mickey gooch yacht

• ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS
• LITTLE SILVER
• MONMOUTH BEACH
• TINTON FALLS
• PEOPLE PAGES
• Sign in / Join

A New Show and a New Life: Diane Gooch and Son Host Candid Webcast

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Making History: Navy’s Newest Submarine to be Commissioned in Middletown

Monmouth County Launches Specialized Domestic Violence Unit

Developer Returns to Pitch Medical Offices at Holmdel’s Gateway

Editor picks.

5 Questions for Shrewsbury Mayor Erik Anderson

How to Get Married During a Pandemic? With Tents, Masks and...

Fort Monmouth 2021 Forecast

Popular posts.

Sign Up and Line Up: Vaccines Are Here

Riverside Marina Restaurant Reopens Featuring Mystic Lobster, New Menu

Hundreds Turn Out for Red Bank March for Justice

Superheroes, Supervillains and the Super Scary Costumes Trending for Halloween

POPULAR CATEGORY

• Obituaries 3488
• Top News 2334
• Lifestyles 1497
• Sports 1054
• Entertainment 946
• Business 668
• Letters & Commentary 637
• Opinion 578
• CLASSIFIEDS
• SCENE PAGES
• OUR NEWSLETTER
• FIND THE PAPER
• EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

KEEP IN TOUCH

Sign up to The Two River Times newsletter.

You have successfully subscribed to the newsletter

There was an error while trying to send your request. Please try again.

Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

UK Edition Change

• UK Politics
• News Videos
• Paris 2024 Olympics
• Rugby Union
• Sport Videos
• John Rentoul
• Mary Dejevsky
• Andrew Grice
• Sean O’Grady
• Photography
• Theatre & Dance
• Culture Videos
• Fitness & Wellbeing
• Food & Drink
• Health & Families
• Royal Family
• Electric Vehicles
• Car Insurance Deals
• Lifestyle Videos
• Hotel Reviews
• News & Advice
• Simon Calder
• Australia & New Zealand
• South America
• C. America & Caribbean
• Middle East
• Politics Explained
• News Analysis
• Today’s Edition
• Home & Garden
• Broadband deals
• Fashion & Beauty
• Travel & Outdoors
• Sports & Fitness
• Climate 100
• Sustainable Living
• Climate Videos
• Solar Panels
• Behind The Headlines
• On The Ground
• Decomplicated
• You Ask The Questions
• Binge Watch
• Travel Smart
• Watch on your TV
• Crosswords & Puzzles
• Most Commented
• Newsletters
• Ask Me Anything
• Virtual Events
• Wine Offers
• Betting Sites

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

GFI chief loses control of his destiny but ends up $285m richer

Mickey gooch set up gfi from scratch, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails

Sign up to our free breaking news emails, thanks for signing up to the breaking news email.

An Essex-born City trader has lost his battle to keep control of the broking giant he created in the swashbuckling 1980s, but he was able to console himself yesterday with a deal netting him and his family $285m (£185m).

Mickey Gooch set up GFI from scratch, building a firm trading foreign exchange, bonds and other assets in London and New York. Last year, the company arranged a sale to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Mr Gooch and his fellow executives agreed with the exchange that they would buy out the wholesale and telephone broking divisions, leaving the CME with GFI’s two successful electronic trading platforms.

However, his arch-rivals at another broking firm, BGC, swooped with a higher offer. Mr Gooch made an impassioned plea to his shareholders to reject it and accept the lower offer; he even cited the fact that his ex-wife – who had 15 million shares in the company – was backing him.

But Mr Gooch’s shareholders voted against the lower offer, and yesterday GFI agreed to accept the $778m bid from BGC.

As part of the deal, Mr Gooch’s business will retain its brand under the BGC umbrella, while he and his chief executive Colin Heffron are expected to stay on as directors of a GFI sub-board.

His ex-wife Diane’s shares are valued in the deal at over $90m – which is $10m more than she would have got from Mr Gooch’s preferred deal with the CME.

The new entity will combine two of the biggest inter-dealer brokers in London, where GFI alone had 530 staff, including 360 traders.

Mr Gooch first became interested in the sharp-elbowed foreign exchange trading world while chatting to a group of currency dealers in his local pub in the 1970s. Soon after, he left for New York to seek his fortune.

Turning down a job at Goldman Sachs back in London, he stayed in New York, eventually joining the commodities and futures broker Refco. While he was there, two colleagues on his trading desk managed to lose $30m on government bond options.

The firm shut down his desk, gave him a six-figure bonus and made him redundant – even though he had nothing to do with the losses.

That was in 1987. Unbowed, Mr Gooch decided to set up on his own with $150,000 of the Refco bonus, rapidly building up the first brokerage specialising in government bond options and promoting electronic broking in an industry dominated by personal contacts.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

New to The Independent?

Or if you would prefer:

Hi {{indy.fullName}}

• My Independent Premium
• Account details
• Help centre

• AMERICA'S CUP
• CLASSIFIEDS
• NEWSLETTERS
• SUBMIT NEWS

Burnham Week 2023 open for entry

Related Articles

Upcoming Events

Business | Business News

Brokers lock horns as BGC goes hostile in bid for GFI

Our unmissable weekly email of all the gossip, rumours and covert goings-on inside the Square Mile

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice .

BGC Partners today pulled the trigger on a $675 million (£418 million) hostile bid for rival inter-dealer broker GFI after months of wrangling between the two parties.

The company, best known in London for its celebrity dealing days, hopes to buy the 86.5% of GFI that it does not already own by offering fellow investors $5.25 a share. Like BGC, GFI is based in New York but was founded by the yacht-loving Essex boy Mickey Gooch in 1987.

However, the deal is complicated by the fact GFI has already agreed to sell itself to CME, owner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for $580 million. BGC hopes to strengthen its position in commodity dealing and Asia and also get its hands on GFI’s energy and foreign exchange businesses, Trayport and Fenics.

“We believe the existing [CME] agreement would deprive GFI shareholders of the value of their investment,” BGC’s president Shaun D Lynn wrote to GFI’s board.

