Except acting as thought Google thought the patents were worth $900M because that was their initial bid is daft -- you never lead with the maximum you're willin

Except acting as thought Google thought the patents were worth $900M because that was their initial bid is daft -- you never lead with the maximum you're willing to pay, you lowball and try to stay as far away from your maximum as possible, since that is what you actually think it is worth, such that paying it would be breaking even, and paying more than it would be taking a loss.