Media Reflections of Corporate Raiders
Although private equity rarely received a thorough treatment in popular culture, several films did feature stereotypical "corporate raiders" prominently. Among the most notable examples of private equity featured in motion pictures included:
- Gordon Gekko, Wall Street (1987) and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)– The notorious "corporate raider" and greenmailer, Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas), represents a synthesis of the worst features of various famous private equity figures. In the film, the character intends to manipulate an ambitious young stockbroker to take over a failing, but decent, airline. Although Gekko makes a pretense of caring about the airline, his intentions prove to be to destroy the airline, strip its assets and lay off its employees before raiding the corporate pension fund. Gekko would become a symbol in popular culture for unrestrained greed (with the signature line, "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good") that would be attached to the private equity industry. Sir Lawrence Wildman, based on Sir James Goldsmith also appears in Wall Street.
- "Larry the Liquidator", Other People's Money (1990) – A self-absorbed corporate raider "Larry the Liquidator" (Danny DeVito), sets his sights on New England Wire and Cable, a small-town business run by family patriarch Gregory Peck who is principally interested in protecting his employees and the town.
- Edward Lewis, Pretty Woman (1990) – Corporate raider Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) attempts to make a hostile takeover of Morse Industries. Edward explains what he does for a living to Vivian (Julia Roberts): he buys large companies that are on the verge of bankruptcy, breaks them up and sells them in smaller parts, at a price that's more than the whole company, for profit.
- On the soap opera General Hospital, character Jasper Jacks is a corporate raider.
Read more about this topic: Corporate Raid
Famous quotes containing the words media, reflections, corporate and/or raiders:
“Few white citizens are acquainted with blacks other than those projected by the media and the so—called educational system, which is nothing more than a system of rewards and punishments based upon one’s ability to pledge loyalty oaths to Anglo culture. The media and the “educational system” are the prime sources of racism in the United States.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“From the oyster to the eagle, from the swine to the tiger, all animals are to be found in men and each of them exists in some man, sometimes several at the time. Animals are nothing but the portrayal of our virtues and vices made manifest to our eyes, the visible reflections of our souls. God displays them to us to give us food for thought.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“Power, in Case’s world, meant corporate power. The zaibatsus, the multinationals ..., had ... attained a kind of immortality. You couldn’t kill a zaibatsu by assassinating a dozen key executives; there were others waiting to step up the ladder; assume the vacated position, access the vast banks of corporate memory.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)
“This is our fate: eight hundred years’ disaster,
crazily tangled like the Book of Kells:
the dream’s distortion and the land’s division,
the midnight raiders and the prison cells.”
—John Hewitt (b. 1907)