Could it be possible that two of the great TV bosses, Michael Scott and Bobby Axelrod are connected? The two of them have some similarities such as their humble beginnings, strong ability to motivate their employees and a successful track record. As evident from a season six episode of “The Office”, it seems that Dunder Mifflin and Axe Capital are a part of the same universe.
Here’s how it works. Season six of “The Office” takes place in 2010. At this time in our country, we were still recovering from the economic collapse of 2008. It took a very long for things to turn back to normal. In “Billions”, we seem to know very little about prominent character Mike “Wags” Wagner. What we do know about Wags is before Axe Capital, he worked at Lehman Brothers and met with Axe prior to the company’s collapse. Axe warned Wags of what was to become of Lehman Brothers, so he sold his stock right before many of his friends and coworkers suffered from their losses. Ever since then, Wags worshipped Axe due to the advice he was given and it is presumed following the collapse, Axe Capital was his next stop. By 2016, Wags is the COO of Axe Capital, but it is unlikely that he was immediately hired for this position. Axe takes way too long to trust and develop employees to give someone that kind of title without years of fierce loyalty. Now how did Wags earn that loyalty? By doing the dirty work.
As the economy started to recover, it was very common for those companies “too big to fail” to purchase those that were struggling. At this point in “The Office”, we know that Dunder Mifflin is about to go under. In the season six episode, “Shareholder Meeting”, we discover that the price of Dunder Mifflin’s stock has rapidly dropped to $1.13 a share. By “Secret Santa”, we know that Dunder Mifflin is going to be bought out, but we don’t know by who. By “The Banker”, an investment banker by the name of “Eric Ward” arrives in Scranton to do his due diligence on Dunder Mifflin. It is safe to assume that Axe Capital got involved with Sabre’s Jo Bennett and promised they would send one of their most trusted advisors to research the company before any deal was made. Axe Capital wasn’t brokering the deal, but made sure they and Jo would profit off any transaction, since Jo has been a longtime customer of the hedge fund. Wags went to Scranton under a different name and questioned the inner-workings of the company so Axe Capital knew what they were getting into before purchasing Dunder Mifflin stock. Once Michael and the rest of the Scranton branch passed the test, Wags probably told Axe the good news and they went all in as well as notified Jo to make it all official. This deal gave Axe Capital and Jo Bennett greater prosperity, helped Wags rise to the top and helped keep the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin stay afloat.
One can thank Bobby Axelrod for saving Dunder Mifflin and allowing all of our favorite characters from “The Office” to live their dreams. Michael Scott has been described in the show as a “accidental genius” of sorts and helping Axe Capital grow without knowing how he exactly did it, is something that would occur in an episode of “The Office”. Also Bobby Axelrod going through unethical methods to secure a successful deal would happen in “Billions”. Let’s hope in further episodes of “Billions” they acknowledge the Dunder Mifflin-Sabre merger that helped them go in the green for the first quarter of 2010. Or hope that Michael Scott runs in to Bobby Axelrod while grabbing an iconic “New York slice” at any place other than Sbarro. After all couldn’t we see Bobby Axelrod getting along very well with a man who wants people to be afraid of how much they love him?
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