Over dinner, ordered in from Mack’s favorite restaurant, San Pietro—again—they discussed a possible transaction. Alternating between standing up and lying down, Gao reiterated his interest in buying 49 percent of Morgan Stanley. As he had told Christianson on the flight over, he now indicated that he was prepared to provide the firm with a credit line of as much as $50 billion and a nominal equity investment—no more than $5 billion, maybe less. Mack was stunned. He had known the price that would be offered might be low, but to him this was absurdly so—it was effectively merely a loan.
