Can you believe the twists, turns and surprising end to the Univision auction? As Richard Morgan notes, Grupo Televisa SA—owner of a stake in the target and supplier of much of its programming—had a deal that was its to lose, and managed to lose it to a consortium of PE firms and media mogul Haim Saban.

We haven't seen anything like this since—well, let's see, since January. That was when the long-running auction for supermarket chain Albertson's Inc. ended with the chain being divvied up by a couple of strategics (Supervalu and CVS) and a PE club led by Cerberus, as described here by Vipal Monga.

The word "auction", which brings to mind images of a quick, simple process suitable for selling a painting or a ton of tobacco, doesn't quite seem to capture the complexities and gamesmanship inherent in processes like these. Still, that's the word we've come to use—and man, are we using it a lot lately.

That's why the July 24 Corporate Dealmaker will be taking a deep look at the auction process and how it's helping to reshape the market for corporate control. Among other things, we'll be putting The Deal's impressive Auction Block through its paces for our magazine readers, and offering reflections on the evolution of auctions by a number of market participants. The centerpiece of the issue, meanwhile, will be a dramatic, insider's account of the largest cash transaction in history: The 2004 auction in which Cingular won AT&T wireless. — Kenneth Klee

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