Explained by horge what does "Pre-negotiation" means
"Pre-nego" can stand for pre-contract negotiation: meaning the verynegotiations for the contract itself, or literally the home-stretch to a signed contract. If that's what's on, then contracts could be ready for thinking within as little as six weeks.
However, there's also a phase called pre-negotiation planning, which (..sigh..) also gets referred to as "pre-nego". Each side reviews and rehearses their permissible bargaining range, in prep and simulation for actual contract negotiations. This is very common no matter how big or small the contract value at stake.
There is also a bilateral part of pre-negotiation planning in which the parties agree to parameters for the negotiation, including: venue, media formats, team structure/authority, time limits, governing law, valuation rules etc. For very big deals, this phase is often merely a matter of getting the formal signatures (all the heavy lifting having already been done prior in an informal manner, as should also be the case for the actual negotiation). In a context of stable currency exchange rates, and of stable governing laws, such a pre-nego can take as little as a week. Beyond seven weeks, somebody probably ballsed-up all the informal prep, or (at least) one of the contracting parties deliberately wanted to press pause.
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