Kennedy Butler
EEE 2083
14 September 2022
Discussion Paper 2: Other People's Money
What do you think of when you think of someone “winning” in corporate America? The film, Other People’s Money tells the story of the New England Wire and Cable Company, founded by the Jorgenson family. This company is a debt-free company that also happens to be publicly traded, meaning that ownership is shared/given via stock shares and are intended for free trade. This has its perks because it provides publicity and media coverage opportunities.The climax and overarching plot of this film is about the desired takeover of the New England Wire and Cable Company (NEWC) by Garfield Industries. The president of this company, “Larry the Liquidator”, is passionate about this takeover because he believes this is a dying industry. While he is infamously known for buying companies like NEWC and using them to sell off assets, he tries to convince the company that he is doing this for positive reasons. The plot goes on outlining lots of back and forth debating and various differences and oppositions between Kate and Larry, as well as some relational tension and romantic sparks. The conclusion of the film is Kate bringing Larry a contract she has recently been offered by a Japanese company to make and sell airbags. She proposes this to him to buy back NEWC.
This film was interesting to me because, first, it reminded me a bit of parts of my favorite movie Pretty Woman, where there is a big company that also buys and sells companies for their assets, much like Larry does. Honestly, after watching this film, I am met with lots of thoughts about this idea of company takeovers. I feel like this is something that happens more often than we might think. Whether it be a local company that we don’t hear much about, or bigger scale things, such as Elon Musk buying stocks of various companies, or tweeting that he is going to buy Coca-Cola. Either way, with the way the free market is in the United States, this is something that is present and that I don’t imagine will go away. It leads me to question if there might be a line between America's small businesses that are always there for the community and the big corporate America that seems to oftentimes be hungry for takeover and capitalizing on profit, as we see in this film.
When thinking about the aspect of this film and how it affects entrepreneurship and society, I honestly am met with a lot of grey area, as I think that the entrepreneur and society in various stages could potentially relate to both sides of his opposition we see in the film between Kate and Larry. In one hand, we have the entrepreneur that could fall into the NEWC, a business that seems to be for the people and for the community, while there could also be times where the entrepreneur is the “go-getter” like Larry who buys into corporate America and into stocks, continuing to attempt to liquidate assets. Is either one a bad thing? Honestly, I don’t know, but after watching this film, I think these two “characters” we see of the entrepreneur and society support each other more than stifle. Think about it, in the end, both just want to win, whatever the definition of “winning” might be. Larry says it himself in this film, “whoever has the most when he dies, wins”.
The big topic of this film, stock. Understanding the stock market is vital here for the entrepreneur and society. In addition, takeovers. Why do they happen? Who do they benefit? My final takeaway is this, publicly traded companies can offer so much to society and liquidation is not necessarily a bad thing.
Jewison, N., & Sargent, A. (1991). Other people's money. United States; Warner Bros.
- [Image Source]
-(https://tenor.com/search/money-gifs)