DOJ Career Staffers Were Surprised by Decision to Allow Paramount-Warner Deal

0:00I'm Steve Booth, CEO of Baird, an independent wealth, asset management, and global capital markets firm. At Baird, our 5 ,000-plus employees are united by an unwavering commitment to excellence and a genuine passion for helping our clients and each other succeed. As a privately held, truly employee-owned company, we treasure our independence since we can focus on delivering results to clients and taking care of our people throughout the cycles in our serve markets. Learn more at rwbaird.com slash wsj.

0:33Fox is acquiring streaming service Roku in a$25 billion deal, its largest ever. Plus, a big stock market rally today, while oil falls to its lowest level since March. And new blood tests can help detect if you have Alzheimer's. But who should get one? Neurologists say that, you know, more information is not always better, especially if we can't act on it. But some people say, I just want to know as much as I can. I'll figure out what to do later. It's Monday, June 15th. I'm Alex Osela for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

1:16Today, media company Fox said it's acquiring Roku in a deal valued at$25 billion. It's Fox's largest deal to date and a bet on a streaming future that runs on advertising. Roku is the largest streaming platform for connected TVs, and it also has its own Roku channel service that plays movies and TV shows with ads. Fox owns Fox News and is known for its live news and sports programming. It also has the streaming service Tubi. On an investor call today, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the deal would add scale to Fox's streaming business. We can grow our viewership in the U.S. with a combination of Roku technology, Roku's platform, the tremendous content that's on the Roku channel.

1:57And the content that Fox brings to it as well. The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year. Shares of Fox fell more than 15 percent today. And we should note that Fox and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership. In other media news, when the Justice Department closed its investigation of Paramount's bid for Warner Brothers Discovery last week, it did so before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object. The journal is exclusively reporting that a team of lawyers was leaning toward recommending an antitrust lawsuit against the deal.

2:29They hadn't yet made their final recommendation a typical step in the deal review process before they were told Friday that the department would close the investigation. That effectively cleared the deal at the federal level. A Justice Department spokeswoman said that the antitrust division's investigatory record indicated that the transaction would increase media competition. Paramount said it's making progress in getting the regulatory approvals it needs for the merger.

2:56As we mentioned on this morning's show, the U.S. and Iran say they have reached a preliminary agreement to end the war. Exactly what the two countries agreed to is still a bit unclear. The text of the deal hasn't been made public, though officials say that'll be released in the coming days. And there are signs that gaps still exist, as both the U.S. and Iran have framed it as a win. President Trump spoke to reporters about the agreement today after arriving in France for the G7 summit. The strait is already partially opened. As you know, they're doing a little hunting for a couple of mines that they've already found.

3:30But it's essentially ships are starting to go out now on Friday. It'll be completely open. European allies welcomed the agreement, but one question hanging over the G7 meeting is whether they will agree to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz by clearing mines and escorting ships. For many around the world, that's the crucial question. When will the Strait of Hormuz reopen and get oil flowing again? President Trump said it would be quick, but it might not be that easy. WSJ Energy Markets reporter Rebecca Fang is here to walk us through what's next. Okay, Rebecca, what is going on in the strait today?

4:03Are we starting to see some movement yet? So far, we haven't seen that many ships turning our engine or going to line up by the mouth of the strait waiting to cross. I'm hearing from ship tracking companies that there are like a couple of ships that are trickling out, but that's not an increase from early June. That's the situation so far today. Analysts mainly estimate that it would take several weeks for shipment flows to get back to 50 % of pre-war levels. It would take weeks, if not months, for the stranded ships to clear the backlog and then for other ships to actually start to move into the Gulf and come out again.

4:41What kind of reassurance do these ships need to know that they can pass through the strait, that it is truly open and that that threat is gone? From, you know, talking to maritime analysts and crew members and charterers and shipowners, they need to hear from Iran that the strait is open because Iran was the party that was doing all these attacks. And they need to see that for a prolonged period of time, there is no attack. So people are really feeling this at the pump. I mean, at the gas station near me in Brooklyn, we're still above$4 a gallon. Do analysts think that we're going to be back down to these pre-war prices by, say, July 4th?

5:18That's unlikely to happen. Even if the strait opens today completely, it will still take more than 50 days or so from the ship leaving the strait to actually this crude oil gets refined and get to the end buyer. What we're seeing from traders' analysts is like prices are not supposed to go down until third quarter this year, so until roughly September. So it's sorry to say, but I think it's unlikely that we'll see gas prices drop back to pre-war level in July. That was WSJ Energy Markets reporter Rebecca Fang. Optimism about the agreement with Iran drove oil prices to their lowest point since March.