“We continue to believe that we will be able to complete our tender offer expeditiously and that the GFI shareholders will recognise the superiority of our offer over the CME merger agreement and we encourage them to tender their shares.”

Howard Lutnick, BGC’s chief executive, added: “It is time to allow GFI shareholders to choose for themselves.”

CME’s offer for GFI will result in it taking on $240 million of debt and see GFI’s brokerage and clearing businesses sold to its management team. BGC said it has already secured funding from Morgan Stanley for the deal. Talks between BGC and GFI previously hit a roadblock over a confidentiality agreement that would give BGC access to inside information about GFI’s business.

GFI and CME were not available for comment.

Bowen exclusive: Carsley has fresh ideas, I want to show what I can do

CPS drops prosecution of Harvey Weinstein on indecent assault charges

Hans Zimmer to score BBC’s Lord Of The Flies as cast announced

Make education a priority with help from these acclaimed resources

Create a FREE account to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

Accessibility Links

Essex trader to land windfall

THE struggle for control of New York-based interdealer broker GFI is set to bring a huge windfall for the company’s Essex-born founder, Mickey Gooch.

Jersey Partners, the investment vehicle he controls, owns almost 37% of GFI — a stake now valued at nearly £160m as two of the broking group’s rivals tussle for control.

Gooch, 56, born in Leigh-on-Sea on the Essex coast, set up GFI in 1987. It is now quoted on Nasdaq and he acts as executive chairman.

CME, which operates the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange, announced a deal to buy GFI in July. It valued GFI at $580m.

Then a rival inter-dealer broker, BGC, gatecrashed the deal. It secretly built up a

Recommended

Breaking news, no mickey mouse.

Michael “Mickey” Gooch owns 43 percent of one of the most successful brokers – GFI Group, which specializes in setting up trades of credit derivatives among titans like Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs.

The 48-year-old Gooch’s well-honed relationships on the Street have helped GFI grow from four employees in ’87 into ’07’s 1,500-employee powerhouse.

With the 59 percent rise in GFI shares this year, the native Brit’s stake in the company has soared to $1.25 billion. Not too shabby for a guy who got his first finance job out of high school.

Gooch, who pilots his own 151-foot yacht, is just as successful outside of GFI. As Rudy Giuliani’s New Jersey finance chairman, Gooch has helped the Republican front-runner raise more money than Hillary Clinton, the only blue state organization that can make such a boast.

Gooch talked with The Post to about Rudy, his firm and the credit meltdown.

Q: You and your firm are a powerhouse on Wall Street but have not gotten caught up in the credit meltdown. How is that?

Gooch: Because we are a strictly an independent intermediary, we do not have any principal trading positions, or any inventory – and that means when you have meltdowns in the credit market we are not there holding a bunch of paper that needs to be marked down because nothing stays in inventory at GFI. Once we match the buyer and seller we are no longer involved in the trade. All we do is collect fees.

Q: Why did the Merrills and other big Wall Street firms not protect themselves with credit derivatives also?

A: The mistake they made was to keep pumping this stuff out and “inventorying” it – even after the point had been reached where the underlying security was deteriorating.

I think one of the problems is a dislocation between the incentives for the bankers and the brokers who were producing this stuff and pumping it out – and the other groups that may be involved in risk management and investment banking.

Q: Do you support the mortgage foreclosure bailout plan hammered out by the White House?

A: It will be a stay of execution for two to three years on a number of foreclosures. But it is not going to completely stop the foreclosure process in the broader market.

Q: Issuance in the CMOs and CDOs has shut down with the credit crisis. How has this played with your business?

A: It is shut right now. No new issuance. But there is a lot of paper out there that needs to be bought and sold; and so there is an opportunity for a company like GFI that acts as an inter mediary to help those buyers and sellers find the other side of the trade. In terms of new is suance, there won’t be new issuance for a long time. Even though there are no new issuance, there are still trades to be made. In fact, the cheaper it gets, the bigger the deals get so we poten tially start to earn more commissions.

Q: New Jersey has raised a lot of money for Rudy?

A: Rudy has raised more money in the state of New Jersey than any other candidate including the Democrats, and the only other state where he has achieved that is Texas.

Q: Your $1 billion stake in GFI is the larger than any other brokerage CEO on Wall Street. Is that satisfying?

A: Well, when I formed GFI in 1987 – and I scribbled the first business plan on some green paper – I did say my goal was to build the world’s preeminent inter-dealer derivatives company.

Today, we are the leader in credit derivatives. To some extent I did have this goal, but I didn’t necessarily have the valuation personal net worth goal in that regard. I don’t think 20 years ago – when I was 28-years-old – I was necessarily thinking in that regard. I probably would have thought back then that $50 million would have been quite a lot of money. In fact, my wife re minds me that I said when we were first married that if I made $50 million I would retire.

Q: Do you think Rudy has been play ing up his 9/11 record too much?

A: I haven’t heard him bring it up recently. Seems to be not the main topic these days. I tell a joke – when people talk about Iraq – that if Rudy becomes President the first thing he will do is get rid of the Baghdad squeegee boys.

site categories

‘the boy that never was’ turns a parent’s worst nightmare into an engrossing mix of thriller & psychological drama — global breakouts, breaking news.

‘Industry’ Creators Talk Explosive Episode 6 & Tease Upcoming Finale: “A Lot Comes Home To Roost”

By Katie Campione

Katie Campione

TV Reporter

More Stories By Katherine

• ‘All American: Homecoming’s Mitchell Edwards Talks Cam’s Heartbreak & Explains How His Own Music Impacted His Character’s Story
• Emmys Viewership Up 60% To Show’s Largest Audience In 3 Years
• Teamsters Set Additional Bargaining Days With AMPTP To Finalize Casting Agreement

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Season 3, Episode 6 of Industry .

Industry has finally given audiences an answer about the fate of Yasmin’s father, Charles Hanani (Adam Levy).

