Lumi

and make it seem like the process

was hugely beneficial to all parties.

- You want me to oversell it? - Well, that's your job.

I assume you're fluent enough

in the Lumi story to step into the void?

I've got someone in my team very close to the CEO

who could brief me.

Good. You know, when you make partner,

they make it seem like you're at the top of the ladder.

But you're actually just at the bottom of a new one.

No! COP is a conference for business interests

hiding behind climate change.

But there's loads of scientists there.

- Well, I don't understand. How... - It... it has nothing

- to do with science. It's not about science.

Climate change isn't about science?

I don't wanna be that guy, all right?

But at this point, the only solution

to climate change is a financial one.

Well, both my bosses and I are going.

Although, I think one of them is more attuned

to the whiff of bullshit

- coming off of it. - (LAUGHS)

Yeah, Eric wants me to brief him

for the panel on the flight over.

Everyone seems to think that Lumi and Pierpoint's panel

at the climate conference is make or break

for the Lumi share price.

What?

- What, cause I'm not capable? - No. (CHUCKLES)

No, it's Eric's asked me to go as well.

You could have told one of us.

How many buzzwords and pieties can people use

to dress up the hunt for cash?

- (CHUCKLES) Yeah, my mate, Gus... - (INDISTINCT CHEERING)

...is in Palo Alto working for a VC

called Decarbonization Ventures.

All right, all right, I've gotta go and tutor an eight-year-old

with more expensive clothes than me.