And. . . Who is Company "X" -- Who Declined to Bid on Schering-Plough?

UPDATED: WSJ confirms Company X's identity.

Some lighter fare, now: According to the preliminary Form S-4, an unnamed company -- a large multinational pharmaceutical company, by all indications, met with CEO Hassan, and team -- did some significant due diligence -- then formally declined to bid on Schering-Plough -- right smack in the middle of the Merck negotiations. See here, on pages 53-55:

. . . .On January 25, 2009, Dr. Koestler along with Ms. Carrie Cox, Executive Vice President and President, Global Pharmaceutical Business at Schering-Plough, met with senior members of Company X’s research and commercial teams for a technical discussion focusing on Schering-Plough’s early stage pipeline and the companies’ commercial prospects. . . .

. . . .On February 5, 2009, Mr. Hassan received a call from the chief executive officer at Company X. The chief executive officer of Company X noted that his team had been working diligently on assessing the possibility for a business combination but had determined not to proceed with a proposal at that time. . . .

A contest and poll, then -- place your guesses as to the identity of Company X in the comments, below -- or vote (from the list of usual suspects) -- at upper left.

Prizes to the winner(s), those who correctly sleuths it out -- we'll rely on a definitive piece in some future issue of The Wall Street Journal, to ascertain the identity/winner. Fair enough? Good.