The first five episodes of Season 3 have hinted that something ominous happened to the man on a lavish yacht trip, and Yasmin (Marisa Abela) had something to do with it. In the finale moments of Episode 5, she tells Rob that she killed her dad — but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Related Stories

'All American: Homecoming's Mitchell Edwards Talks Cam's Heartbreak & Explains How His Own Music Impacted His Character's Story

Casey Bloys On 'Hacks' Surprise Comedy Series Emmy Win & Category Debate; 'White Lotus', 'The Last Of Us', 'Euphoria' & 'Harry Potter' Updates

Watch on deadline.

In the interview below, creators Konrad Kay and Mickey Down spoke with Deadline about how Episode 6 serves as the catalyst for two explosive episodes to end Season 3.

DEADLINE: We’ve been waiting all season to see what happened with Yasmin and her dad, and it was expected to be pretty bad…but what were the discussions around actually crafting that final argument they have? It’s so gut-wrenching.

In terms of writing the dialogue, I mean, look there, there are two fights that bookend that episode, right? They’re two of the most electric scenes we’ve ever done in the show, and a testament to Marisa, Myha’la, and Adam’s acting. The show is so much about illusion and about what is not said, and about people not saying the right thing at the right time, this is a place where we felt very free to be as naked and as cutting and as truthful and as honest as we possibly could, because they felt like the the zenith of those two relationships. Both of them, in some ways, dissolving at the same time. They felt almost like counterparts to one another.

MICKEY DOWN: The idea of actually the way he died was obviously something we talked about a lot, and Konrad’s totally right. We felt like if she actually had a direct hand in his death, it would feel like a real betrayal, and it would actually do too much the character. It would traumatize the character in a way that’s actually very hard to come back from. I think it’s very, very hard to have to process that for the whole episode, [and] see it on her face in every single scene. So we just thought, ‘Okay, she has to be one piece removed from it.’ I still think that she was, in some ways, culpable. Then we started to think, actually, the way Yasmin feels about her role in it says a lot about her. The fact that she is, as Eric said in Episode 2, incredibly solipsistic… she was passive, and yes, she allowed him to jump off, and yes, she left him, but she didn’t kill him. I think the fact that she’s saying in the end of Episode 5, ‘I killed my dad’ — it’s indicative of the fact that Yas just puts herself at the center of everything.

She is the main character in her life. Harper saying, ‘You didn’t do anything. You’re not culpable here.’ Harper’s saying that from a position of friendship, but what she’s also saying to her is like, ‘Not everything revolves around you.’ This guy was a f*cking drug addict, serial predator, had his own shit going on, running away from the law. Whatever he decides to do himself is not not on you. You making yourself the center of it is just another reflection that you just think of yourself as the main character. I think that’s actually something that I really like about it, on top of all the practicalities of not wanting to make Yasmin a murderer at the end of Season 3.

DEADLINE: I’m glad you mentioned the fight at the end of the episode. It’s possibly the most brutal Harper and Yasmin have ever been to each other, after Harper is the best friend she’s ever been to Yasmin in the opening after finding out what happened to her dad. Why did you decide to bookend the episode that way?

We were shocked by how much that scene could keep going. Just when you think the basement of the scene has been hit, someone’s capable of saying something worse and something worse and something worse. When we were watching the cut, we were laughing because it kept getting progressively worse, but it kept getting organic, like we felt no need to cut any of the lines, because we were like, ‘Actually, this is just what they know about each other.’ Every time someone slashes at someone, they feel the need to slash back…they just know exactly the right thing to hurt one another. They know all of their weaknesses. They know every part of their underbelly.

DEADLINE: So, the slap at the end is just them finally running out of words to hurt one another?

DOWN: It’s triggering. It’s very intentional. The same dialogue comes out of Harper’s mouth now, that it did her father’s, and it’s hugely triggering. It’s one of her massive insecurities, and it’s like, ‘That’s exactly my father made me feel. This is what he projected on to me, and ultimately, that’s the last thing he said to me before he died.’ As Konrad said, we’ve gone too far with words, now [she] has to take action. I think that was one of our writers’ ideas. It was a great one, and he was great on those little ideas, because we’d be like, ‘She says this. Then she says this.’ And he’s just like, ‘What if she slaps her?’

DEADLINE: Harper going to Goldman to make the trade — and the reveal that Kenny and Jackie have joined forces with Daria there — is also pretty crazy. You planted the seed with Daria last season, but did you know you wanted to bring her back in a this way when you did that?

DOWN: We always had Daria as a little Easter egg in the back of our minds, because we’re like, it’s quite fun to know what she’s up to. The idea that actually, now that she’s working with Harper, because Harper had the money to pay her, just felt like kind of playful and nice. And yes, we love Freya [Mavor]. We love the character, and it’s just quite funny that she’s doing exactly the same thing she’s doing in Season 2 in exactly the same room, just with two other confidants from PeerPoint flanking her. Freya was like, ‘I’ll do this every year if you want me to…’ I think we set in Episode 3, when we first mentioned it as a playful Easter egg. But then as we got closer to writing Episode 6 and beating that out, it felt like it was the perfect moment for this sort of Avengers to reassemble to f*ck Pierpoint.

One of the only things [Konrad and I] probably disagree on is, is shorting a company getting revenge against it? Because, ultimately, it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. It only makes a difference, I think, if the company’s basically insolvent as a result of that. In the business world, you don’t really short a company to get revenge.

KAY: In the fictional world we created, it 100% tracks, though, doesn’t it? It feels like, yeah, all of those people are in there basically just to stick that middle finger up at Pierpoint.

DOWN: They always just feel quite well adjusted, and it feels like great contrast to the chaos that’s happening at Pierpoint and in those characters.

DEADLINE: On that note, Eric is really spiraling. He has been all season, but this episode really drives it home. When he storms into Leviathan, it feels like the gloves have finally come off.

