The Unhedged Awards

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Ethan Wu (0:30)

Hey, one quick note. This show you're about to hear was recorded in mid-December.

Pushkin. Live from New York and London, the global financial capitals of the world, and of course by live, I mean not live, this is The Unhedgies, the awards show from Unhedged, where we celebrate the winners and the stinkers in this year's world of finance and markets. I'm reporter Ethan Wu, here in New York. Joining me today to crown our favorites and least favorites in the world of finance and markets today, it's financial commentator, Robert Armstrong here in New York, and from London, markets editor, Katie Martin. We're about to nominate some winners and maybe some losers.

Katie Martin (1:25)

I hope you're wearing black tie for the occasion.

Rob Armstrong (1:27)

Yes, I'm sitting here in my evening dress.

Katie Martin (1:32)

Full evening wear.

Ethan Wu (1:34)

I'm wearing a full white suit. Well, let's get right into it. We've got a lot of Unhedgies to get through. And beginning most sensationally with the Unhedgie for Scam of the Year.

I have to nominate FTX, which yes, I know did blow up last year, but I think this year, 2023, really revealed the true scammy nature of the machine that was FTX for transferring money from your Sorry Sorry Bank account to Sam Bakeman Fried's Very Large Bank account. Great job, Sam. I nominate you for Scam of the Year for this Unhedgy.

Katie Martin (2:08)

First of all, I think it's a category error on your part because FTX blew up in 2022 The trial was in 2023 But even aside from that, I think it's very hard to beat Binance, right? Similar jam, crypto shop.

When it got fined for no fewer than 4.3 billion of your Earth dollars, that includes the largest US treasury fine of all time, the rap sheet for Binance covered a lot of ground.

And I mean a lot of ground, like trades with North Korea, trades with Iran, trading with Al-Qaeda, trading with ISIS, involvement in the narcotics trade, and organized crime. I mean, it goes on and on and on. Go big or go home. I say, go Binance.

Rob Armstrong (2:55)

It's the thoroughness for me of Binance. The breadth of the indictment against them.

I think FTX may have reached higher heights, but literally, Binance checked every conceivable box for things to do wrong with money. And for this reason, I have to vote with Katie.

Ethan Wu (3:14)

Brother. All right, two to one. The Unhedgie for Scam of the Year goes to Binance.

And if anyone from Binance, especially CZ, if you're listening, we're very happy to send you your Unhedgie in the mail. You'll just have to reveal where your headquarters is so we know where to send it to. Moving swiftly on, the next category is Deal of the Year, which is a tough call and I think it's going to involve a lot of cheating because there were just not very many deals this year. This was another year of a dud IPO market once again, but I hope we've all either done our research or cheated on the category to be able to come up with a nominee for Deal of the Year.

Rob Armstrong (3:50)

I got a nominee.

Ethan Wu (3:51)

Okay.

Rob Armstrong (3:52)

Michael Dell, who took his own company private some years ago, used that as a platform to buy VMware, sold VMware to Broadcom this year. And in those combined deals, he contributed about $6 billion of equity and those stakes in the deal and the current value of Dell, 60 billion or so. Ooh.

So he did a 10-bagger.

And so now we can stop teasing him for saying like 15 years ago that Apple should just close up shop and move, as 20 years ago, he was the guy who said Apple is a hopeless case. It should just close up shop and move on. Now that he has 10-bagged his fortune, I think we can forgive him for saying that. And I think the award for deal of the year should go for Michael Dell's contribution to the Broadcom VMware deal.

Ethan Wu (4:48)

That's a strong nominee.

I'm going to cheat in this category once again. I am nominating the Microsoft Blizzard deal, which yes, I know was inked last year, but it was finalized in October this year. It was unclear, very unclear, I would say, if it would pass antitrust scrutiny, and it did this year. One of the biggest deals in gaming history, not necessarily in a good way. I think there have been a lot of concerns that there's going to be a deprecation of service in the long run, but Microsoft has promised very earnestly, Sacha Nadella has pleaded with regulators, we'll do a good job with Blizzard, come on, let us have this deal, it's okay.