SUITOR NOUN (BUSINESS WORLD)

In financial jargon, a prospective buyer of a business corporation; a person or institution making a take-over bid. Etymology: A figurative use of suitor in the sense of 'a person who seeks a woman's hand in marriage'. Such metaphors are common in the financial world: compare daisy chain°, dawn raid, poison pill, and white knight. History and Usage: Originally an American colloquial usage of the seventies, suitor had spread into British use by 1980 and during the eighties became a standard way of referring to a prospective buyer, no longer thought of as colloquial in financial circles. Its use in the newspapers and the media generally brought it to a wider and more popular audience. Lifting the veil of secrecy was ordinarily enough to kill a developing buyout in its cradle: once disclosed, corporate raiders or other unwanted suitors were free to make a run at the company be fore management had a chance to prepare its own bid. Bryan Burrough & John Helyar Barbarians at the Gate (1990), p. 8