Simplot Group Sells More Micron Stock

A group including Idaho billionaire J. R. Simplot and an affiliated trust has sold off another 800,000 shares of stock in Micron Technology Inc., the computer-chip maker Simplot bankrolled.

Dow Jones News Service reported on Wednesday that a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said the group cut its stake in the Boise-based company from 6.6 percent to 6.2 percent.

The sale on July 17 for over $14 million was conducted to raise money for the group, Dow Jones reported. The group still owns about 13 million shares.

Earlier this month, the same group sold 25 percent of its interest in the company because Simplot said he could no longer afford to lose money.

The decision came as the stock, which had exceeded $94 a share last September, continued to wallow around $20 a share as the bottom essentially dropped out of the international computer chip market.

Simplot’s privately held J.R. Simplot Co. still owns nearly 13 percent of Micron.