Hacker Cinema
Billions
2016 · TV series · 7 seasons
Created by Andrew Ross Sorkin, Brian Koppelman, David Levien
Shrewd, savvy U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades and the brilliant, ambitious hedge fund king Bobby "Axe" Axelrod are on an explosive collision course, with each using all of his considerable smarts, power and influence to outmaneuver the other. The stakes are in the billions in this timely, provocative series.
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61 comments on Hacker News
It's true and they go a lot further hunting signals that people without their resources simply can't.
https://www.financial-news.co.uk/how-hedge-funds-are-using-satellite-imagery-to-front-run-global-crop-shortages/
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/10/investing/hedge-fund-drones-alternative-data/
They have the resources to spend (to them) a small amount to confirm/check a play before they make it, it's been a thing since commercial satellite imaging became a thing.
Hell the (somewhat terrible but somehow enjoyable) TV show Billions had it as a plot point years ago.
Not a bad thing necessarily, but some part of the plot, and usually with things going awry or emphasizing the scammy nature of blockchain.
Examples: Shameless season 11, The Simpsons S31E13, Superstore season 5, the good wife S3E13, greys anatomy S14E8, big bang theory S11E9, Billions season 5, some later seasons of Mr Robot, etc
One of my favorite lines from the tv show Billions is:
> Chuck Rhoades: Walk away.
> Bobby Axelrod: I should. But then again, what's the point of having fuck you money, if you never say, fuck you.
https://youtu.be/upfyoQdc_r4
First of all, I don't think it's ever "too late" as long as you're breathing. That said, there are things I wish I'd learned earlier.
I couldn't give you a complete list of those things off the cuff, so I'll just pick one that is sort of "top of mind". I haven't thought this out in detail, so consider this me basically "thinking out loud".
So... to put it in very loose terms, I'd say I wish I'd learned to really appreciate the importance of focusing on human to human interactions and how people communicate, interact, evaluate, and understand each other. Of course that's tritely obvious on one level, but to really really internalize those lessons is a different thing.
And while it might seem silly, I'll say that one thing that helped me learn a lot was watching the TV show "Billions". Very early on in that show I kept noticing certain behaviors by the various characters that led them to bad (or sub-optimal) situations, or behaviors they used to improve their standing, etc. And I'm NOT saying that any of those characters should be seen as role models mind you. Just that watching the show kinda "smacked me in the face" in a very visceral way with regards to appreciating some things I had not really fully appreciated before.
To illustrate (spoiler warning if you haven't seen the show)... in Season 1 there's a tense meeting with the two main characters - Chuck Rhoades and Bobby Axelrod, to sign a settlement that had already been agreed to. Note, they had an agreement that made everybody happy. This should have been a simple "show up, sign the papers, call it done" deal. But Axelrod let his ego cause him to start mouthing off at Rhoades, who in turn let his ego be offended and then he ratcheted up his demands for the settlement, which eventually led to Axelrod tearing up his settlement payment check, and walking out without signing the deal. This led to all sorts of bad shit and was a suboptimal outcome for everybody involved.
The lesson (as I took it)? Detach your ego from things. Focus on the outcome you want, not how things make you feel in the moment. Don't let a brief moment of anger derail something you've been working on for months (or years, etc).
And there are very many similar lessons embedded in that show. I do recommend it to basically everybody, FWIW.
Anyway, getting back on point. I guess I'd add that I now realize that I was probably too focused on technology qua technology earlier in my career. And again, I knew that this wasn't optimal on some level. But it takes a while sometimes to go from a surface / superficial understanding of something, to a really deeply internalized understanding. Now, I get more the importance of the "human element", understanding how the business works, understanding the interpersonal dynamics of a company, etc.
Edit: let me add one more thing.
Don't whine, or complain, or sulk at work. Ever. Just don't. it might feel good, but there is basically zero chance that doing so will help your situation at all, and a very high chance that it will hurt your standing in the org and compromise you at some point. If you have a legitimate grief, sure, talk to your manager in a strictly business-like, professional manager. Eg, "Look boss, you have me doing X, and I'll do it as long as you want me to, but I'd really prefer to be doing Y. Do you think we could find a way to shift my role more to Y" or something along those lines. But sulking, acting pissed off, bitching around the water cooler, etc. are no behaviors that will help you. Trust me on this. And don't ask me how I know. :-)
HTH.
