According to Alliance executives, the potential for more diversified offerings is part of the deal's attraction.
Stephen Hester, its chief executive, said the potential for conflict would depend on the approach taken by the government when the bonus pool is decided.
Citing World Health Organization data that shows heart disease is the world's leading cause of death, Mr. Conviti, the Carmat chief executive, estimated the potential market at "a minimum" of 100,000 patients a year in the United States and Europe.
Before it started, executives thought the potential customer base was probably 3,000 people, at most 12,000.
Bestfoods executives put the potential savings at $1 billion, which some analysts think is an argument for consolidation.
Foundation executives say the potential switch poses the biggest threat to their long-term existence since 1969, when Congress first made tax exemption contingent on their spending.
Executives say the potential rewards they could reap from ads that stimulate demand outweigh the risks of wasting money by getting lost in the crush of Christmas ads.
In all of those scenarios, bank executives said the potential thief would need to have your online banking user name and password.
Earlier this fall, InsideClimate News and the Los Angeles Times reported that Exxon scientists warned executives about the potential environmental catastrophe from the use of fossil fuels, and that, even so, the company deliberately spread doubt about that scientific view.
With all the money and resources that Google's public offering will provide the company, there are any number of theories floating around among Internet executives over the potential new business lines it might enter.