KAY: I find it interesting when the words come out of his mouth, it’s almost like he can equally be saying that stuff to himself, and she can equally be saying that stuff to herself. Me and Mickey talk about Eric and Harper a lot, and then someone put it to us this season that they’re actually just the same person. I always thought about it as a pedagogic relationship, or father daughter or something, never sexual, but I never thought about it as actually just like a younger and an older version [of the same person]. I’m always interested when lines of dialogue where they’re hurting each other could equally be applied to them, and I feel like Eric’s little monologue there about, ‘You think you’re a monster. You walk around with that feeling every day, looking for external validation…’ I think Harper could easily say those lines back to him, and it could have equal validation.

DEADLINE: I laughed out loud at the line, ‘There’s a green fintech company on there. Do we even know what that is?’ In the last episode, the line that’s like ‘I’ve always enjoyed a cafe au lait’ as well. I find this show is full of those background lines that, if you’re really paying attention or on rewatch, are some of the best writing in the show. How do you come up with them?

DOWN: Obviously the show is plot heavy, and hopefully it’s rigorously plotted. The plot sometimes is a jigsaw puzzle, and sometimes it feels we thread it to an inch of this life. We cram a lot into these episodes, so it feels like the real estate we have just to be a bit silly is diminishing a little bit. So when we have a moment to be a bit silly or to just say something funny or to say something bit cutting, we really relish it. It’s where me and Konrad are most unchained in our writing. We’re not having to think about plot or character, and then these lines are reflective of the character, but we can just say things that make each other laugh.

That’s where Rishi’s background dialogue came from. It’s usually at the end of scenes, or it’s beginning of scenes, or it’s in between pieces of dialogue which are in the main focus of the plot. Let’s just make people laugh as much as possible. There’s a lot of heavy sh*t happening, sometimes a lot of dramatic stuff. We can just undercut some of that by having someone say something funny. That cafe au lait scene…I think we came up with that line on the day.

KAY: We did.

DOWN: It really is an exercise to make me and Konrad laugh.

KAY: You realize the show could actually just never be too funny. So basically every avenue now that’s potential to just for it to be humorous, we’re just going to take and double down on.

DEADLINE: I already asked you this, but I’m going to ask again now that we’re further in the season. After taking the public lashing for the company, Rob seems checked out, especially in that scene where Sweetpea tries to tell him Pierpoint is in trouble, and he brushes it off. Is he on the verge of a breakdown?

KAY: I’ve been thinking about that storyline a bit in retrospect, and actually one of my favorite things about it is, in a little bit of a meta way, someone being tortured like Jesus Christ for three seasons and then having a revelation through drugs is quite TV writers room-y. But the way I think about it is, actually from a character POV, it tracks incredibly well that someone like Rob would do something like that and then change his whole outlook on life, especially at that age, and especially with what you see that will happen to him. He has something that he’s like, ‘Oh, my God, this is profound.’ It kind of feels very true to life somehow.

DEADLINE: What else can you say about the rest of the season?

DOWN: They’re massive episodes.

KAY: We’re behind the camera for the first time. It’s up to people to see, but I think the show feels maybe slightly different visually. We have an extra long finale as well, like 12 minutes over length, which HBO granted to us on the strength of the material. I would say tune in, because the first six episodes are pretty explosive, but I feel like a lot comes home to roost in seven and eight, which I think will make a very dramatic view.

DEADLINE: I know you’ve said that you’re hoping for at least five seasons, but do you have all five charted out, or are you taking it season by season?

DOWN: A bit of both. You start to think about how it would end, but then, as long as we’re creatively fulfilled of it, we want to continue. We have a really good Season 4 idea. I’ll just put that out there.

Must Read Stories

Beckham on “difficult” netflix doc; alex mahon says c4 is “buying again”.

‘Maxton Hall’ Future Teased; Amazon, Constantin Execs Talk Market

James cameron buys ‘ghosts of hiroshima’ book; pic is his next project post-‘avatar’, hbo’s casey bloys on ‘hacks’ surprise emmy win, ‘harry potter’ series & more, read more about:, subscribe to deadline.

Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.

Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

• U.K. Showbiz
• Meghan Markle
• Jeremy Renner
• Taylor Swift
• Kim Kardashian

Rebel Wilson's ex Mickey Gooch who she lost her virginity to aged 35 had a short-lived fling with Love Island star after their break-up 

• READ MORE:   Rebel Wilson names the actor and former addict who she lost her virginity to at the age of 35

By Connie Rusk For Mailonline

Published: 14:50 EDT, 3 April 2024 | Updated: 02:07 EDT, 4 April 2024

View comments

Rebel Wilson 's ex Mickey Gooch Jr had a short-lived fling with Love Island star Georgia Harrison . 

The actress, 44, made the bombshell revelation she lost her virginity to the actor, 38, when she was 35 in her new memoir, Rebel Rising. 

After their romance, Mickey has lived his life largely out of the spotlight but embarked on a romance with Georgia, 29, in 2019. 

The actor, who split from Rebel in 2015, has remained good friends with the Hollywood actress. 

While it is not known if Mickey is in a relationship at the moment, he hit headlines in 2019 with his romance with Georgia. 

Rebel Wilson 's ex Mickey Gooch Jr had a short-lived fling with Love Island star Georgia Harrison

The actress, 44, made the bombshell revelation she lost her virginity to the actor, 38, when she was 35 in new memoir, Rebel Rising (pictured in 2015) 

The TV star originally caught his eye after appearing on endurance based MTV reality show The Challenge: War of the Worlds. 

The American star, who is nine years her senior, eventually asked her to be his date at the London premiere of new film Madness In The Method. 

A source told the Mail at the time: ‘It’s casual but he took her out last week to his film premiere in London. He saw her on The Challenge and fancied her from then. 

'It's a huge show in the US. After that he made sure he got introduced to her and eventually they swapped numbers and started getting to know each other. He loves her accent and how funny she is.'

Following the premiere Mickey shared a snap of himself planting a kiss on Georgia's cheek as they made their way to a Casa Mexico tequila sponsored after-party at Chiltern Firehouse.

Captioning the shot, he wrote: 'Shout out to my girl G.... thank you for coming out to support me on my big night in London.'

Responding to the post, Georgia wrote: 'Love you so much thanks for a good night.' 

