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SternTao goes to Accra

Perhaps the most painful and disturbing episode of Industry yet, this episode asks uncomfortable questions about the way easy access --- whether it be to high finance, drugs, or illicit content online --- reduces human experience to abstraction in a way that causes us all to be disassociated from our own lives. We see shifts in power in the C-suite at Tender that transform our triangles of love and control. Yasmin's position becomes nominally elevated, and she advocates for Hayley's promotion, but is ultimately left wondering who's manipulating whom in their relationship. And while she thought she was at the head of the love triangle with Hayley and Henry, we start to suspect that the real love triangle exists instead between the Mucks and Whitney, with Whitney at the helm. Whitney has also figured out how to maneuver Henry into effectively doing his bidding, helping him successfully navigate the launch of Tender's new app. Also, Pierpoint is back, and we get into the finer points of convertible bond issuance vs. "cocos". Finally, we see the paths of Jim Dycker and Rishi take a dark turn and ultimately collide. An off-the-cuff remark made by Dycker in the opening seconds about philosopher Soren Kierkegaard comes home to roost as these characters confront dark truths about themselves, culminating in a "leap of faith" that leaves us all hanging on the edge of our seats.

We are BACK with one of the most dense, finance-forward, darkly entertaining episodes of Industry YET. With a title that evokes the theme of belongings, this episode is all about who belongs in which rooms, who belongs to whom when it comes to control, and what are our characters willing to sacrifice to ultimately get what they want. We see Eric and Harper's short-only hedge fund struggling to get enough investor buy-in to get off the ground. As Jim Dycker prepares to publish his allegations about Tender’s murky payments business, the episode leans hard into the real risks of short-selling; being right doesn’t matter unless you have timing, proof, and a story the market believes. We unpack the real history of infamous shorts gone awry with the Ackman/Icahn battle over Herbalife in a mini-history lesson you won't want to miss. But just as much as Harper wants money coming through the doors, she struggles to open up to Eric and Kwabena, both of whom seek closeness on a personal AND professional level. Will Harper ever be able to actually let anyone in? Perhaps Sweetpea, with her mutual love of ethically questionable investigations, is her only true soulmate. Meanwhile, Tender seeks to acquire an Austrian bank in order to backdoor a European banking license, and the C-suite is forced to confront a bad actor with fascist sympathies. Yasmin takes control of Henry, pushing him to weaponize his trauma, managing regulators through political and media pressure, and inserting herself into rooms where she clearly doesn’t “belong.” In Vienna, what looks like a merger charm offensive veers into something darker, both for the company and Yasmin & Henry's marriage. This is where the title’s meaning lands with a punch. In the world of Industry, money, morals, and people themselves have become possessions that can be claimed, traded, and taken away.

Henry Muck is going to be a key character in Season 4, and this episode gives us a much richer picture of who he actually is. In an unexpectedly cinematic, poetic installment that departs from our typical finance-driven fare, this episode plays like a haunting (both literal and emotional) centered around his character.  We fill in the missing backstory of Henry and Yas' early engagement, marriage, and his failed attempt to get a political career off the ground. But the mood shifts from public failure to private collapse, as Henry descends into an infantilized state of drug dependence and depression. Yasmin is thrust into the role of caretaker against her will, and we see their relationship framed in a new light, one that ultimately culminates in an epic confrontation. Both Yas and Henry are forced to confront the ghosts of their past: Henry's being the emotional inheritance of his father's suicide, and Yas being the twisted inheritance of her father and his sexual deviance. Will Yas be able to pull Henry out of his darkness by orchestrating a lifeline through a job at Tender? Or will Henry succumb to his genetic inheritance and take his own life? And will something better be born out of this union? Or is their union in fact going to birth something upon the world?  Make sure you follow our NEW, DEDICATED YouTube channel where all of our Industry companion content will live!  Head over to https://www.youtube.com/@HBOIndustryPodcast and hit subscribe now!

