On The Record with Andrea Hotter

When Alcoa became a standalone company in 2016, Bill Oplinger was its CFO. Nearly a decade later, as CEO, he’s marking its 10th anniversary with a bold bet of his own: pursuing South32’s aluminium assets in a deal that would boost production capacity by around 50%. Bill takes us inside Alcoa’s evolution since the split: the businesses it considered and ruled out, Guinea’s ambitions to move downstream, and the growing competition between aluminium smelters and data centres for affordable power. What does it take to lead a company you’ve spent nearly 27 years inside, and decide what comes next? Oplinger tells the story.

In 2006, a mining “minnow” made a bet so audacious it changed the industry: Freeport-McMoRan moved to swallow Phelps Dodge, a company nearly twice its size. Richard Adkerson, Freeport Chairman, takes us inside the deal that followed: the odd negotiating location, the culture clash, the surprises, and the commodities crash that put the newly combined company to the test. How do you pull off a deal that big, and survive it? Adkerson tells the story.