Hi listeners, it's Michaela. This is not an April Fool's joke. This is for real. This is

Behind the Money's final episode. So I want to take a moment to say a few things. The Behind

The Money podcast was first started at the FT back in 2018 by my predecessor, Amy Keen. I took over a little more than four years ago in 2022 when we relaunched as a weekly show.

In the more than 200 episodes since then, we've covered banking crises, the economic fallout

from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, tariff chaos, and a whole bunch of acronyms,

ESG, VC, and SRTs, just to name a few. We've told stories from all over the world.

Kenya, Indonesia, France, Germany, China, and Japan. And as I said in last week's show, it has been a total honor and a privilege to host and produce this show every Wednesday.

Since I made the announcement that the show was ending, I've received a number of lovely messages from you listeners.

Some of you have shared your favorite episodes with me, or even times when you listen to a show and it helped you out with your own job or professional goals.

There are a lot of ways to stay on top of finance and business news today, and I'm grateful that you chose to listen to behind the money, whether that's been for a few months or a few years.

I'd also like to extend thanks to the team who've worked with me on this show for much of

the last four years. That's Tofor Forges, Sam Giavinko, and Safia Fmed. And a massive thanks

goes out to my colleagues, the brilliant FT reporters and editors who have shared their work with me for this show every week.

We could not have made this without you.

Now, for our final episode, we're bringing you what I would say is a classic behind the money show.

So settle in and enjoy.

Your Honor, I would call Will Haler to the stand. Okay, Mr. Haley, please come forward.

It's November 2024, inside a courtroom in Delaware.

Please take the stand and remain standing for the oath.

Please state your full name and spell your last name for the court record.

William Haler, W-I-L-L-I-A-M, H-A-I-L-E-R.

Do you affirm that you would tell the truth, the whole truth?

...