Just saw yesterday an episode from TV show Billions where billionaire Mike Prince asked prosecutor Chuck Rhoades if he thinks Billionaires are some rotten individuals who did very bad things to accomplish their fortunes. Chuck replays: "You've said it!"
It's kind of short sighted to blame someone's misfortune on someone else fortune.
Going through a Svelte course mainly. And studying Statistics using the Professor Leonard lectures on Youtube. That and binge-watching Billions on Amazon Prime.
I've been on vacation since the 11th. I'm spending most of my time on some combination of:
1. Going through a Svelte course on Udemy
2. Binge watching Billions
3. Studying math
I've also managed to get 1 run in, and hopefully can get out for a couple more runs and/or bike rides. Also hoping to mix in a little bit of fishing before I go back to work.
You're probably a fairly open-minded person if it doesn't seem transgressive to you. That's good, but having queer characters who aren't entirely defined by it is actually a big deal. Historically, it's their entire character until it's useful to the plot to kill them off. The fact that they get to be normal dysfunctional people like any other character in any other sitcom is important.
Another example is Taylor in Billions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxGkUcmjJIQ
Their gender identity is centered about as often as any other character's. As a nonbinary person with complicated feelings about capitalism and occasionally having to decide between being oneself and conforming to other people's expectations, they're relatable in a way I don't usually get with TV shows.
It's a hard line to walk for writers, and they get it wrong more than they get it right. The situation has improved somewhat in the streaming era.
I love corporate/financial/technology/mathematics thriller film genres but they seems to be a very small niche. Good ones are especially rare. My favourite is "Michael Clayton" (2007), and "Margin Call" (2011) is my second favourite. "Sneakers" (1992) is old but pretty good. "Disclosure" (1994) is also old but quite watchable. Dare I mention "Pi" (1998)?
Someone here mentioned the TV series "Billions" which is my guilty pleasure. The stories are so absurd but the great cast manages to carry it off successfully. The only criticism I would make is that, although the show is ostensibly about a hedge fund manager, it seems to contain almost zero actual finance or game theory stuff. The only occasion, that I can recall, when finance enters the plot in a semi-serious way is the episode "Short Squeeze", which was one of my favourite episodes.
Michael Lewis is decades removed from the era of Liar's Poker. These days he is simply writing as a means to sell an eventual screenplay. I even saw him make a guest appearance on an episode of Billions.
Billions (the tv show), of all places, made a somewhat similar argument in favor of post-hoc investigations, in the last episode.
Record and share everything immediately = no room for deals
Record nothing = too much room for corruption
So we land at... record everything + only review with just cause + strict whistleblower protections.
Which seems a nice splitting of the matter, but requires a strong, independent third party (e.g. judicial branch) to arbitrate access requests. With tremendous pressure and incentives to breach that limit.
One of the more annoying/insufferable episodes of "Billions"...
This is like that episode of Billions where they think they find the Limitless drug but it just makes them say nonsense.
I agree with the general principle of that, but in this case I do think it represents a broader trend. Walking around NYC, if I see an intentionally obfuscated plate, nine times out of ten it has a police placard in the dashboard.
It’s such a familiar problem to locals that the TV show Billions had an arc where Chuck illicitly obtained a placard and was trying to trade favors for it, but couldn’t because everyone he needed favors from already had one.
I have a scar on my hip because I had to bike on a slippery surface to avoid an NYPD car obstructing a bike lane and had my rear tire slip out in the rain. So this isn’t just aesthetic for me.
> freeports - storage facilities that exist outside of the realm of domestic taxation
Billions (TV show) depicts how these freeports work as well, exactly like you’ve explained. Absolutely disgusting that these loopholes exist…
Note: I find that when examples like these are used, you always get comments saying “Anyone can use a freeport” and “They have perfectly legal usecases”.
Reads like an episode of Billions
I can't say that I remember feeling that LGBTQ+ characters were out of place in many movies or shows (I'm a straight white dude).
One I particularly enjoyed was the character of Taylor Mason in Billions. Just an incredible character.
His character, along with his foil Chuck Rodes, trick people into knee jerking traps. The more "public" of a trap, the better for them. A lot of wall street plays in the show are based on real world plays. This article read like it came out of an episode.
Billions is a great show by the way.
