In Hollywood, the term “high concept” demands that a pitch for a movie be clear within just a few words. Very often, the high-concept pitch gets distilled to a simple cross match: “‘Finding Nemo.’” It’s like ‘Jaws’ meets ‘Garfield’ meets ‘The Lion King,’” might be a (fictional) example.

Such thinking isn’t limited to the palm-lined boulevards of Los Angeles. It applies to the world of mergers and acquisitions as well, as deal makers search for the right precedents to explain how they think a deal will play out. Last night, Deal Journal attended a deal maker-packed soiree where we heard some pretty interesting high-concept connections for InBev’s proposed, unsolicited $46.35 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch. Here is Wall Street’s concept pitch for Anheuser-InBev drama, and Deal Journal’s own handicapping of how well the comparisons hold:

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Photo by J. R. Eyerman/Life Magazine/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Microsoft-Yahoo: This is the favored comparison for fatalists who believe InBev could walk away from Anheuser-Busch at some point. Their fears are fueled by Anheuser-Busch’s option to buy the rest of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo. That would tack an easy $15 billion to the deal’s price tag and potentially wreck InBev’s credit rating. Those who see Microsoft-Yahoo as a model for InBev-Anheuser also fret about the high premium InBev is paying at $65 a share. The offer is a 35% premium to A-B’s 30-day average share price and well above the highest stock price that A-B has ever hit. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for a sweetened bid. Remember, Microsoft offered a 62% premium to Yahoo at $31 a share, leaving itself very little room to bid up - in retrospect, a misstep.
Con: InBev appears more organized than Microsoft was for Yahoo. Microsoft’s sudden shifts in strategy left observers confused about the company’s plan to win Yahoo. InBev, on the other hand, worked out the financing and chose its banks and strategy well before launching the offer. InBev also is actually taking advice from its investment bankers, while Microsoft frequently locked them out. In a statement today, InBev pointedly said “it has obtained committed financing and has paid approximately $50 million in [financing commitment] fees, demonstrating InBev’s resolve to consummate a combination with Anheuser-Busch.” (The lucky banks that received InBev’s largesse were Banco Santander, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Fortis, ING Bank, JP Morgan, Mizuho Corporate Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland). And InBev CEO Carlos Brito’s charm offensive includes guaranteeing A-B that its brand will be represented and that its U.S. breweries will stay open. Microsoft was vague on how it would integrate Yahoo. Microsoft also had Google on its mind the entire time, while InBev doesn’t seem to have a specific competitor it is trying to foil.

InBev Labatt: This is another comparison that strikes fear into A-B workers. After what was then called Interbrew bought Labatt from South American brewer Companhia de Bebidas das Americas, or AmBev, at the time of the creation of InBev, there ensued years of union turmoil, described in this article in the St. Louis-Dispatch.
Con: InBev said it has no plans to tinker extensively with the staffing of U.S. breweries, partially because it needs as much of a presence in the U.S. as it can get.

Dow Jones-News Corp.: The comparison here is to a family-controlled business, facing a rich, unsolicited offer where the family is divided on the bid’s outcome. Just as the Bancrofts disagreed over a sale of Dow Jones, the Busches appear divided about InBev’s offer. You can see the complicated family dynamics encapsulated in August Busch IV’s comments about his father to our own David Kesmodel: “I never, ever had a father-son relationship.” It’s “purely business.” “His love and respect will be when I’m ultimately successful.”
Con: Not much, since the metaphor holds pretty well. It bears remembering that News Corp. won. Still, the dynamics of a divided family complicate the M&A tango.