Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word sell. 8 news.

Software provider SPSS Inc. disclosed in a Monday regulatory filing that its chairman and co-founder is claiming ownership of the Chicago company's name, and has offered to sell the trademark to SPSS for $20 million.

Soaring grain prices and export caps are driving many Argentine cattle ranchers to sell their herds and farm more lucrative crops instead

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks began the last trading day of the year in the red Monday on what was expected to be a relatively light session ahead of the the New Year's Day holiday. Among bellwether tech stocks, Google Inc. shares fell $4.67 to $697.81 amid a report that the company is in discussions with several newspaper publishers to sell advertising space online. Declines also came from Apple Inc. , Microsoft Corp. , Dell Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. . The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 11 points to 2,663.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Delta Petroleum Corp. jumped in Monday pre-market trading after the oil and gas exploration and development company said it would sell a 35% stake to Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp., a move that will help Delta fund its development and drilling activities in Colorado and Utah.

Merrill Lynch & Co is in talks with Chinese and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds that could lead to the sale of another big stake in the U.S. bank, a British newspaper reported.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Magic Software Enterprises Ltd., the Or Yehuda, Israel, provider of business-integration and application-development technology, sold its Advanced Answers on Demand subsidiary to Fortissimo Capital for $17 million. Fortissimo is the Rosh ha'Ayin, Israel, investment firm. Magic expects to post a more than $9 million gain on the sale of AAOD, which develops software for application in long-term health care, including retirement facilities as well as home-health and rehabilitation agencies. As part of the deal, Magic has licensed to AAOD the right to continue to sell its product portfolio for three years.

Merrill Lynch and Co. is in talks with Chinese and Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds to raise capital through selling another andquot;bigandquot; stake in the company, the Observer reported, citing London and New York sources it didn't identify.

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- The Taiwan Stock Exchange, seeking to sell a minority stake in itself to an overseas stock market, is currently holding talks with exchange operators from Chicago, New York and Frankfurt, according to reports.