Bloomberg As the clock ticks toward a takeover deadline, Kraft Heinz Co. faces an uphill battle getting Unilever to negotiate. Publicly, the company has decried Kraft’s $143 billion buyout offer as lacking merit and said there was no basis for further talks. Behind the scenes, Unilever executives have fretted over Kraft’s penchant for slashing costs and lack of vision …

  Bloomberg AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc. promised lawmakers who criticized their planned merger that the combined company wouldn’t withhold programming from rivals to gain a market advantage. “Restricting distribution of Time Warner content would not only sacrifice revenues, but also damage Time Warner’s reputation and relationships in the entertainment industry,” the companies told the lawmakers, according to a …

  Bloomberg Deere & Co., the world’s biggest maker of farm machinery, raised its 2017 profit outlook and pointed to signs that the worst may be over in a years-long industry slump. Sales of the company’s signature green-and-yellow agriculture and turf equipment will rise about 3 percent in the fiscal year through October, while construction and forestry sales will climb …