Are you starting to feel nostalgic for the 1980s?  

While we're not seeing a huge spike in overtly hostile bids, we are seeing a lot of skirmishing. The list includes: Yahoo-Microsoft, InBev-Anheuser-Busch, and Electronics Arts-Take Two, among others. The sense is that the time to strike strategically may be now, with financial sponsors on the sidelines. In addition, Chinese companies have become increasingly aggressive. Since 2005, Chinese companies have launched 10 unsolicited takeover bids.  

Such activity is offsetting the overall slump in deal activity. So far this year, unsolicited offers have accounted for about 20 percent of domestic deal activity, versus 6 percent last year.  

For an even more jolting blast from the past, please welcome Michael Milken back to the deal scene. How could anyone forget him? He was the junk bond pioneer at Drexel Burnham Lambert who was charged with fraud and eventually spent nearly two years in prison. While he remains barred from the securities industry, he's now back in the game.   

The New York Post reports that a firm controlled by Milken has amassed a 37 percent stake in education company Nobel Learning Communities. The alarmed company has instituted--Are you ready for this?--a 1980s-style poison pill that would flood the market with shares if Milken's firm buys a single additional share. The irony is juicy. With all this unsolicited activity, more companies may revive such defenses. - Jim