Yellow Knight

A White Knight who... got a little too nervous before the battle? Eih, maybe not. In the world of mergers, there are a bunch of different knights with different colors. It’s like the wild wild west, medieval style. You can think of the “yellow knight” as a foe turned friend (well, sort of).

A yellow knight is when one company tries to hostilely take over another company, but then says “jk...how about a merger?”

Black knights are the ones who try for hostile takeovers, and they turn yellow once they back out and and suggest a mutual marriage.

What makes black knights turn yellow? They could be backing out because it turns out the takeover is too expensive, or the company they are trying to take over has some anti-takeover tricks up their sleeves.