This is sort of a plot point in the TV show Billions. IIRC, they track private jets and figure out that one company is about to acquire another.
Lawyers use very short abbreviations for everything. I love that about them. (This does relate to what you said; be patient!)
"pros" = "patent prosecution" that's what you're talking about. Writing the patent & getting it through the PTO.
"lit" - "litigation" A lit lawyer is quite different from a pros. They can switch back & forth, but it's a big switch.
"crim" - "criminal". You hear this one on the TV series "Billions" ("I want to be the head of Crim!")
"3L" - a third-year law student
Probably a lot of others I don't know.
One of the pros lawyers that Oracle used was a total copy-paste douchebag, like you said. At Packeteer we had an awesome guy, whom I brought in once a quarter to brainstorm our 2-3 filings that quarter (we did not have a big budget). I don't think he's doing pros anymore; it gets repetitive.
Most big companies want to use big law firms, regardless of whether their people are any good. As an independent lawyer you have to be really good to compete for that business.
"Venture Capitalists are just hedge fund managers who can quote the Tibetan Book Of The Dead." — Taylor Mason, Billions, Season 3: Flaw in the Death Star.
The TV Show "Billions" had a line: "What’s the point of having f you money if you never say f you?"
That is what I need to see. Does Netflix have a spine to fight back against such nonsense?
Okay, so you're being obtuse. Got it.
Have you tried playing this out to the end? You're hung up on words like "require" that I, some random dude on the interweb used, rather than actually realizing the intent or spirit of the comment. You think any company receiving negative press is going to just allow that to continue without addressing the concerns somehow? An activist investor/shareholder doesn't just stop with press briefings. If they still feel agrieved, they can attempt to manipulate the board by having their own member installed. From there, they can direct if the CEO even gets to keep their job. As a board member, they have a lot more power.
I feel like you're limiting your imagination on how much power stockholders can have. Some companies are probably a little more resielient against this type of "attack", but rich people play all sorts of games because they feel slighted or bored. Watch the TV show "Billions" if you want some fun fictional aspects, but these stories are not made in a vacuum.
Personally, I enjoy stories, parables, the dialectic when it comes to such things. S1 E4 of Billions (TV, 2016) Axe takes his childhood buddies to a private rock concert (and one friend does something stupid with some trading info he overhears).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4704400/
"Business" is a broad topic, and trying to understand all of the different facets of it, in depth, in a short order of time, is probably not possible. But you can certainly get an overview of the different aspects and start getting a feel for what areas appeal to you, and get the foundation you need to grow from.
There are a lot of different ways you can accomplish this, ranging from reading books, taking classes, watching videos, talking to people in person, attending meetings, listening to podcasts... even watching television programs.
I'm in a meeting right now so can't focus a lot of attention on this right this second, but I'll drop a couple of thoughts based on my own experience. Later I'll try to come back and edit this, or reply to it, with some more thoughts.
Books:
1. The Art of the Start by Guy Kawaski
2. The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank
3. Crossing The Chasm - Geoffrey Moore
4. Purple Cow - Seth Godin
Consider also biographies of business figures you may be familiar with, and historical accounts of important events in the business world.
Podcasts:
1. The Stanford "ecorner" Podcast series. https://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts/
Classes:
1. You might consider something like BUS-101 "Introduction to Business" or whatever at a local community college if that's an option. If you were to go that route, I'd also recommend taking a "Intro to Marketing" and "Intro to Business Law" courses as well. Those three topics give you a lot of foundational knowledge.
2. I have not done this yet myself, but taking an Accounting class (or two) has often been recommended to me, and I do believe it's a good idea. Accounting is the "language of business" in many ways, and understanding cash flow, profit and loss, etc., are pretty important concepts for any business-person.
TV shows:
1. There are a lot of TV shows that are both entertaining and also contain useful exposure to various aspects of business and can be somewhat didactic. Of course the challenge may be picking out the real parts from the bits that are dramatized / fictionalized to an excessive degree. That said, consider some shows like Halt and Catch Fire, Billions, Power, Dallas, etc.
Events:
1. (Once they start occurring again) Consider attending networking events that may occur near you, that are "business oriented". That can cover a lot of ground, but you can meet a lot of people, start building a network of connections, possibly find mentor(s), etc. I'd mostly avoid sales / lead swap specific groups for now, as well as most "startup oriented" events, and look for something more general. Events put on by groups like the local "Chamber of Commerce" etc. are usually good.