However the romance was short-lived. Georgia is now in a relationship with Anton Danyluk, 28, who she met on Love Island All Stars earlier this year . 

After their romance, Mickey has lived his life largely out of the spotlight but embarked on a romance with Georgia, 29, in 2019 

Following the premiere Gooch shared a snap of himself planting a kiss on Georgia's cheek, he wrote: 'Shout out to my girl G.... thank you for coming out to support me on my big night' 

Responding to the post, Georgia wrote: 'Love you so much thanks for a good night.'

Rebel and Mickey ended up dating for six months but the relationship fizzled out during a holiday with her family

In 2021, he shared a throwback post of them at a game and wrote: 'Throwback Thursday… cheers to the most beautiful girl I know.!… Inside and out. "The Full Package"

Writing about her exes in a chapter titled Late Bloomer in her newly released memoir Rebel Rising, the Australian actress reveals he was her first sexual partner

Georgia is now in a relationship with Anton Danyluk who she met on Love Island All Stars earlier this year

Rebel and Mickey ended up dating for six months but the relationship fizzled out during a holiday with her family but he spent time with her in the years that passed. 

In 2021, he shared a throwback post of them at a game and wrote: 'Throwback Thursday… cheers to the most beautiful girl I know.!… Inside and out. "The Full Package".'

The actress revealed she made the decision so she could concentrate on her booming acting career.

'I obviously chose career over relationships and I don’t regret that decision one bit,' she told the Daily Telegraph at the time

'A lot of my friends who are married now wish they’d taken the same path — where you really went after your career and your dreams.

'That’s not to say both are mutually exclusive, because you can have it all if you want to,' the Australian actress continued. 

 Rebel is engaged to designer Ramona Agruma and the couple welcomed their first child, Royce Lillian, via surrogate in November 2022.

The Hollywood star opened up about her very first sexual encounter in her newly-released memoir, Rebel Rising, in a chapter titled Late Bloomer, which saw her go into detail about several of her ex partners. 

While doing so, Rebel revealed actor and comedian Mickey was her first-ever sexual partner - admitting he had no idea it was her first time.  

Revealing she was 'almost at my highest weight' at the time, she explained that one of the reasons she waited so long to have sex because she felt that 'as a big girl, no one would ever truly find me sexually attractive.'

Gushing about their intense chemistry, Rebel also penned a brief personal message to Mickey - who is the son of multimillionaire banker Michael Gooch , founder of the $700million GFI Group - revealing that he may have learned the truth about their intimate moment in the pages of her book.

'And, Micks, I know this might be news to you if you are reading this, but yes I lost my virginity to you,' she writes in the memoir. 

The Pitch Perfect actress said that she 'high-fived myself' after losing her virginity to Mickey in a room at the Greenwich Hotel in New York while she was filming the 2016 movie How To Be Single - a film in which aspiring actor Mickey also landed a small role.

Rebel explained how she was motivated to have sex after learning her mother had breast cancer , writing: '...life IS short. I didn't want to live my life without experiencing sex. Experiencing love. I put it out into the universe that I was finally ready. I was going to feel the fear and just do it.' 

Share or comment on this article: Rebel Wilson's ex Mickey Gooch who she lost her virginity to aged 35 had a short-lived fling with Love Island star after their break-up

• Follow DailyMail
• Subscribe Daily Mail
• Follow @dailymail
• Follow MailOnline
• Follow Daily Mail

• Today's headlines

• MORE HEADLINES
• ABC responds to viral 'whistleblower affidavit' claiming Kamala Harris received debate help
• New poll shows Donald Trump has hemorrhaged support from key voting group
• Nine dead and 3,000 injured after Hezbollah's new PAGERS simultaneously exploded across Lebanon sparking mass panic, with sources blaming Israel
• Brandon Miller's socialite wife Candice sued for unpaid rent on New York City condo two months after financier husband's suicide over $34m debt
• Abby and Matt Howard break silence after being slammed for their 'morally unacceptable' parenting act on a cruise ship
• Donald Trump Jr. and new squeeze Bettina Anderson are seen schmoozing with his ex Vanessa and their daughter Kai at family party - with fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle NOWHERE in sight
• Laura Loomer, 31, furiously denies having an affair with Trump after their cozy relationship sparked MAGA meltdown
• Asha Degree disappearance is 'solved' 24 years after nine year-old vanished, as cops share disturbing breakthrough
• Horror as airhostess mother-of-three, 57, drops dead in front of passengers after 'feeling unwell' but ignoring medical help because she 'wanted to fly back to see her children'
• Billie Eilish reveals who she is voting for in 2024 after Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris
• Middle schooler's incredible cache of weapons revealed as the 11-year-old is handcuffed and perp walked for bragging about 'kill list' and threatening to shoot up two schools
• Three black friends who spend $500,000 a year at Louis Vuitton sue brand after being banned from store and accused of using drug money
• Beautiful East Coast beaches are forced to close for reason that will make your skin crawl
• The bombshell claims of 'ABC whistleblower' who says Harris got help in debate
• Kentucky homeowner forced out of his own house by judge after squatter 'friends' moved into his garage - then refused to leave
• 2024 election live updates: Donald Trump issues major legal threat ahead of vote
• Parents of America's Got Talent cheerleader Emily Gold break silence on her tragic death at 17
• No-nonsense judge takes hard line on glamorous Miami influencer 'who killed two innocent people after crashing while high'
• Donald Trump reveals what he thinks the assassination attempts on his life mean and what Joe Biden said to him in the aftermath
• Tense moment FBI visits home of New Hampshire Libertarian after post saying anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be 'an American hero'
• Monster of Avignon Dominique Pélicot stuns courtroom with shocking admission as he finally gives evidence about drugging his wife and allowing dozens of men to rape her - before she gives emotional response
• Tragedy as South Carolina bull rider Dalton Weise, 14, dies suddenly
• Airline passenger's 'awkward' flight left her so scarred she's 'never going to recover'
• Ronald Reagan's staff claim they know who he would have voted for in 2024 as they make shock endorsement
• Tito Jackson's friends reveal the star's last words before dying from heart attack
• Radiation levels mysteriously spike along Norway's border with Russia - as it's claimed activity has been seen at test site for Putin's 'Flying Chernobyl' nuclear missile
• Mansion-stuffed California town is named richest in Golden State - but it isn't San Francisco or LA
• Terrifying moment passengers scream and pray as tropical storm batters plane mid-flight
• Miss Switzerland finalist's husband - who butchered and decapitated her - 'is a ticking time bomb psycho who wanted his model wife to have never existed', close friend says as she reveals details of their marriage
• MOST READ IN DETAIL

