This paper examines the growing importance of corporate governance as a weapon in international hostile takeovers. It is variously used as a public relations too, legal device, and as a focus for shareholders considering swapping allegiances to new boards. Whilst the recent international literature has focused on the convergence, or persistence, of national models, the current machinations played out by Mittal Steel's bid for the European behemoth, Arcelor effectively leapfrog these arguments, and produce truly international dimensions for corporate governance, as it plays out in the heat of battle. The resort to corporate governance, as an internationally recognized source of business ethics, with its own currency and validity, marks new ground in the internationalizing of governance concerns for global firms. This paper recounts these issues through the prism of the Mittal deal, and makes some observations about how, in a post-modern and global environment, these effects are likely to evolve in the next decade.