We're back in action with our full deep dive into the season premiere, "PayPal of Bukkake". We're introducing the star-studded lineup of new characters, exploring what seems to be an American Psycho thread running throughout the episode, and orienting ourselves within the new power structure within the world of "Industry" over a year after the demise of Pierpoint. Not only have the power dynamics shifted considerably amongst our returning stars, but we're shifting our focus away from high finance to fintech.  We try to sleuth out the real-life fintech scandals upon which the episode may or may not be based, explain the mechanics of gating and redemptions at hedge funds, and tie together the real world legislation that is driving some of the show's key plot points. Along the way, we explore the episodes themes of fetishization, consent, agency, and power. Above all, we are confronted with the collapse of a founder friendship that feels like a reflection on the difficult creative decisions undertaken to drive the show in a new direction.  We find ourselves with more questions than answers, a sense of a predator (or predators!) in our midst, and set the tone for a much more dangerous and ambitious season to come. 

We’re recording from New York City, fresh off one of the most surreal weeks of our lives — attending the Season 4 premiere of HBO’s Industry,  interviewing the cast and creators on the red carpet, and watching the episode in a packed theater alongside the people who made it.In this episode, we share what it was like to meet the writers and actors behind Industry, why this show has become our ultimate passion project, and how analyzing every line has changed the way we think about finance, literature, ambition, identity, and work. We talk about the warmth and generosity of the cast, the shock (and humor) of seeing the premiere with a live audience, and why Industry is so much more than a finance show.We also give first reactions to the Season 4 premiere, including early themes around power, betrayal, regulation, hedge funds, identity, and the cost of building something meaningful. From Harper’s evolution to Eric’s return, from fintech chaos to personal ambition, this episode sets the stage for what promises to be a huge season.This is a teaser episode — we’ll be dropping full, line-by-line breakdowns every week immediately after each episode airs, plus more interviews and behind-the-scenes conversations.Thank you for supporting this wild passion project. We’re just getting started.

We are recording LIVE from New York City, just hours before interviewing the cast and creators on the red carpet of the Season 4 premiere! And we're recapping what might just be the best television finale of all time...for a series that is NOWHERE near finished! In this episode, we find our characters in the aftermath of Al-Miraj's last minute rescue of Pierpoint, as they all come face to face with the consequences of their decisions. While Pierpoint the institution we came to know, love, and fear may no longer exist, has the "institution" writ large still survived intact?  Has Yasmin transcended a life of material comfort and social status to take a flier on Robert and the proverbial lotto ticket of his startup venture? Or will she ultimately end up wedded to the same patriarchy that has abused her for as long as she can remember?  And will Harper be able to find happiness at the helm of a hedge fund full of peers who respect and cherish one another? Or is she still the ruthless "psychopath" Eric threw to the wolves at the end of last season?  Is there any room for generosity at all in the cutthroat world of high finance? Or is the idea of "infinite largesse" incompatible with the world we've built here? Get all caught up ahead of the Season 4 premiere, which we can't wait to share our initial thoughts on the moment the episode airs!

We started our careers at the epicenter of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008: the trading floor Lehman Brothers and the CDO Structuring desk at Morgan Stanley. And now, we get to watch our favorite characters reenacting all the drama of the Lehman bankruptcy through the lens of Industry.   We dissect the chaotic "war room" dynamics as executive leadership scrambles for a lifeline, debating the merits of a strategic capital injection from Mitsubishi (mirroring the real-life rescue of Morgan Stanley) versus a total buyout by Barclays (the ultimate fate of Lehman). We explain the critical financial concepts at play, including the mechanics of "good bank/bad bank" splits, dispelling common myths about how government "bailouts" actually worked, and the reality of liquidity crises where "too big to fail" meets "moral hazard." All of our characters' ambitions and come to a head as they jockey for power and profit with everything on the line. Who will emerge victorious from the boardroom coup? How did a financial error end up in the pitch deck? Who is stabbing whom in the back? And who will ultimately be our useful idiot? This is an exceptionally technical recap, and we explain topics like counterparty credit risk, employee stock options, insider trading, and converts...as well as a detailed blow by blow of the real events underlying one of Industry's all time best episodes!!!

In this episode, we see that friendship and loathing truly are two sides of the same coin. While everything is collapsing for Eric and Yasmin personally, professionally, and morally, Harper is finally ascending into her full power --- at both of their expense. We finally learn what really happened to Yasmin's dad, drawing uncomfortable parallels to chilling real-world headlines. And speaking of real-world headlines, Pierpoint's descent evokes the ghosts of Lehman Brothers and the 2008 global financial crisis. Harper's emergence as the architect of a potentially catastrophic short of the bank's stock shatters the fragile friendship between her and Yasmin. And Eric's failures to be a proper father figure to the "women in his life" help force the central question of the episode: are these characters in fact becoming the worst things they fear about themselves? Or were these monsters always lurking beneath the surface, waiting for their moment to strike? It isn't all steak and martinis...get caught up on your favorite show with us before Season 4 drops in January!