• Back to top

Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd

Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group

• Entertainment
• Rex Reed Reviews
• Awards Shows
• Climate Change
• Nightlife & Dining
• Gift Guides
• Business of Art
• About Observer
• Advertise With Us

EXCLUSIVE: GFI Top Performers Threaten to Quit En Masse if BGC Wins Tender Offer

At a secret dinner, brokers unanimously express concern over the fate of their compensation: 'it is 100% due to the howie dollars'.

The Observer has been closely following a takeover saga playing out in the brokerage world. To recap briefly, on July 30, CME Group Inc. (CME) made a $4.55 per share all-stock bid to buy interdealer broker GFI Group (GFIG). The CME offer was supported by GFI insiders, who together control some 38 percent of GFI’s stock. In September, after accumulating its own stake of 13.5 percent of GFI stock, BGC came in with a bid for GFI, offering $675 million ($5.25 per share) for its rival, all in cash. CME has since matched that price, and last Friday, having failed to attract its goal of 51% of the shares, BGC upped its offer to $5.45 while lowering its share threshold to 45%. More on both of these later—and there are strange nuances in this very strange story—the blockbuster part of this scoop can wait no longer.

Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter

Thank you for signing up!

By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime.

On December 3, two dozen highly placed GFI insiders descended into the basement of The Harrison in Tribeca. Some had come from Europe and the Middle East; others walked over together from GFI’s headquarters at 55 Water Street. The 20 or so men (and at least one woman) selected salad and either filet mignon or fish from a prix fixe menu. They sat shoulder-to-shoulder at the long, wooden table in the private room. There was wine and dessert, too, but this meeting was all business.

The entire five-person board was there: CEO Colin Heffron , founder and chairman Michael Gooch , Frank Fanzilli , Marisa Cassoni , and Richard Magee. They were joined by top producing brokers, including Chris Steer , who runs the firm’s Dubai office of about 20 brokers; Marc Souffir, who runs the Paris office; Julian Swain, who runs all of Europe; Jason Zullin, the VP of Equity sales; Craig Buchner, another top trader; Ron Levi , GFI’s COO; Richard Brunt and John Crisp, who are the CEO and Director of Fenics, an options pricing company owned by GFI and hotly coveted by both CME and BGC; and Nicholas Brown, who was a founding investor in GFI back in 1987 but is now a Managing Director.

According to three sources who were present at the dinner, every single one of these people pledged that they would leave the firm if BGC prevailed in its tender offer.

According to all three sources, the principals of the company, Mr. Heffron and Mr. Gooch, were in “listen-only mode”—they made the introductions and then allowed the others to speak their minds and “the table told the directors in no uncertain terms that they would not work for BGC.”

This could be dismissed as GFI employees showing off for their current bosses, who favor the CME deal. Even a broker making $15 million a year would presumably not be arrogant enough to tell his bosses in front of their colleagues that they’re dying to work for a competitor.

Still, the specificity of the words give these accounts added credence. According to the sources, the head of Dubai said the entire Dubai team would leave and they had other options were GFI to end up in BGC’s hands. One source recalled, “The COO, Ron Levi, said, ‘I will not work for BGC. You make a deal with BGC, I quit.'”

Ron Levi is universally regarded on the Street as a straight shooter who doesn’t say much but whose few words carry all the more weight because of their scarcity. He is listed along with Mr. Lutnick on BusinessInsider’s list of “Most Powerful Nerds On Wall Street.”

Asked about Mr. Levi’s statement, a second source said, “Ron Levi doesn’t have to work for someone he doesn’t want to work for. I don’t have to work for someone I don’t want to work for. There are certain employees who are back office or whatever and they have families to provide for. But my contract will be up in a few months so I can honor my contract and then quit.”

This source, one of the top five producers at GFI, explained that he was reluctant to be quoted by name. “I don’t need a fight with Howard Lutnick ,” he said, referring to BGC’s powerful chief executive.

The Observer asked what it was about the corporate culture at BGC that seemed so difficult to accept for GFI people. Sure, they’re competitors, but it’s hardly unusual for one financial firm to buy another—why has this one turned so contentious?

“It has nothing to do with corporate culture. It is 100% due to the ‘Howie Dollars,’ as the Street calls them.”

The source is referring to a rift that has erupted as GFI brokers who hold Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) are dissatisfied with the lack of clarity supplied by BGC on what will become of the roughly $90 million that is owed to GFI brokers. According to all three sources, GFI brokers are concerned that the deferred compensation they have coming from GFI will not be equaled by BGC.

According to one third-party source who holds no RSUs, BGC is likely to fulfill the RSU commitments with BGC partnership interests.

The problem with the partnership interests, according to this source, is that “there is absolutely no vesting schedule. There are several different types, which give you some sort of participation, but at the sole discretion of the managing member. You’re at their mercy. BGC’s game is that they’ll let you cash in a million but you have to put 15% of your future income into more of their BGC partnership interests. So you get some out but you have to put a lot more in. Other times they’re granted in the form of loans. You do get a dividend but that’s in lieu of your bonus compensation.”

According to the GFI trader, that’s exactly what he fears.

“I’ve been at GFI for over 10 years and every single RSU I had, when the time came, I got to sell it and I got my cash. With the Howie Dollars, there’s no vesting date. It will vest upon ‘consideration of the board.’ GFI vests every year—a third, a third, a third, just like every bank.”

