It's the kind of deal that justifies a bucketful of business superlatives-massive, hard edged, record setting, lucrative. And all this from two companies that most Americans have never heard of—Mannesmann, a giant German telecommunications firm, and Vodafone, a British wireless provider. But the $190 billion merger of the two firms, which was inked last week after nearly five months of run-and-gun takeover negotiations, easily surpassed last month's AOL-Time Warner deal as the largest ever. And it was also proof, in some minds, that European business had finally arrived—albeit late—in the 20th century, complete with hostile bids, Wall Street sharks and Internet-worthy stock prices.
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