A public inquiry into Lumi’s £2bn government bailout exposes Pierpoint’s role in the disastrous IPO, where Robert is sent to testify in front of a UK select committee. The episode lays bare how firms protect themselves in crises: lawyers serve the institution, not employees, and blame is carefully redirected toward anyone expendable enough to absorb the fallout. The real financial bombshell, however, happens quietly back on the trading floor. Sweetpea's risk model shows that Pierpoint’s entire IPO pipeline is collapsing amid an ESG downturn is actually far worse than anticipated due to prop bets the company took to invest in ESG companies using large tranches of debt that are now coming due. We get into whether this is allowed post–financial crisis (short answer no) BUT the show isn't wrong that this is what people have been worried about in "private credit" now that banks can no longer make these prop bets. The episode positions Pierpoint as something far more fragile than it appears — an institution facing a potential Lehman-style reckoning not from reckless traders (see the prior episode), but from bad investments made by Pierpoint iteself. “Company Man” may be light on deal mechanics, but it sets the stage for the next episode which is arguably one of our favroites. 

In this episode we discuss Season 3, Episode 4: "White Mischief", one of the strongest (and darkest) episodes of the series thus far.   What starts as a Christmas episode turns into a brutal examination of luck, power, and the lies we tell ourselves and others. At the end of the day, this episode forces the question: is all trading gambling? If not, what's the difference?  At the center is Rishi, running rogue risk around a fictionalized portrayal of Liz Truss' brief (yet calamitous) stint as PM. Rishi is facing both a Sterling crisis and a private gambling addiction that has him massively indebted to loan sharks. As the markets spin out, the episode draws sharp parallels between trading and gambling, confidence and recklessness, and asks an uncomfortable question about whether the system can tell the difference between skill and luck...and if it even cares to. We also dig into the real-world economic backdrop that inspired the episode, the meaning behind the title “White Mischief,” and why this hour says far more about modern Britain, masculinity, and institutional power than it does about markets alone. It’s an episode about winning without learning, consequences that vanish when money is made, and a cycle that feels impossible to break. Our Investment Banking and Private Equity Foundations course is LIVE now with our M&A course included! Shop our LIBRARY of Self Paced Online Courses HERE Join the Fixed Income Sales and Trading waitlist HERE Our content is for informational purposes only. You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Join Morgan Stanley alums Jen and Kristen as we decode the finance behind Industry Season 3, Episode 3, "It" which takes place at the COP conference in Switzerland. We break down the aftermath of the IPO and why pressuring a research analyst for a buy rating isn't just frowned upon—it’s illegal. We also analyze the mechanics of Petra and Harper’s attempt to launch their non new ESG fund at a climate conference, and why Harper’s calling herself a former "trader" rather than a salesperson is was so interesting. This episode is also a hedge fund goldmine. We geek out on the famous "golden handcuffs" war between Chris Rocos and Alan Howard (Brevin Howard), explaining how non-competes actually work on the buy-side and what it takes to spin out and launch a rival fund. We also dissect the brilliant, layered writing around the COP climate conference, analyzing the show’s sharp critique of ESG hypocrisy and the difference between greenwashing vs. savvy investors actually making real money Beyond the finance, we dig into the psychological horror of the episode—from Eric’s glitter-covered spiral into a midlife crisis to the trauma-bonding between Yasmin and Henry Muck (Game of Thrones' Jon Snow). We discuss the reality of IPO lockup periods, the dynamics between banking / sales and trading and research. Jen also gets to put that Princeton English degree to work helping us explore the literary references to King Lear and Leviathan that foreshadow the power struggle between Harper, Petra, and Otto Mostyn. Finally, we debate the double meaning of the episode title "It"—is it a reference to Stephen King horror, or simply who has the "It factor" to survive on Wall Street? Our Investment Banking and Private Equity Foundations course is LIVE now with our M&A course included! Shop our LIBRARY of Self Paced Online Courses HERE Join the Fixed Income Sales and Trading waitlist HERE Our content is for informational purposes only. You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

