The Succession Season 4 Business Deal Is Confusing Fans On Twitter

Succession’s fourth and final season has already delivered plenty of buzzy moments — from relationship drama to that much-memed handbag faux pas. And you can thoroughly enjoy all of that without ever understanding the corporate wheeling and dealing the Roy kids are up to! But sometimes, you have to wonder: what’s going on, exactly?

If the finer details of Succession’s mergers and acquisitions tend to elude you, you’re not alone. They don’t always make sense to the people who actually do this stuff for a living, either. For example, there’s the scene in the Season 4 premiere where Kendall, Roman, and Shiv are trying to outbid their dad for the sale of Pierce Global Media. “I think it’s made quite clear within the episode that the pricing battle is an ego play and while ego can drive a huge number of decisions, the episode isn’t reflective of real-world corporate governance,” Natalie Burns, UnitedUs strategy partner, told Raconteur.

Shawbrook Bank’s Oliver Wilson told the business site that the conversation lacked due diligence. “[In real life] these deals are negotiated comprehensively by a range of advisers who will typically handle the intricacies such as valuation, legal, and the strategic fit between the two businesses,” he explained.

The experts seemed to acknowledge, though, that there’s a clear reason for Succession to streamline certain aspects of business: entertainment! It wouldn’t be that fun to watch a hyperrealistic play-by-play of every corporate betrayal that happens on this show (and there’s a lot of them).

But for many viewers, even the HBO-ified version of Roy family business is too much sometimes. Like during the April 3 episode, which saw Kendall, Roman, and Shiv reckon with the reality of their latest power play — which involved everything from fielding secret phone calls to the possibility of a board meeting ambush.

Fans took to Twitter to air their confusion.

So, what’s actually happening? During the Season 4 premiere, the kids decided to pursue Pierce with a $10 billion, “conversation-ending” offer for their business. They wanted to break free from Logan and use the money they’d receive from Waystar’s imminent sale to GoJo (Lukas Matsson’s company) to do it.

But during the April 2 episode, they were presented with some other possibilities. Stewy Hosseini (Arian Moayed) and Sandi Furness (Hope Davis) met with the kids (the “Rebel Alliance,” as they’ve been dubbed) and accused them of rushing the deal for “emotional reasons,” which is absolutely true. They proposed Kendall, Roman, and Shiv join them in voting “no” on the GoJo sale during the upcoming board meeting — not to stop the sale but to get more money out of it in negotiations.

Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) called Kendall, though, and said he would walk away from the deal if he received any more pushback. Interestingly, even knowing that, Kendall told his siblings he supported voting “no.” He seems to want to get back at his dad (valid) more than he wants that sweet GoJo money.

By the end of the episode, there was another twist: Logan postponed the board meeting and asked Roman to work with him at ATN. So it’s not clear what, exactly, will happen to the upcoming sale — but it’s safe to say the siblings aren’t totally aligned with how to go forward.