Harrison picks up both gloves between his thumb and forefinger, the way a man holds a dead mouse by the tail. He holds them over the wastebasket for a long second, making sure every camera in the room sees what he is about to do. Then he drops them in. He pulls a linen handkerchief from his breast pocket and wipes his palm. One can never be too careful.
You never know what might rub off on you in a room like this. The room goes silent. It is the kind of silence that happens when 300 people simultaneously realize they have just witnessed something that will be replayed on every news network in the country before sundown. Margaret Sullivan stands up at the press table. Her pen falls to the floor.
Catherine Anderson, standing at the back wall, puts one hand flat against the wood paneling to steady herself. Whitney does not move for a full 3 seconds. She looks at Harrison, not angry, not stunned, almost sad, like a doctor who has just confirmed a diagnosis she was hoping she would not have to deliver. Then she reaches down. She picks up her signed copy of the contract from the table.
She holds it up so every camera in the room can see it clearly. And she tears it in half. The sound is small, a single ripping noise, but the livestream microphones catch it. Twenty million people watching on Bloomberg, CNBC, and the Chronicle stream hear it at the same time. She lays the two halves back on the table.
She straightens her jacket. She looks directly into the lens of the Bloomberg camera. My name is Whitney Moore. I am the founder and chief executive of Moore Strategic Capital. As of this moment, 11:11 a.m. Eastern Time, Project Foundry is canceled.
The full $1.5 billion facility is withdrawn. The reason has just been broadcast live to every one of you watching. Thank you for being witnesses. She turns. She walks toward the elevator with Theodore at her shoulder.
The reporters part for her like water around a ship. Harrison is still standing at the table. He has not said a word. The elevator doors close behind Whitney. The room erupts.
11:12 a.m. Whitmore Industries stock drops 9% in 4 minutes. 11:15 a.m. CNBC breaks into regular programming. Breaking. Whitmore Industries $1.5 billion deal collapses on live broadcast. CEO Harrison Whitmore appears to have made racially inflammatory remarks during the signing ceremony itself.
11:17 a.m. Harrison's daughter, Sophie, sends a text from Stanford. Dad, what did you do? No question mark. 11:20 a.m. Trading is halted on Whitmore Industries pending a corporate statement. 11:23 a.m. Margaret Sullivan posts the new clip.