Is it 400 or 1,100?

After Micron Technology filed its annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, I hoped that I might get a better idea of how many people the Boise chipmaker had actually laid off this summer.

The report didn’t say the exact number of layoffs, but it did list the company’s total employees broken down by country.

I decided to compare that information with last year’s annual report. Micron said it had 23,500 employees at the end of August in 2006, but after checking this year’s report that number was still 23,500 at the end of August 2007.

But when I compared the two years, I noticed that Micron’s number for U.S. employees dropped by 400 workers from 14,100 in 2006 to 13,700 in 2007. The company also added a few hundred employees at its overseas operations.

But that’s not quite the 1,100 workers or so the company told the state labor department it would have laid off at the end of August.

I’m not sure why the numbers don’t match up. Micron’s army of lawyers probably found a way to legally manipulate the numbers.

I still don’t understand why Micron is so reluctant to release the exact number of layoffs.

I would think that Micron would better serve its shareholders by providing better information. If shareholders can see how they're cutting costs it might help the company's struggling stock.

It also wouldn't be a bad public relations move to let the communities know exactly how many employees were laid off or will be laid off in the future. It would allow local and state leaders to better plan on how they can help those employees.

Speaking of stock price, there’s new rumor floating around that another private equity firm is looking at buying Micron. Forbes.com reported late last week that a private equity firm called Silver Lake Partners made a bid for Micron at $13 a share.

That’s quite the bargain price for the company. Such a price probably won’t make the long-term Micron shareholders happy. That’s assuming there still are long-term shareholders.

If you want to check out the company’s annual report you’ll find it at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Web site.