Microsoft in talks to buy Yammer: Reports

San Francisco: Published reports say Microsoft is in talks to buy Yammer, a company that develops private social networks for companies.

Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, report that Microsoft could pay more than $1 billion for San Francisco-based Yammer.

The networks developed by Yammer allow a company's employees to communicate and collaborate in a manner similar to the way Facebook works with friends.

Shelly Risk, a spokeswoman for privately held Yammer, says the company has no comment on the reports. Representatives for Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

Yammer says its social networks are used by more than 200,000 companies worldwide. The reports Thursday say Microsoft could add Yammer's social-networking functions to its Office software suite.