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ElevenLathe01/21/20252 repliesview on HN

IIRC the climax of the merger deal described in /Barbarians at the Gate/ essentially comes down to a bike courier race between various offices in Manhattan as last-minute bid adjustments got ferried about. Makes me wonder what the value of the truly fastest bike courier in New York would be to some large investment bank/PE firm/whatever. I imagine they are massively underpaid compared to the value they provide.


Replies

wil42101/21/2025

My father in law worked as a project manager for a locally big construction firm. Back in the 90s/00s they were basically sitting in a room with as many phones and fax machines as they could handle, with binders and Rolodexes of subcontractors spread around the tables.

Bid adjustments were a huge thing they had to optimize for and it created Seinfeld worthy situations.

kridsdale101/21/2025

SpiderMan should have got in to this business.