Summary
We see a meeting of stockholders for Teldar Paper. A man at a podium warns that the company is being taken over by Gordon Gekko. He warns the stockholders that they must be vigilant about Gekko's takeover, and we see Gekko and Bud in the crowd, as people erupt in applause. Gekko stands with a microphone. "I appreciate the opportunity you're giving me as the single largest shareholder in Teldar Paper to speak," says Gekko.
Gekko makes a speech about the dire crisis of the American economy, saying that the deficit is at "nightmare proportions." He speaks nostalgically of the days of the free market in which America was a top industrial power, growing more and more passionate as he speaks. At one point, he says, passionately, "I am not a destroyer of companies! I am a liberator of them!" As he continues, he says, "Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind." As he finishes his speech, the room erupts in applause.
"Fly Me to the Moon" plays again, and we see Bud in his apartment making a deal over the phone. He tells Darien, who is sitting on the bed, that he is a mastermind, and she complains that they haven't been getting enough sleep.
The next day, on a private plane, Bud talks to Gekko about the benefits of buying Bluestar Airlines and trying to refurbish the company. Gekko doesn't think it's such a good idea, but Bud insists that it would be a good move; "It's gonna make us a fortune!" he says. Bud tells Gekko that they can use the union concessions to build savings with the airline, and eventually Gekko agrees to taking a meeting with the people from Bluestar.
Carl comes to a meeting with Bud and Gekko at Bud's apartment. Darien introduces herself and Carl is taken aback by the lavishness of his son's apartment. The meeting begins, and Carl says that he doesn't feel comfortable with Gekko's lawyer present. The lawyer is dismissed and the group sits down to sushi and a conversation.
Gekko makes a pitch to Carl and some people who work for Bluestar, saying that Bluestar is headed for disaster. When one of the employees asks Gekko what's to prevent him from ruining the company as well, he insists that he knows a way around it to make the airline profitable. "I'm asking for a modest 20% across the board wage cut, and 7 more hours a month," he proposes, suggesting that if he can turn the company around, he will bring salaries back to normal.
When one of the Bluestar employees asks about Gekko's marketing strategy, how he plans to make a profit from the company, he lets Bud take over, and Bud tells them about his plans to modernize the company. "We gotta think big, guys, we're going after the majors," says Bud.
While the two other Bluestar employees are interested in the deal, Carl is completely unimpressed, and accuses Gekko of not caring about Bluestar or the union. "If we do this deal, everybody gains," Gekko tells Carl, but Carl maintains that the owners of Bluestar built it up from one plane and are more invested in the wellbeing of the company than Gekko ever could be. "You know where I stand, goodnight all," Carl says, leaving the room.
Bud chases him and scolds him for embarrassing him in his apartment, and warns him that the airline is going to go under, taking Carl with it. "He's using you kid. He's got your prick in his back pocket, but you're too blind to see it," Carl says, getting in the elevator. Carl loses his temper, telling his son that he's never measured a man's success "by the size of his wallet." After Bud berates his father more for never having been more of a success, Carl leaves, dejected and insistent that he will continue to work to protect his union members. He leaves, telling Bud he's going to let his men decide about the future of the company.
The next day, we see some men in an office at the SEC who have become aware of Roger Barnes' slippery business deals with Bud. The scene shifts to Bud visiting Roger Barnes, who's called him in for a meeting about the fact that the SEC has approached Roger looking to see his records. Bud tells him to relax and assures him that the SEC never comes up with anything, that they're invulnerable. Roger wants to suspend their business and be in less contact in order to get the SEC off his trail, and Bud agrees.
An assistant comes in and beckons Roger into a meeting about Bluestar, a meeting which Gekko didn't tell Bud about. Roger invites him in to the meeting and Bud follows him into a boardroom, where a lawyer is railing against Gekko's shady business, and the fact that Gekko plans to sell all of Bluestar's assets. Bud looks dismayed, and goes immediately to Gekko's office, storming in and interrupting a meeting.
When Gekko dismisses the other men in his office, Bud confronts Gekko about lying to him. "Why do you have to wreck this company?" Bud asks, to which Gekko replies, snarling, "Because it's wreck-able!" Bud yells at Gekko, "My father has worked there for 24 years, I gave him my word," but Gekko insists, "It's all about bucks," before assuring Bud that he will make so much money that he'll be able to support his father, insisting that they are dealing with "capitalism at its finest." Bud looks discouraged as Gekko invites him over to dinner with Darien. After Bud declines the dinner invitation, Gekko asks him, "I need to know if you're with me," and Bud says that he is.
After Bud leaves, Gekko goes over to his phone and calls someone and threatens them, thinking they are the ones that talked about the Bluestar deal. On the street, Bud contemplates his next move, looking up at Gekko's office with a stoic expression.
Analysis
As we see in the Teldar stockholder convention, Gekko's charisma is linked not only to his smooth talking, but also to his ability to wield highfalutin language in his rhetoric to pull his listeners onto his side. After a man goes after him for his greed, Gekko expertly launches into a speech about the good old days of the free market, and references a larger American crisis. By connecting his financial project to a larger and more ethical project, in spite of his crooked business methods, Gordon has the power of rhetoric on his side, and he draws attention away from his own shady dealings by assuming a moral high horse.
Yet the most impressive thing about Gekko's rhetorical methods is the fact that he repurposes his less savory traits and values into ethical ones. In an iconic cinematic turn of phrase, Gekko insists that "greed is good." He goes on to say that greed is central to human evolution, and that it is "right," in that it motivates humans to become better and to fight for more. In a room filled with people, Gekko elaborates on his bullying attitudes in order to make them seem like a virtue. Terrifyingly enough, his methods work, and he is met with applause.
One person on whom Gekko's flashy attitude does not work is Carl Fox, who watches Gekko with a skepticism. At the moments that Gekko expects Carl to laugh or be charmed, Carl stares at him, unimpressed. In Bud's scheme to take over and revitalize Bluestar Airlines, his two diametrically opposed paternal figures must come head to head, confronting their wildly different world views. Where Carl thinks that money creates more problems than solutions, Gordon Gekko is addicted to the the pursuit of wealth. In this way, the differences between the two men represents the conflict taking place in Bud's psyche.
For the first time in the film, someone disagrees with the greedy ethic of the lead characters. Carl speaks back to Gekko's plans, saying confidently that Gekko is just another rich man who wants to exploit the poor. Where Gekko's vision is specific and tailored to his priorities and his experience, Carl speaks from a more structural sureness, addressing the history of exploitation and equating Gekko's greed with that of the Egyptian pharoahs and a broader definition of the upper classes. His disdain for Gekko and everything he represents is not limited to their business relationship, but to a broader critique of the wealthy.
Bud is the last person to see Gekko's greed and ruthlessness for what it really is, and it takes until Gekko attacks his father's company for his protege to realize. Indirectly, Bud learns that Gekko has no plans to help Bluestar thrive, but simply said so with plans to sell all of the company's assets from under it. In a boardroom at Roger Barnes' law office, we see the realization flash across a closeup of Bud's face, that everything he has invested his career in is a lie, that the loyalty and trust he believed himself to be building with Gekko are a farce, and that he must maintain his family loyalties before he sells his father out to a corporate bully.
