As seen in the movie, he is very impatient and has no time to wait for career growth, so he is determined to get in contact with Gordon Gekko, a big stock trader in the corporate world. Bud tries to get an appointment with Gordon multiple times but he failed. It was not until he delivered a box of Cuban cigars to Mr.Gekko to call his attention and start pitching stocks. His behavior is affected after he starts working with Gekko, while becoming his apprentice. Bud makes big commission fees by placing Gekkos trades and acquires lots of perks with that such as a luxury apartment in Manhattan and a girlfriend. During this time, Bud is promoted and offered an office at work and uses his friend at work buy stocks. Throughout these events, Bud starts showing an aggressive and arrogant character while following Gekkos wrong advice to not play by the rules as he did in the
past, but using insider trading.
His motivation for money changes after the Bluestar deal turnaround. Bud pitches the idea of buying Bluestar Arilines to fix it and make money in the long term. He tries to convince the workers union for support but the head of the union, Buds father, does not agree. He has a heated discussion with his father and completely loses his temper. When Bud learns that Gekkos plans are to sell the company instead, he realizes that money makes you do things you do not want to do. He confronts Gekko because workers will lose their jobs and he does not agree with that. After his fathers heart attack, Bud cries and tells his father that he loves him and apologizes for the heated talk the other day and promises a plan to prevent employees from losing their jobs. In the end, Bud accepts where his motivation for money took him and ends up in jail.