I can't wait for inevitable Billions episode about Gamestop. Dollar Bill is probably going to lose it :)
this increasingly looks like an episode of "billions"
> learned from watching Billions
You know, it's a TV show, not a graduate level course on capital markets.
You can buy call options too.. unless that fell apart not sure.
If anyone has watched the Showtime show Billions, this is the plot of Season 6. Basically Taylor vs Axe.
I can assure you that most folks on wall street (speaking about most of the multi-manager hedge funds specifically) have significantly tighter risk limits than anyone on WSB. Frequently drawdowns of even 5-10% can get your sized reduce or get you fired. The YOLO attitude that WSB has is closer to the film "the wolf of wall street" than what actually happens.
While Billions is one of the more realistic shows about finance, it is far from accurate enough to be compared to real life.
And in Billions TV Show
Reminds me of an episode in 'Billions'.
Strongly disagree on Billions.
Season 1 was good and they’ve only gotten better since.
I think Showtime should have followed this. Usually the first season is spectacular, and it's almost as if the writers are surprised it is renewed, but they wasted their best material on season 1.
Weeds Season 1 was amazing, the rest not so much. Dexter, season 1 should have just been a single season, sooo good, after a while you wonder how many serial killers reside in Florida. Billions, season 1 amazing, it hasn't been too bad after, but after a while it just starts to seem forced.
This sounds too much like Billions season 5 episode 7. Uncanny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtJNljm1pVs
This seems like an opportune time to quote Billions (from the episode two weeks ago):
"...and he did, because you did, because his parents, and your parents, because America, because England, because ancient Rome, because primordial ooze."
This is the plot of an episode of Billions https://ew.com/recap/billions-season-4-episode-3/
> That is, he doesn’t lose until the chicken report is suddenly delayed after Axe Capital has already confirmed its massive position.
> So, he goes completely off the rails. “I have a solution,” he tells Axe over the phone, “a…final solution.” He grabs a diseased chicken from a separate quarantine farm and heads back to infect all the other chickens.
May be it is not a coincidence that this word came up in one of the episode in season 4 of Billions[0].
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billions_(TV_series)
I stopped midway at the wrestling match.
Watch Succession instead. Its way stronger and has what I liked about Billions Season 1 while also being better
> Sometimes dressing down is purposeful projection of success. It's like playing hard to get. Or "I'm so good at what I do that I don't even need to dress well to earn business."
Hence the stereotypical billionaire dressing like a slob. But that don't work so well for the rest of us.
For a fictional example, see the TV series "Billions". Axe, the head of the hedge fund, dresses like a slob while his minions all dress to the nines.
>I watched a TV show called Billions and it is illuminating as to how these big companies and people easily avoid touched by the law.
1. Half the show is about the AG of SDNY throwing white collar criminals in jail.
2. It is fiction.
I watched a TV show called Billions and it is illuminating as to how these big companies and people easily avoid touched by the law. They pay pennies on the dollar aka fine and move along with 0 actual damage.
Look at what happened to Panama papers or Bermuda Papers or even what Snowden had said.
"Little people pay taxes" was a line I read in Panama Papers book, one which I'll never forget
> There's even a poop train to Alabama
An NYC poop train bound for other parts played a big role in season 4 of the television show Billions.
https://uproxx.com/tv/billions-stock-watch-poop-train/
I think this was a storyline in the TV show Billions.
It's ok for the middle-classes to not fly anymore, we can use domestication for that (as we used back in the '60s and '70s in order to convince them to fly, we were telling them that flying was one of the coolest things imaginable), but the rich people of this world can still fly at will, apparently there are no shame words that can make them stop.
Case in point the last episode of the TV series "Billions", where at some point two female characters (one of them a billionaire) are taken off with an helicopter from outside of a bar out in the wilderness, just because, and we are intrinsically told that what they were doing was pretty cool (related or not, a real-life billionaire, Mark Cuban himself, appears in the same episode interacting with the two ladies, I think he was also brought in on set via helicopter). Again, if you are rich shame words don't apply to you.
It might make more sense if OP had more than one sibling and forgot to pluralize, but since that was done more than once, OP could have a sibling that doesn't want to be defined as either male or female, hence "sibling" and not "brother" or "sister". (At least that's what I got from watching the TV series, Billions.)
