Gordon Gekko: [at the Teldar Paper stockholder's meeting] Well, I appreciate the opportunity you're giving me Mr. Cromwell as the single largest shareholder in Teldar Paper, to speak. Well, ladies and gentlemen we're not here to indulge in fantasy but in political and economic reality. America, America has become a second-rate power. Its trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at
nightmare proportions. Now, in the days of the free market when our country was a top industrial power, there was accountability to the stockholder. The Carnegies, the Mellons, the men that built this great industrial empire, made sure of it because it was their money at stake. Today, management has no stake in the company! All together, these men sitting up here own less than three percent of the
company. And where does Mr. Cromwell put his million-dollar salary? Not in Teldar stock; he owns less than one percent. You own the company. That's right, you, the stockholder. And you are all being royally screwed over by these, these bureaucrats, with their luncheons, their hunting and fishing trips, their corporate jets and golden parachutes.
Cromwell: This is an
outrage! You're out of line, Gekko!
Gordon Gekko: Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell, Teldar Paper has 33 different vice presidents each earning over 200 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still can't figure it out. One thing I do know is that our paper company lost 110 million dollars last year, and I'll bet that
half of that was spent in all the paperwork going back and forth between all these vice presidents. The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated. In the last seven deals that I've been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. Thank
you. I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. 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. And greed, you mark my
words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.
Gordon Gekko: The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.
Gordon Gekko: [meeting alone together in Central Park] Hiya, Buddy.
Bud Fox: [nods as the both walk up to face one another] Gordon.
Gordon Gekko: [with a smirk on his face] Sand bagged me on Bluestar huh? I guess you think you taught the teacher a lesson that the tail can wag the dog huh? Well let me clue you in, pal. The ice is
melting right underneath your feet.
[punches Bud and grabs him by the coattails]
Gordon Gekko: Did you think you could've gotten this far this fast with anyone else, huh? That you'd be out there dicking someone like Darien? No. You'd still be cold calling widows and dentists tryin' to sell 'em 20 shares of some dog shit stock. I took you in.
[hits him again]
Gordon Gekko: A NOBODY!
[and again]
Gordon Gekko: I opened the doors for you! Showed you how the system works! The value of information! How to *get it*! Fulham oil! Brant resources! Geodynamics! And this is how you fucking pay me back you COCKROACH?
[hits him once again and Bud falls to the ground]
Gordon Gekko:
I GAVE you Darien. I GAVE you your manhood. I gave you EVERYTHING!
[calms down, then takes out his handkerchief and throws it to Bud to clean off the blood]
Gordon Gekko: You could've been one of the great ones Buddy. I looked at you and saw myself. Why?
Bud Fox: [getting up] I don't know. I guess I realized that I'm just Bud Fox.
[firmly]
Bud Fox: As much as I wanted to be Gordon Gekko, I'll *always* be Bud Fox.
[tosses back the handkerchief and walks away]
[Early in the morning, Bud's phone rings]
Bud Fox: [answers the phone] Yeah.
Gordon Gekko: Money never sleeps, pal. Just made 800,000 in Hong Kong gold. It's been wired to you. Play with it. You've done good, but you gotta keep doing good. I've showed you how the game works. Now School's out.
Bud Fox: Mr, Gekko, I'm there for
you 110%.
Gordon Gekko: No, no, no, no. You don't understand. I wanna be surprised. Astonish me, pal. New info. I don't care where or how you get it, just get it. My wife tells me you made a move on Darien. Well, here some inside info for you: That euro-flash G.Q.-type she's going out with has got big bucks, but he's putting her feet to sleep. Exit Visas are imminent, so I
don't want you losing your place in line.
[take a look at the sunrise]
Gordon Gekko: Ah, Jesus. I wish you could see this. Light's coming up. I've never seen a painting that captures the beauty of the ocean at a moment like this. I'm gonna make you rich, Bud Fox. Yeah. Rich enough, you can afford a girl like Darien. This is your wake-up call, pal. Go to work.
[Blue Star has gone from 24 to 16 1/2 in a very short time]
Gordon Gekko: Fox, where the hell are you? I am losing MILLIONS! You got me into this airline and you sure as hell better get me out or the only job you'll ever have on the Street is SWEEPING IT! You hear me, Fox?
Bud Fox: You once told me, don't get emotional about stock. Don't! The bid is
16 1/2 and going down. As your broker, I advise you to take it.
Gordon Gekko: Yeah. Well you TAKE IT!
[shouts]
Gordon Gekko: *Right in the ass you fucking scumbag cocksucker!*
Bud Fox: It's two minutes to closing, Gordon. What do you want to do? Decide.
Gordon Gekko: [calms down] Dump it.
Gordon Gekko: The most valuable commodity I know of is information.
Carl Fox: He's using you, kid. He's got your prick in his back pocket, but you're too blind to see it.
Bud Fox: No. What I see is a jealous old machinist who can't stand the fact that his son has become more successful than he has!
Carl Fox: What you see is a guy who never measured a man's success by the size of his WALLET!
Bud Fox: That's because you never had the GUTS to go out into the world and stake your own claim!
[Long Pause]
Carl Fox: Boy, if that's the way you feel, I must have done a really lousy job as a father.