Area gas prices up 9% since Chevron fire

Bay Area gasoline prices have soared nearly 9 percent in the one month since the disastrous fire at Chevron's mammoth refinery in Richmond -- but they have hardly changed in the past week.

Prices for unleaded gasoline averaged $4.19 a gallon Tuesday in the Bay Area, according to information compiled from the GasBuddy online site. That's 34 cents, or 8.7 percent, higher than the $3.82 average the night of the Aug. 6 fire at the refinery owned and operated by San Ramon-based Chevron.

On Tuesday, the average price of gasoline was $4.16 in the East Bay, $4.18 in the South Bay and $4.23 in the San Francisco metro area, GasBuddy reported.

FormFactor jumps 3.9% following deal

Shares of Livermore-based FormFactor jumped nearly 4 percent Tuesday after the semiconductor test equipment maker disclosed it would buy San Jose-based MicroProbe in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $116.8 million.

FormFactor makes devices used by semiconductor companies to test integrated circuits. Privately held MicroProbe makes products to test wafers. FormFactor said it would pay $100 million in cash and $16.8 million in stock to buy MicroProbe.

Over the most recent 12 months, FormFactor lost $58.6 million on revenue of $172 million. In fiscal 2011, MicroProbe generated $87.3 million in revenue.

The transaction should be complete

DayStar appoints new president

Union City-based DayStar Technologies has appointed Mark Roseborough as president, the developer of solar photovoltaic products said.

As an inducement to Roseborough, a majority of the independent directors on the company's board approved a grant of 200,000 shares of restricted stock. This award will vest in equal installments over the 12 months following the date of the grant.

Roseborough previously was a startup executive for a $1.2 billion semiconductor plant in the southern United States. He will transition from that plant job over the next couple of months, DayStar said.

DayStar's new president also held management roles with EPOD Solar.

-- Staff

Nvidia shares plummet after downgrade

Santa Clara-based Nvidia fell the most in six months after Evercore Partners downgraded the maker of graphics processors to underweight from equal-weight, saying 2013 will be "challenging" for the company.

Nvidia fell 5.4 percent, or 76 cents, and finished at $13.27.

The company has bet on its Tegra mobile processor to boost revenue, winning orders from Google (GOOG) and Microsoft to underpin a push into the tablet market by the tech giants.

Cupertino-based Apple's (AAPL) likely introduction of new versions of the iPad tablet could intensify a competitive squeeze against Nvidia, the analyst suggested.

-- Bloomberg News