Australia

Rio Tinto makes offer for Alcan; Alcoa withdraws

SYDNEY — Mining giant Rio Tinto has offered to buy Canadian aluminum company Alcan Inc. for $38.1 billion in cash, the companies said Thursday, in a friendly takeover that tops a hostile bid by U.S.-based Alcoa Inc.

The bid exceeds a $28 billion offer of cash and stock from Alcoa that Alcan's board rejected in May, and would create the world's largest aluminum company.

Alcoa withdrew its offer Thursday after being outbid. Alcoa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alain Belda said Rio Tinto's bid "strongly reinforces our view of the underlying value in the aluminum industry and its bright prospects for the future. However, at this price level, we have more attractive options for delivering additional value to shareholders."

In a joint statement, Rio Tinto and Alcan said that the Anglo-Australian miner was offering $101 per share for Alcan and that Alcan's board was recommending the deal to shareholders.

Texas

Online attacks attributed to Whole Foods CEO

DALLAS — The chief executive of Whole Foods Market Inc. wrote anonymous online attacks against a smaller rival and questioned why anyone would buy its stock, before Whole Foods announced an offer to buy the other company this year.

The postings on Internet financial forums said Wild Oats Markets Inc. stock was overpriced. The statements predicted that the company would fall into bankruptcy and then be sold after its stock fell below $5 per share.

In February, Whole Foods announced it would buy Wild Oats for about $565 million, or $18.50 per share.

The company acknowledged that the postings by "rahodeb" were written by CEO John Mackey from 1999 to 2006.

They were made public this week as part of a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission to block Whole Foods from buying Wild Oats on antitrust grounds. Regulators say the sale would combine the two largest organic and natural foods retailers and raise prices for consumers by concentrating too much power in one company.

Missouri

Walgreen to pay $20 million to settle discrimination suit

ST. LOUIS — Walgreen Co. will pay $20 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging widespread racial bias at the nation's largest drugstore chain under terms of a proposed deal announced Thursday.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the class-action lawsuit in March, alleging that Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen discriminated against thousands of black workers in hiring and assignment decisions.

The settlement deal still needs a judge's approval, but both the EEOC and Walgreen have agreed to it.