A big producer at GFI might hold as much as $10 million in RSUs, so this is not small change, even to brokers making as much as $15 million a year. One high-performing trader told the Observer , “I accepted compensation from GFI in the form of RSUs to show them my long-term commitment. But that commitment was to Mickey Gooch, who has always been honorable in our dealings,” the broker said, referring to the GFI Chairman by his nickname. “I don’t know Howard. I’ve never met Howard. Why should I make a multi-million dollar investment in him when I don’t know him? You don’t even buy a car for $50,000 without taking it for a test drive. Why should I be forced to? Give me my money. Give me cash for my RSUs and then sit down with me and let’s discuss the next five years. But don’t take my equity from me – that’s no way to start a relationship.”

So what are the options for a broker unwilling to join BGC?

“I’d go to ICAP before I go to BGC. There are other opportunities out there. Other firms are calling – Tullett, TFS [Tradition Financial Services] … ”

This is more than mere saber-rattling. The Observer has learned that a group of brokers sent a letter to the special committee demanding that their concerns about the RSU positions be handled appropriately.

BGC is feeling the pressure—and responding. Mr. Lutnick addressed that issue directly when BGC raised its offer to $5.45 on Dec. 19, stating in its release, “RSUs held by GFI employees will remain outstanding and vest on their existing schedules.” But two holders of GFI RSUs interviewed after Dec. 19 felt that the statement failed to address their concerns.

“If someone wants to buy our company, then pay for it, pay the cash, honor it completely and don’t give me all these fugazi restrictions. The current management has said that everybody will get cash for their RSUs [if CME completes the deal]. BGC has said ‘we’ll honor the RSUs’ but what does that mean? BGC stock with no vesting period? I want $90 million in an escrow account and the cash is sitting there waiting for you.”

The concerns about BGC’s willingness to match the compensation GFI brokers expect is not just Wall Street chit chat. Rumors about BGC’s reluctance to hand over no-strings-attached cash abound. Just last week, FINRA abitrators ordered BGC to pay a broker named Raymond Walton $1,063,398, saying, “The panel further found that respondents breached the employment agreement.”

Another GFI broker said, “I remember when Paine Webber got taken over by UBS in 2000. Everyone who worked there got dollars for their stock immediately. It wasn’t rolled into UBS stock with tons of restrictions on it. When a deal happens on Wall Street you don’t get jerked around. People don’t get to decide what your destiny is, you do. I’ve earned the right to make my own decisions.”

For his part, Mr. Lutnick has made a persuasive case that a deal with BGC would create savings and synergies that CME cannot match. Speaking at the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Securities Brokerage & Market Structure Conference on November 19—by chance the exact day the first tender offer expired—he spoke of his firm’s higher credit rating. “[GFI’s] interest rate is over 10% and our bonds are investment grade, so we’d save over $10 million a year just in debt,” said a confident Howard Lutnick, whose stock is up 50% year to date, with earnings growth of 30% on revenues of almost $2 billion. He also referred to $20 million in savings from eliminating duplicated technology and back office infrastructure.

But the GFI partisans who favor the CME deal push back in ways unrelated to the RSUs. At the dinner, the Fenics people made it clear that they saw no synergies with BGC. According to two attendees, the head of sales in Asia who’s been with Fenics for 20 years would quit the company and be out in 3-5 months, as would the CEO and Developer who were at the dinner. “With these key people leaving, the entire sales and product side would fall apart. They’d lose 70% of revenue within 18 months.”

It appears that anti-BGC sentiment among GFI employees is not limited to those who were at the dinner. Nick Stephan was the CEO of Phoenix Partners Group, a smaller competitor that had faced a cash crunch in the wake of new rules governing transactions put into place after the financial meltdown of 2008. In May of 2013, GFI acquired Phoenix and has subsequently changed its name to Latium, presumably to avoid confusion with its other subsidiary, Fenics (GFI didn’t actually acquire Phoenix; it basically acquired its whole team of 32 brokers in New York and London; but the whole point of this article is that in brokerages, the people are the business—that’s the real value of Phoenix, or of GFI or BGC).

According to two sources familiar with the transaction, before GFI agreed to acquire Phoenix BGC had come in with an offer. According to one source, “BGC was like we’ll definitely buy you, but then took 3-4 months schlepping out due diligence that should have taken a week or two. Then, once Phoenix was really desperate for cash, BGC said, ‘Now that our due diligence is completed, we can’t give you the price you originally wanted. We can only give you this way lower number.’ At that point, Nick said, ‘Fuck it, I’d rather go out of business than be bought by someone who does business this way.’ He called GFI and got a price for Phoenix that was halfway between the original BGC price and the post due diligence price.”

The Observer briefly spoke to Mr. Stephan, who was not at the Dec 3 rd dinner, two times by phone, but he declined to go into any detail without being cleared by GFI’s communications people, and that permission didn’t arrive by press time.

As promised, there are some other strange things afoot in this deal. Here’s one. It’s unclear if the special committee even is able to make a recommendation. The special committee consists of the three independent directors—Mr. Fanzilli, Ms. Cassoni, and Mr. Magee. Unfortunately, Ms. Cassoni was run over by a bus in London a few weeks ago. This has caused her to resign from the special committee and it’s uncertain whether or how she could be replaced, or whether the remaining two members can even make a recommendation, since a call in BGC’s favor would result in a deadlocked board (two from the special committee vs. the two board members not on the special committee, namely Mr. Gooch and Mr. Heffron).

Here’s another strange thing that happened. The Observer and others reported on the scrutiny the deal would surely face from the Financial Conduct Authority for having accumulated 10% of GFI stock without asking for permission to do so—a criminal offense in the UK. Oddly, the FCA not only decided not to prosecute but basically fast-tracked BGC’s request to pursue GFI. In a statement by BGC, the company “acknowledged the breach” of the 10% rule “and is working with the FCA to ensure that changes are made to its systems.” Just a few days later, GFI’s own application to change hands, pending since CME’s offer in July, finally was granted. As head of “Change of Control,” the FCA regulator Victoria Raffe worked on both BGC and GFI. Having waved through BGC, despite Bloomberg News writing that “U.K. law makes the matter criminal,” Ms. Raffe then approved GFI’s change of control. And then, the very same day, after 20 years with the FCA, Ms. Raffe suddenly resigned, along with two other regulators at the FCA, Clive Adamson and Zitah McMillan.

