France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom each hold 10% of Sprint and have the right to raise their stake by a matching amount if the other does in effect giving the piqued Mr Bon a veto over a German acquisition of Sprint.

ECONOMIST: The telecoms end-game

Companies can match up to a certain total amount per year or perhaps provide unlimited matching, but the best corporate giving programs can change the matching on an individual campaign basis.

FORBES: Got Compassionate Corporatism?

The key to the 1996 reforms was that the block grants to each state were finite, not matching, so the federal funding did not vary with the amount the state spent.

FORBES: Obama's Medicaid Plan Exposes Him As An Enemy of the Poor