AMD, Micron to go private, says report

There were other rumors last week. Oracle was rumored to make a bid for SAP, Nokia would make a bid to buy Research in Motion, and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL) would buy Lam Research Corp., according to SG Cowen Securities Inc. (New York).

But private equity dominated the rumor mills. According to the IdahoStatesman, Micron Technology Inc. is rumored to be a buy-out candidate amid wild activity with its stock late last week. CNBC late Friday (May 25) reported that private-equity giant Blackstone Capital Partners is interested in Micron (Boise, Ida.).

Last week, rumor had it that ''Lexmark, Micron and AMD were all on the verge of going private,'' according to a report from SG Cowen Securities.

Micron lost money in its recent quarter amid a downturn in the DRAM and NAND flash markets. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) is struggling and is seeing red ink.

Freescale, NXP and others went the private-equity route last year.