Editing Corporate raid (section)

==Media reflections of corporate raiders==
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Although private equity rarely received a thorough treatment in popular culture, several films have prominently featured corporate raiders. Among the most notable examples are:
* [[Gordon Gekko]], ''[[Wall Street (1987 film)|Wall Street]]'' (1987) and ''[[Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps]]'' (2010) – The notorious "corporate raider" and greenmailer, (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. Larry ultimately wins over the shareholders when he admits he did not cause the company to fail; rather it was making outmoded equipment, using the analogy of 19th century buggy whip makers who failed to realize they were being superseded by the automobile.
* 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.
* That Guy, ''[[Futurama]]'' [[Futurama (season 3)|season 3]] episode, "[[Future Stock]]" (2002) – A sleazy businessman from the 1980s who froze himself to the early-31st century in hopes for a cure for a disease called "[[List of fictional diseases#In television|bonitis]]". During the Planet Express company stockholders' meeting, [[Philip J. Fry|Fry]] elects That Guy as the company's CEO, beating [[Professor Farnsworth]] by one vote. That Guy finds a way to commit a hostile takeover for the company which concerns the crew , only to announce that he is selling Planet Express to MomCorp, [[Mom (Futurama)|Mom]]'s ruthless robot manufacturing company. The character resembles that of Gordon Gekko from ''Wall Street''.
* Devin Weston, ''[[Grand Theft Auto V]]'' (2013) – Weston is initially presented as a self-made billionaire who made his fortune as a [[venture capitalist]]. In reality, he is a corporate raider who finds loopholes in legal contracts that he uses to [[asset stripping|strip companies of their assets]] simply because he can, and because he enjoys knowing that his victims can do nothing to stop him. Over the course of the game, he attempts to force the Richards Majestic film studio into bankruptcy by sabotaging production of a major film, leaving the owners with no choice but to sell their stake in the company to him. Once he has a majority shareholding (and after collecting the insurance on the film), he plans to tear the studios down and build luxury apartments in their place. The player is able to prevent this from happening by retrieving the film stolen by Weston, but this causes Weston to harbour a grudge against the player character, and he becomes one of the primary antagonists of the game. If the player chooses Ending C, Weston is killed along with the other three antagonists.