Micron cuts jobs after buying Japanese firm

BOISE – Executives with Micron Technology Inc. are taking steps to cut about 5 percent of the company’s workforce in offices, fabrication facilities and research labs in Idaho and across the world.

The cuts were announced starting Aug. 7 and come in the wake of Micron’s acquisition of Japanese competitor, Elpida. The Boise-based computer memory chip maker has about 30,000 workers, meaning the cutback is aimed at trimming about 1,500 employees.

Company executives won’t say how the reduction will affect Micron’s Boise campus, which has about 5,600 employees.

“The timing, extent and duration of potential workforce changes will vary by organization, geography, function and business needs across the company,” Micron said in a statement Monday.

Reduction will come through attrition, voluntary buyouts and layoffs and will be completed by 2014.

Micron’s employee reductions are not a direct result of the company buying Elpida Memory Inc., which has 5,000 employees, said Dan Francisco, a Micron spokesman.

Such reductions are commonplace in tech companies striving to keep their workforce in line with the competitive industry, said Mike Howard, a semiconductor analyst for IHS iSuppli and a former Micron employee. Tech companies such as Intel have done 5 percent workforce reductions in the midst of profitable years, he said.

AAA: Average gas price in Washington $3.86

BELLEVUE – The AAA auto club reports the average price of a gallon of gasoline in Washington is $3.86.

That’s down 5 cents in a week. It’s 31 cents higher than the national average.

Here are some metro prices from the AAA’s Monday survey:

Spokane $3.81, Bellingham $3.94, Bremerton $3.83, Seattle-Bellevue-Everett $3.88, Tacoma $3.81, Olympia $3.85, Vancouver $3.83, Yakima $3.85, Tri-Cities $3.76.

Steinway receives new, higher bid for company

WALTHAM, Mass. – A new bid to buy a legendary piano maker could be music to the ears of its shareholders.

Steinway Musical Instruments Inc. said Monday that an investment firm has offered to pay $38 per share, or about $477 million, for the company. That tops an earlier bid of $438 million, from Kohlberg & Co.

The prospect of a bidding war sent Steinway shares up $3.36, or 9.3 percent, to close at $39.59 Monday. The stock peaked at $39.90 earlier in the day, an all-time high.

The Waltham, Mass.-based company identified the new potential buyer only as an investment firm with more than $15 billion under management.

Steinway has been in business for 160 years. Its pianos have been a status symbol and a must-have luxury in concert halls for more than a century, but the storied company suffered during the recession.