Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word share. 17 news.

2007 was a banner year for some business bigwigs, but it also had its share of corporate screw-ups, public embarrassments and CEOs behaving badly. Here's an interactive look at those who came out on top and those who should sink to the bottom of the barrel.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks drifted slightly lower at the open Monday, the final session of 2007, amid sharply lower volume. Early action saw shares of Delta Petroleum Corp. jump as much as 24% to $19.30 a share after Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. announced it was taking a 35% stake in the company at $19 a share. But the news failed to spur gains elsewhere in the group. The Amex Oil Index was off 0.2% at 1,574 points, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index was down 1% at 303, and the Amex Natural Gas Index was essentially unchanged at 580 points.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda is going to buy 35% of Delta Petroleum for $684 million, or $19 a share, the companies said Monday. The investment is at 23% premium to Friday's close. This transaction will allow Delta Petroleum to accelerate development drilling activities in its core areas, including the Piceance and Paradox Basins. "Under (CEO) Roger (Parker's) leadership, Delta Petroleum has become a very important company in the industry, with valuable resource plays, a strong asset base and well-positioned exploration projects that we believe hold significant growth potential," Tracinda said.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Merrill Lynch on Monday completed a previously announced deal with Aegon , where it's selling its life insurance unit for $1.25 billion in cash. Aegon's Transamerica companies will continue to supply insurance and investment products, including offering the flagship Merrill Lynch Investor Choice Annuity product through the acquired Merrill Lynch subsidiaries. Merrill Lynch expects to record a gain on sale during the fourth quarter of 2007 and anticipates the transaction to be slightly accretive to earnings per share and to have a positive effect on return on equity in 2008 after redeployment of proceeds. Aegon expects the acquisition to add scale to its existing business and to have a marginally positive effect on earnings per share.

Though intended to be a paperless communication medium, e-mail has felled more than its fair share of trees. To fight back, a group that...

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The Financial Services Authority is probing a jump in the share price of U.K. waste services group Biffa ahead of an announcement in November that it had received a 1.2 billion pound ($2.4 billion) takeover bid, according to a report in the Times (of London) newspaper. The report said the FSA has written to various parties involved in the talks to ask what they knew about any possible bid before buyout groups HgCapital and Montagu Private Equity revealed their offer. The inquiry is a part of a continuing focus at the regulator on insider trading ahead of major announcements, the newspaper added.

Every night in this quiet western Indian city, 15 pregnant women prepare for sleep in the spacious house they share, ascending the stairs in a procession of ballooned bellies, to bedrooms that become a landscape of soft hills.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world's biggest chemicals maker by market value, said it plans to increase the number of its shares outstanding by a fifth through issuing one andquot;freeandquot; share for every five held.

CHINA'S Internet search firm Baidu.com said yesterday that its chief financial officer, Shawn Wang, died in an accident while on vacation in China. Wang, who joined Baidu in 2004 and helped the company successfully list on the Nasdaq stock market in 2005, died on December 27 during a Christmas-New Year holiday. Company officials declined to give further details. The company said it plans to replace him but also gave no further details. "Under Wang's leadership, this year Baidu became one of the four biggest firms in the US by stock transaction volume and the first Chinese company to join the Nasdaq 100 index," Baidu chairman and CEO Robin Li said in an e-mail to employees. "Besides his contribution to financial affairs, he also led the company's legal and human resources departments to fruitful achievements," Li said. Baidu had a 60.5-percent share of China's search engine market in the third quarter, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys

Hong Kong's Hang Seng share index finishes the year up 39%, its biggest annual rise since 1999.

Chicago Tribune colleagues share their memories of Terry Armour

THE stock market ended 2007 in negative territory after a flat day of trading ahead of New Year celebrations.

T-Mobile UK and 3 UK are combining their third-generation networks to save money.

THE Australian share market has started the week in subdued fashion, as holidays and international volatility keep investors on the sidelines.

THE share market remained flat at noon, on thin trading volume, as investors turned their attention to New Year celebrations.

The Financial Services Authority is investigating a jump in the share price of Biffa, the waste services group, that occurred before an announcement that two private equity firms had made a £1.2 billion bid for the company.

Vodafone sought last night to play down suggestions that Arun Sarin, its chief executive, is set to reap a £45 million windfall from the turnaround in the mobile phone operator’s fortunes. Reports claimed that Mr Sarin’s potential windfall had been boosted by the 33 per cent jump in the company’s share price over the past year.