Walgreen Co. withdrew its proposal to acquire Longs Drug Stores Corp. for $75 a share, saying it wasn't in the best interest of the shareholders of both companies to leave the situation unresolved "for an extended period of time," Bloomberg News Service reported today.

Longs Drug, which agreed to a takeover valued at $71.50 a share from CVS Caremark Corp., had declined to enter discussions with Walgreen over the higher bid.

The "deterioration of the national economic outlook over the past few weeks," also contributed to its decision to abandon the Sept. 12 offer, Walgreen said today in a statement.

Longs has 521 stores in four western states, including 39 in Hawai'i.