Microsoft is reportedly in talks to snap up enterprise social network Yammer for over $1bn.

Redmond is currently discussing the acquisition and it could make up its mind as early as tomorrow, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

Yammer was set up in 2008 and is used by over 200,000 companies, including Shell, DHL, eBay and Ford. Former Facebooker Sean Parker sits on its board of directors, and the company also had the same first investor as Facebook: venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

The network, which was set up by former PayPal chief operating officer David Sacks, claims to have raised $142m in venture funding so far and makes its money by charging for social networking and collaboration tools for businesses.

Microsoft has been dipping its toes in social networking, recently launching so.cl, its own network which mainly socialises Bing searches alongside posts and media sharing. Slurping Yammer could give the software giant more social skills, as well as possibly adding to cloudy products for corporate customers. ®

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