Business Deal Fan Prints

"And for a left-handed designated hitter and a player to be named later, Mr. Steinbrenner would gladly fly Elián home."

'Finally! A meeting with one of the bigwigs.'

UK/US Free Trade Deal

'It's a deal, lets sniff bottoms!'

"That's Paul, he's our head of partnerships..."

'You'll be happy to see that I've finally managed to turn things around.'

"Of course you can resign Ferguson. How would you like to buy back your freedom? Cash, credit card or easy payments?"

"I need to catch you after the meeting."

"People, the facts are inescapable. Any ideas on how we can ignore them?"

"...That's agreed then, we raise our salaries by 40%..."

"I always cry at mergers."

"Sir, I have a question that's lunch-related."

'Watch it...I'm carrying a concealed weapon...my lawyer.'

...and if the Chairman rings, find out who he is.

'No hostile takeover bids beyond this point.'

'So, summing up: we 'like' you and you 'like' us.'

Let's shake on it.

'In this pyramid we are unionized. We don't accept more than 50 lashes per day.'

"Remember, negotiating is like buying fruit. You don't know what you'll get until you squeeze 'em a bit."

'In conclusion, the supplier who can repeat this phrase fastest with least mistakes wins the catering contract...'

"We've got an application from a bank asking if we'd like to sponsor a branch."

'I'll give you this, Henderson - you're no worse than anyone else.'

"I came, I saw I takeovered."

"Don't anybody move: this is a merger."

'Our strategy is to begin the meeting with an ironclad no-negotiation policy - and negotiate from there.'

"Oh, I'm sorry, Berger. I must have accidentally pressed the 'Sycophant' button."

'I just wish, he had been more direct...

One man thinking 'merger', the other thinking 'takeover'.

'I guess you lost me, Hank, at the point where we jump to light speed, travel back in time and undo the stupid merger that's causing all of our current problems!'

'I thought we'd get a merger agreement, so I arranged for our accountant teams to be on hand.'

'We structured the deal so that you'll need a lawyer to explain it.'

'They want to know if they can have their arrows back.'

Chinese business cuisine.

'Sorry for interrupting. I didn't realize you were still trying to hammer out an agreement.'

'So, anyone have any idea how we go about explaining how we made a hostile takeover bid for one of our own subsidiaries?'