Wall Street Page #7

are at nightmare

proportions.

Now, in the days

of the free market,

when we were

a top industrial power,

there was accountability

to the stockholder.

The Carnegies, the Mellons,

the men

that built this empire,

did it because it was

their money at stake.

Today, management has

no stake in the company!

Altogether,

these men sitting up here

own less than 3%

of the company.

Where does Mr. Cromwell put

his million-dollar salary?

Not in Teldar Stock.

He owns less than 1%.

You own the company.

That's right.

You, the stockholder.

You are all being

royally screwed over

by these...

these bureaucrats

with their steak luncheons,

hunting and fishing trips,

their corporate jets,

and golden parachutes.

This is an outrage!

You're out of line, Gekko!

Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell,

Teldar Paper has 33

different vice presidents,

each earning

over $200,000 a year.

Now I've spent

the last two months

analyzing what

these guys do.

I still can't figure it out.

One thing I do know

is that our paper company

lost $110 million last year.

I'll bet half of that

was spent in the paperwork

going back and forth between 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

who have made a pretax

profit of $12 billion.

Thank you.

I am not a destroyer

of companies.

I am a liberator

of them!

The point is,

ladies and gentlemen,

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 U.S.A.

Thank you very much.

Great!

Thank you.

Buy me 20 June

eurodollar CDs,

and sell 10 September deutschmarks.

Right.

Talk at you, babe.

Aww! Buddy! Buddy!

I hate to tell you this,

but you are a genius!

Darien, lightning has struck.

The light bulb

has been invented.

Bluestar! Edison, Da Vinci, Einstein,

they're watching me.

Have you heard

of the 60-hour work week?

You've got to

go to work soon,

and I'm getting psychotic

from lack of REM sleep.

You think I'm going

to broker forever?

I'll be a giant,

an entrepreneur

In the Italian 16th-century

sense of the word.

I'm shooting

for the stars.

You're coming along

for the ride.

Bluestar's an unpolished

gem, Gordon,

right out of the garbage.

A half-assed management

being decimated by a price war

they cannot win.

The gates at La Guardia

can bail us out.

If it's worth a dime,

it's worth $10 a share!

Mixed emotions, Buddy,

like Larry Wildman going off a cliff

in my new Maserati.

Hey, guys like me

have had their asses hung

with the airlines.

Fuel could go up,

unions are killers.

Aren't you forgetting

one thing?

Capital reserves.

This company has $75 million

in an overfunded pension.

That buys us

some credibility.

The beauty is

you own close to 2%.

The insurance people

are balking

on the logging trucks.

What do you want

to do?

We'll self-insure

if they don't write it.

I can't believe it!

You fire half the management

and nothing changes!

Gordon...

what I want... and I've never asked you

for anything...

is to be your copilot

on this one.

I want to take

this airline,

turn it around,

and make it work.

I got a stockbroker that wants

to run an airline.

It'll take me 2 years

and 2,000 headaches

to turn

Teldar Paper around.

I'm up to my ass

in nuts.

I've worked

at Bluestar, Gordon.

I have friends there,

inside.

What do you mean?

The three unions.

It's 43% of Bluestar's

operating budget.

The hourly cost of a flight crew

is $850 an hour.

That's the real

hidden value.

If you negotiate

that out,

get a crew down

to $350 an hour,

this will be the hottest thing

since Texas Air.

What makes you think

you can?

I can talk to these people.

They trust me.

My father could be a help

in getting cuts.

All right... Susan,

get Buckingham on the phone.

Tell him

to look into it.

So the falcon's

heard the falconer, huh?

Hi, Dad.

Hello, son.

Sorry I'm late.

It's O.K.

Overdressed as usual.

Well, come on in.

Everybody's here.

We couldn't start the show

without you.

Well, I'll be

a lousy Republican.

I decorate for Democrats, too,

lots of them.

I'm Darien Taylor.

Hi.

Bud's told me

about you.

I never beat him

or locked him in a closet.

I think

he turned out O.K.

Bud's a born liar,

otherwise a good kid.

I hope you come

more often.

Thank you.

Dad, you know

Duncan Wilmore.

Since before

you were born.

Toni Carpenter,

flight attendants.

How are you?

And I'd like you

to meet Mr. Gekko.

Mr. Fox.

His attorney,

Mr. Saul.

I'd be proud to have a son

like Buddy.

I thought this was

an informal gathering.

What's your attorney

doing here?

Harold, you don't mind

walking around the block

a couple of hundred times,

do you?

No offense.

None taken.

Oh, that's O.K., Gordon.

Bud does it all the time.

Look, I got no illusions

about winning

a popularity contest

with any of you.

I got roasted

the other night.

A friend of mine asked,

"why are we honoring this man?

Have we run out

of human beings?"

It's not the popular guy

who gets the job done.

You got losses

of $20 to $30 million,

dividends cut to zero,

and you're being squeezed to death

by the majors.

Present management

may not be the worst scum,

but they're the guys that

put you on this course.

Pretty soon, everybody

will be scrambling for parachutes,

only there's not enough

to go around.

Management has them.

You don't.

Now, if they throw Bluestar

to Chapter 11,

which I think they will,

then they'll use

bankruptcy laws

to break your unions,

your contracts,

and throw you guys off the property.

What's to prevent you from doing

the same damn thing?

Because I got a way

around all of this,

a way we can

make money

and make the airline

profitable.

What do you say

we cut to the chase?

I'm asking for a 20%

across-the-board wage cut

and seven more hours

a month.

What kind of time frame?

Give me a year.

If we're still losing money,

the reduction stands.

If we're in the black, salaries go back

to their present level,

and we initiate an employee

profit-sharing program

with stock.

You can own part

of the airline.

Can you put that

in writing?

I'll have it drafted

in two days.

How will you return

to profitability?

Why don't I give Buddy

an opportunity to answer that?

Thank you, Gordon.

First of all,

I want you all to know

my door will always

be open to you

because I know

from my dad

that you keep

Bluestar flying.

This is a basic

three-point plan.

One... we modernize.

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