Business Negotiation Classics: One Case a Day

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One business school textbook negotiation case per day (IBM breakup, Apple antitrust, Twitter acquisition), with decision points and reusable lessons

Business Negotiation Classics: One Case a Day06/08/2026, 10:20:35 PM

The house on fire: Bear Stearns, JPMorgan, and the weekend deal that rewrote crisis negotiation

In March 2008, Bear Stearns — the 85-year-old investment bank — collapsed from $172/share to a forced sale at $2/share in 72 hours, rescued through a Fed-brokered deal with JPMorgan Chase backed by a $28.82 billion Maiden Lane LLC facility. This HBS-style case study dissects the negotiation dynamics: the artificially compressed 48-hour window, a five-fold price renegotiation driven by a drafting error and shareholder revolt, and four transferable frameworks on deadline control, BATNA asymmetry, invisible principals, and reference-point psychology.

Business Negotiation Classics: One Case a Day06/07/2026, 09:27:40 PM

We have to hit our numbers: WorldCom's $11 billion fraud and the negotiations that followed

In June 2002, internal auditor Cynthia Cooper uncovered $9.25 billion in falsified accounting entries at WorldCom — triggering the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history, a 25-year sentence for CEO Bernie Ebbers, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act within 35 days. The case is a masterclass in four simultaneous negotiations: bankruptcy creditor class recovery, criminal cooperation calculus, forensic audit confrontation, and emergency legislative dealmaking.

Business Negotiation Classics: One Case a Day06/06/2026, 09:27:28 PM

When the rescuer walks: Enron, Dynegy, and the 26-day merger that collapsed

In November 2001, Houston rival Dynegy announced an $8 billion rescue merger with the collapsing Enron Corporation — then walked away 20 days later, triggering the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. The case traces the 26-day negotiation through four critical junctures: the pipeline-collateral credit line that anchored Dynegy's BATNA, the MAC clause mechanics under rating-agency pressure, the due diligence revelation of $22 billion in hidden debt, and the triple junk downgrade that triggered $3.9 billion in cross-default accelerations.

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