Then there’s the revised BGC offer. The Observer wrote about how difficult it would be for BGC to get control of two-thirds of the board, even if it did manage to corral 51% in a tender offer, because the two executive members were firmly committed to CME and the remaining three had already voted unanimously to back the CME bid. Even if an improved offer from BGC flipped the three independent ones, it’d be three of five—60%, not 66%. In BGC’s new offer of $5.45, the target for tendered shares has been lowered from 51% to 45%. But the two-thirds condition still applies. If it was going to be difficult to get to two-thirds with control of 51% of the stock, how on earth would BGC do so with only 45% of the stock?

Mr. Lutnick recently went into expansive detail on exactly that aspect of the deal. At the KBW conference he revealed, “We’ve been negotiating with their special committee. This is new. In that negotiation, to try to help them get over whatever burdens they have in order to recommend our bid as superior – ’cause lets face it, $5.25 in cash is superior to $4.55 in stock. This is not like a shock. So why isn’t their board recommending it? Their board in my opinion wasn’t recommending it because if they changed their recommendation, it gave CME a walk-right. So they wanted to keep both things afloat, if you will. And so in our negotiations with them, they are negotiating with us—we have to disclose this so I’m disclosing it now with you, which is nice—they have agreed, under certain conditions that they would give us the board if we get more than 51%. They would agree to help us have two-thirds of the board and help us resolve the balance of the conditions so we can close. The conditions are falling away.”

Mr. Lutnick’s remarks were delivered on November 19, before BGC raised its offer to $5.45 and dropped its demand from 51% to 45%. Mr. Lutnick even described how he envisioned the two-thirds being reached—if the special committee recommended BGC then six new pro-BGC members would be added to the board, which would dump two existing board members, meaning at least six of the now-nine-member full board would favor the BGC deal. At the time, on November 19, with the original tender set to expire in a few hours, Mr. Lutnick was still hopeful that he’d reach 51% at $5.25—instead the tender stalled out at around 18%, which is presumably why BGC raised its offer and lowered its threshold.

But the problem is that the members of the special committee were all at the Dec. 3 dinner and at least one member denied that there was ever any such deal in place to grant two-thirds of the board to BGC if they got to 51%, let alone 45%. BGC addressed this in an email to the Observer . Spokesperson Hannah Sloane cited previous BGC communication in which the company noted that “new members can be appointed to GFI’s board at any time between annual meetings by a majority of its existing directors without the need for approval by GFI management, and their board can have up to nine members.” But remember how Ms. Cassoni got hit by a bus? Well, as mentioned above, she resigned from the special committee. So even if the remaining two on the special committee were inclined toward BGC—and that’s a big if—it’s unclear how BGC could ever get the three-person majority it needs in order to stack the board with its people.

So that’s where this strange mini-Barbarians at the Gate stands today. After the revised BGC offer came in, GFI’s board voted to re-engage BGC on the basis that its new proposal might reasonably be approved, so the special committee, without Ms. Cassoni, is back talking to BGC. (Mr. Heffron and Mr. Gooch abstained and the three independent directors voted yes.)

Once again, top executives at both GFI and BGC declined to return emails and phone calls for comment—emails to others went unreturned, save for the insiders who spoke to the Observer. Given the touchy nature of the talks and the hostility between the camps, even the official spokespeople for both sides declined to be cited beyond referring to earlier published statements.

At this point, it would seem virtually impossible for BGC to prevail. Even with an improved offer, a lowered threshold, and some of the conditions the Observer detailed having melted away, the position of the CME-favoring insiders plus the anxiety around the RSUs, plus the curveball of Ms. Cassoni’s resignation might just be too much to overcome. But Wall Street observers know it’s never smart to count out Howard Lutnick, who has been mentioned as a potential 2017 mayoral candidate . Even if he fails to acquire GFI, he’s already increased the value of his 13% stake by many millions and forced a competitor to pay a lot more than it hoped.

Stay tuned. This twisting story clearly has a few more chapters yet to be written.

• SEE ALSO : New York State May Soon Have the Highest-Paid Lawmakers in the US

We noticed you're using an ad blocker.

We get it: you like to have control of your own internet experience. But advertising revenue helps support our journalism. To read our full stories, please turn off your ad blocker. We'd really appreciate it.

How Do I Whitelist Observer?

Below are steps you can take in order to whitelist Observer.com on your browser:

For Adblock:

Click the AdBlock button on your browser and select Don't run on pages on this domain .

For Adblock Plus on Google Chrome:

Click the AdBlock Plus button on your browser and select Enabled on this site.

For Adblock Plus on Firefox:

Click the AdBlock Plus button on your browser and select Disable on Observer.com.

• Скидки дня
• Справка и помощь
• Адрес доставки Идет загрузка... Ошибка: повторите попытку ОК
• Продажи
• Список отслеживания Развернуть список отслеживаемых товаров Идет загрузка... Войдите в систему , чтобы просмотреть свои сведения о пользователе
• Краткий обзор
• Недавно просмотренные
• Ставки/предложения
• Список отслеживания
• История покупок
• Купить опять
• Объявления о товарах
• Сохраненные запросы поиска
• Сохраненные продавцы
• Сообщения
• Развернуть корзину Идет загрузка... Произошла ошибка. Чтобы узнать подробнее, посмотрите корзину.

Oops! Looks like we're having trouble connecting to our server.

Refresh your browser window to try again.

Related Searches

• disney yacht club
• disney world mug
• disney vacation club member cruise
• disney resort
• disneyland cup
• beach club disney
• disney store mug
• disney vacation club rental
• disney world starbucks mug
• disney world vacation rental
• disney resorts
• mickey mouse cup
• disney world beach towel
• beach party at walt disney world
• disney park mug