The TV Show "Billions".
That sounds like a great plot for an episode of Billions.
The SEC can't send people to jail, they have to refer a case to law enforcement for jail to be a possibility. It's even in the TV show Billions, or you can read about Theranos.
RE: Elizabeth Holmes "This is pretty standard practice with the SEC. The regulator explains on its website that, while it works with law enforcement agencies, it's investigations lead to civil or administrative actions. It routinely penalizes brokers and traders by banning them from working in the industry or accepting outside money. "
https://www.businessinsider.com/will-elizabeth-holmes-go-to-jail
In an episode of Billions, they go to a strip club for some full contact lap dances. I met a Wall Street I-banker who went on and on about hooking up with strippers. I wonder how common this is still in the US.
Isn't this the plot in one of the episodes of Billions? If you are short a stock and a billion dollars is on the line, there are people you can pay who will "ensure" that a company fails and you win your B+ bet.
it's a reference to a TV show called Billions, involving less-than-ethical hedge fund people doing quite illegal things
Being good is evidently boring...
I added a few examples in another comment. Even Rambo sacrificed his own safety and freedom to help rescue POWs.
Modern day heroes are all a bunch of whining self-centered children. Just go watch any super hero movie today for a good example of that.
It's almost a badge of honor to be morally ambiguous. Compare a list of protaganists, how many are anti-heros? Do we even have any real good guys in movies and tv these days? Even Superman has been turned into a murderer for this generation.
A few examples from popular TV:
Walking Dead: everyone is a murderer. Murder is justified consistently.
Billions: It's hard to know who to root for, they are all rotten. The righteous people are the "bad guys"
Scrubs: All the characters are morally bankrupt (compared to 30 years before it's time)
Ironman: A selfish rich asshole.
Batman: (ok, he was always an anti-hero from day 1)
Deadpool: Do I need to explain this one?
Wicked: A play about how the evil witch is misunderstood.
The Shield, The Wire, modern Star Trek vs old Star Trek, the list is too long...
There has always been corruptions, lack of morals. That's not my issue, it's that today, there simply isn't even close to a minority of actual real main protagonists that are selfless.
I think people find good people trying to do what is right just boring these days.
/rant
You need a study for that? They're literally making TV series out of insider trading (Billions).
Everyone knows it's rigged, but that doesn't mean you can't make money.
I feel like there's some cognitive dissonance surrounding hedge funds in popular culture -- on the one hand you have people saying that any outsized short-term gains seen by hedge funds are the result of some selection/survivorship bias, and on the other hand you have people saying that any outsized returns are the result of illegal privileged information (see the TV show 'Billions').
I realize that there are enough hedge funds out there that both things can be happening. It's too bad that there's so little visibility into the industry, it would be fascinating to see some kind of hedge fund taxonomy.
What do you think about providing performance coaching to whole teams at companies? Something like Wendy on the show Billions (a must watch) but very scalable, you gain more savory knowledge across industries, track market trends, become a valuable partner at big corps.
Also how valuable would you say this tech is for people that are going about things their own way, say new or future startup founders looking for advice and mentorship?
I would advise lots of you who have answered here to watch the TV show "Billions", lots of your answers made me immediately think of this show !
Is it pure coincidence that the use of satellites to gauge retail traffic was a minor plot point in the [latest episode of Billions](http://www.sho.com/billions/season/2/episode/2)?
Listen, you have no right to someone's else own work. If you don't want to pay HBO NOW to watch a single TV show. No problem. If you do however pirate their show, then that's stealing and the owner has a right to call you a thief. If HBO decides to charge $1,000 per episode, that would be very outrageous, but that still doesn't give anyone the right to steal their show. BTW, I know the pain, I really want to watch Showtime's "Billions" but I'm not willing to pay $12.95 for one month to watch it. I pay for Netflix and all my shows is restricted to Netflix, youtube and what's on TV.
Billions is more documentary than tv show.
Excellent article. Loved the informal style!
If you haven't already watched "Billions" [1], it is an absolutely thrilling show. I was uncertain about it after the pilot, but I continued because of my experience with Showtime's "The Affair" [2].
I did not regret that decision. It is in my opinion the second best show of last season, after "Fargo" [3] of course.
[1]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4270492/
[2]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2699110/
[3]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802850/