Luke Vargas

President Trump publicly endorsed the merger, writing last month that a bigger Nextar would balance out, quote, the fake news national TV networks.

In a statement, Nextar's CEO said the deal would make the broadcaster better positioned to deliver exceptional journalism and local programming.

And consumer goods company Unilever is in talks to separate its food business and merge it with Maryland-based spice maker McCormick.

We report that an all-stock deal could come within weeks, assuming the talks don't fall apart.

Unilever, whose portfolio includes Dove, Vaseline, and Hellman's Mayonnaise, spun off its Magnum ice cream brand last year.

And heads up, we've got a special bonus episode coming later today.

In the latest What's News and Earnings, we'll look at how retailers are dealing with inflation and price-conscious shoppers.

That'll be in your What's News feed at midday.

And that's it for What's News for this Friday morning.

Today's show was produced by Hattie Moyer.

Our supervising producer was Daniel Bach.

And I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal.

We will be back tonight with a new show.

Otherwise, have a great weekend and thanks for listening.

Tell Congress, stop the Durbin Marshall money grab for corporate megastores.

Paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition.

Iran and the U.S.

intensify their war rhetoric yet again.

Plus, TikTok's parent company gets access to NVIDIA's top AI chips as it pushes a global expansion.

And U.S.