5:55The international benchmark Brent crude fell almost 5 percent to just above$83 a barrel. Tech stocks soared, including SpaceX, which added another 20 % today after its Friday market debut. It remains the sixth largest public U.S. company, but its market cap is now only 4 % less than Amazon's. The Nasdaq led the gains in the major indexes, adding more than 3%. Coming up, no need to stop whatever else you're doing. Maybe the brain can truly multitask after all. That's after the break.

6:29Hi, this is Alex Osula, host of the WSJ's What's News podcast. We bring you the biggest news of the day, from business and finance to global and political developments that move markets. If you're looking for more insights and tools to understand the latest headlines, consider becoming a subscriber to The Wall Street Journal. Visit subscribe.wsj.com slash what's news to subscribe now.

7:18of the holiest sites in Eastern Orthodoxy. The strikes caused a fire that tore through the roof of the main cathedral. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the damage at the monastery an attack, quote, on the cultural heritage of humanity.

7:35How do you know if someone has Alzheimer's disease? For years, doctors relied on memory tests, invasive spinal taps, and expensive imaging to diagnose it. Now, two new blood tests from manufacturers Fuji Rabio and Roche have been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration and should make it easier. Alex Jannen, who covers health and wellness for the journal, is here to tell us more. Alex, how do the tests work? What is the advantage over the traditional diagnosis method? Well, the advantage is really that these blood tests are cheaper and much, much easier to administer. They're easier for doctors, easier for patients, less invasive than a spinal tap or some of this imaging that previously doctors relied on.

8:16You still have to get these tests prescribed by a doctor. Neurologists do caution that although we have these two approved tests now, they are not standalone diagnostic tests. And they're good ways to triage patients and find out are they really showing early signs of Alzheimer's pathology in the brain. They are intended to be used for people who are showing early signs of cognitive decline. So if you have early symptoms, these tests are for you. Who do doctors say shouldn't take these tests? When I put this question to neurologists and said, if you're asymptomatic, you don't have any symptoms of cognitive decline, and you take one of these FDA-cleared blood tests, what can it tell you?

9:00And they said, basically nothing. We don't know. This is not who these tests are designed for right now. So if a test does come back indicating that you are at heightened risk of developing Alzheimer's, what can you actually do about it? If you are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, there are drugs now that target a protein called beta amyloid. And Alzheimer's drugs have a long, complicated history of successes and failures. So there are some doctors that are still skeptical even of the FDA-approved drugs that are out there now. But this area is just booming in research. And then there's a growing body of research around behavioral changes that people can make to reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

9:47For the most part, neurologists say there are things that people should be doing anyway, like eating a healthy diet, sleeping consistently and as much as possible, and exercising. Back to the tests for a minute. You report that doctors say people who don't have symptoms are asking for them. Why is that? There's a real increasing interest in personal health with the advent of things like wearable technology, watches, rings that measure different things that are going on in our body and giving us access to all that information. Many of us just want more and more. And now that we're able to get a lot of that information through electronic health records and with the advent of AI, where a lot of people are now being able to dump all this information into AI and say, interpret this for me, it's almost like we can't really get enough.

10:39Neurologists say that, you know, more information is not always better, especially if we can't act on it. But some people say, I just want to know as much as I can. I'll figure out what to do later. That was WSJ reporter Alex Jannin. Thanks, Alex. Thank you.

10:56And finally, we've all been there. You're listening to a podcast while also cooking dinner and also answering your kid who's asking what you're doing for the hundredth time that day. For years, scientists said we weren't actually able to multitask, that what we perceive to be doing two or more things at once is in fact the result of our brains quickly switching between tasks. But a recent study published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience suggests that our brains really can multitask. With enough practice and experience, the brain can rewire its circuitry to send certain tasks from the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for high-level thinking and decision-making, to other parts of the brain.

11:32We're effectively automating these tasks, making them easier to do. The finding may explain why we can build upon skills, like going from plucking single notes on a guitar to shredding like Jimi Hendrix. That might not be super relevant if you're trying to respond to an email while also listening to a meeting, but still, rock on, human brain. And that's what's news for this Monday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Danny Lewis and Anthony Bansi with supervising producer Tali Arbel. I'm Alex Osula for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.

12:14Hey, this is Telus Demos. And I'm Miriam Gottfried. We're reporters at The Wall Street Journal and the hosts of WSJ's Take on the Week. It's a weekly show that gives listeners a leg up in the world of markets and investing. From the Fed's moves to market bubbles, we dive into the biggest deals, key players, and business news ahead. If you're looking for more news and tools that you can use to help navigate the markets, consider becoming a subscriber to The Wall Street Journal. Visit subscribe.wsj.com slash take on the week to subscribe now.