From wire reports

Kroger, union resume contract negotiations

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Meeting for the second time since a contract impasse prompted a two-week-old strike, Kroger and union representatives concluded a full day of talks Wednesday with plans to resume discussions Friday. Neither side would provide details or say where the discussions were being held.

Talks between the union and the company broke down two days before 3,300 workers at 44 stores in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio began the strike Oct. 13. The talks resumed Tuesday night.

Wild Oats' expenses prompt quarterly loss

Shares of Wild Oats Markets Inc., a natural-foods grocer, dropped 8.5 percent after the company had a third-quarter loss because of costs to switch distributors and close warehouses.

The net loss was about $861,000, or 3 cents a share, compared with net income of $2.2 million, or 8 cents, a year earlier, the Boulder, Colo.-based retailer said in a statement. Wild Oats had been expected to earn 9 cents, the average forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

WellPoint's leader to gain significantly

INDIANAPOLIS - The head of WellPoint Health Networks Inc. would see a gain of tens of millions of dollars under this week's proposed health insurance merger with Anthem Inc.

The $15 billion cash and stock deal would boost the value of Leonard D. Schaeffer's nearly 3.27 million shares by $56 million, to $330 million, based on the two companies' share prices before the deal was announced Monday. But Schaeffer is also entitled to receive $27.5 million under a change-of-control clause in his contract. That amounts to three times his 2002 salary and benefits of $6.9 million, plus medical and life insurance.