In this episode of the Unofficial Companion Podcast to HBO Max's hit show Industry, hosts Jen and Kristen—both former investment bankers and teachers—dive deep into the financial intricacies and dramatic moments of Season 3, Episode 2 titled 'Smoke and Mirrors.'  They kick off the discussion by analyzing the thematic significance of 'Smoke and Mirrors,' tying it to both magic tricks and the episode's plot centered around deception and storytelling in the finance world. They recount how the episode unfolds at the London Stock Exchange with the IPO of Henry Muck's green energy company, Lummi, caught in a frenzy due to a sudden power outage and the ensuing chaos on the trading floor at Peerpoint. The hosts compare this fictional IPO with real-life events such as the Facebook IPO disaster, adding valuable insights into IPO procedures, trading mechanisms, and the role of investment banks in supporting stock prices post-IPO. They explore the role of underwriters, the use of green shoes, and the pivotal decision-making and risk management during high-stakes trading situations.  The hosts also bring forth significant comparisons with real-world financial scenarios, making this episode not just a recap but an enriching learning experience. Our Investment Banking and Private Equity Foundations course is LIVE now with our M&A course included! Shop our LIBRARY of Self Paced Online Courses HERE Join the Fixed Income Sales and Trading waitlist HERE Our content is for informational purposes only. You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

In this episode we delve into the intricate world of finance depicted in the Season 3 premiere, breaking down the complexities behind the IPO process, explaining key concepts such as leverage ratios, net debt, and the influence of natural gas prices on energy companies like the fictional Lumi. We also explore the regulatory landscape of public company financial disclosures and the strategic maneuvers companies make to prepare for a successful IPO. The discussion then turns to the significance of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing, examining its impact on stock valuations and the broader market perception. We talk about the show's commentary on how ESG factors play into financial decision-making, client relations, and the reputational risks that come with moving towards more sustainable investments. Through the lens of the show's characters, they illustrate the real-world implications of these principles in modern finance. Additionally, the episode offers a critical analysis of the character dynamics and ethical considerations in the high-stakes environment of investment banking. The hosts draw parallels between the show’s dramatic narrative and actual industry practices, providing listeners with both entertainment and a clearer understanding of the financial intricacies that drive the plot of Industry. Whether you're a finance professional or simply a fan of the show, this episode promises to enrich your viewing experience with expert financial insights.. To listen to our IPO 101 episode, click HERE To listen to the WeWork failed IPO + SPACs 101 episode, click HERE Our Investment Banking and Private Equity Foundations course is LIVE now with our M&A course included! Shop our LIBRARY of Self Paced Online Courses HERE Join the Fixed Income Sales and Trading waitlist HERE Our content is for informational purposes only. You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

In this episode, we break down the finance behind the Industry Season 2 finale—and without exaggerating, this might be our favorite episode yet. There was so much to dig into, starting with the trade that the whole season built toward: Jesse Bloom’s long Rican / short FastAid position. We unpack the insider trading angle, including whether what Jesse did was in fact insider trading. We get into the ethics behind Harper finding out that the anti-competition inquiry into Amazon’s acquisition of FastAid has been quietly dropped and shares it with Jesse — and then whether what Jesse does with that information is in fact insider trading since he didn't trade on that information itself but rather went on TV to will the inquiry back into existance (while simultaneously adding to his Rican position).   Because the episode references the legendary trade where “Soros broke the Bank of England” in 1992, we also break down that wild real-life story—something anyone aspiring to work on Wall Street should know. That leads us into a deeper discussion on how hedge funds can move markets, the mechanics of currency pegs, central bank credibility, and how macro traders think about asymmetric risk. The real shocker is WHO the brains behind that trade were because it's someone that all us in the US are VERY familiar with these days... and no it's not Soros. Finally, we look at how all of this plays out across the show's main characters: Harper’s decision leads to her firing, Yasmin is blindsided by Celeste, Gus gets caught in the fallout, and Rishi and DVD’s team pitch to Nomura doesn’t go as planned. We explore how team dynamics, sales credits, and firm reputation impact career progression on the sell side—and how optionality (or the lack of it) drives every character’s choices in the final moments of the season. Our Investment Banking and Private Equity Foundations course is LIVE now with our M&A course included! Shop our LIBRARY of Self Paced Online Courses HERE Join the Fixed Income Sales and Trading waitlist HERE Our content is for informational purposes only. You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.