Here's your midday brief for Tuesday, November 4th.

I'm Zoe Colkin for the Wall Street Journal.

Novo Nordisk and Pfizer are escalating their takeover battle for Metzara, with both companies

raising their bids for the obesity drug developer.

Metzara says Novo Nordisk's proposal valued at approximately $10 billion

is the superior proposal. Pfizer now has two business days to improve its own new offer, valued at

about $8.1 billion. Pfizer yesterday filed a second lawsuit against Metzara and Novo Nordisk,

saying the two companies' recent merger agreement would violate federal antitrust laws. Metzara and Novo Nordisk, saying the two companies' recent merger agreement

would violate federal antitrust laws. Metzara and Novo Nordisk say Pfizer's claims were

baseless. New management of the bankrupt auto supplier first brands is suing founder Patrick James,

alleging he misappropriated hundreds of millions of dollars to fund a lavish personal

lifestyle, including a private chef, personal trainer, and the rent on a New York townhouse.

The lawsuit says James caused the company to incur at least $2.3 billion in accounts receivable

financing based in part on non-existent or doctored invoices. James has denied

wrongdoing. And Jeep Maker Chrysler is recalling about 320,000 hybrid vehicles in the U.S.

because of concerns that high-voltage batteries could fail and start a fire in the cars.

The automaker is advising owners of the 2020-through-26 Jeep

Rangler and Jeep Grand Cherokee models to park outside and refrain from charging their vehicles

while a remedy is developed. Chrysler is a unit of automotive giant Stalantis.

Heads up, an artificial intelligence tool helped us make this episode by creating summaries

that were based on WSJ reporting and then reviewed and adapted by an editor.

We'll have more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's What's News podcast.

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