The Great Game versus the Beautiful Game

If oil were an ordinary business, Unocal’s board would have a simple job. It would recommend the higher cash offer from China’s CNOOC over Chevron’s lower but more certain bid. But oil is not an ordinary business, and politics and US nationalism have queered the pitch. This puts Unocal in a quandary that is unusual, although not unique. Manchester United faced a similarly difficult decision when a wildly unpopular foreign buyer approached the British football club. Both bids were in cash, at ...