An unnamed `inside' source has revealed on the condition of anonymity that software giant Microsoft has agreed to acquire Yammer, a San Francisco-based company which operates social networks for businesses.

Revealing that Microsoft and Yammer are currently involved in `private' talks to work out the acquisition deal, the unidentified source disclosed that the software company will apparently pay around $1.2 billion for the Yammer takeover; and that he deal will likely come through by the end of June.

According to the details revealed by the source, if Microsoft's acquisition of Yammer materializes, the corporate social networking tools used by Yammer - which was founded in 2008 by David Sacks, a former PayPal chief operating officer - will probably be added to the software company's Office and SharePoint software products for businesses. As a result, the Yammer deal will give a `social' edge to the enterprise products offered by Microsoft.

The features which Yammer offers for internal corporate use are fairly akin to the features found on the Facebook website; and are used by over 200,000 companies, including Ford Motor and eBay.

Yammer, which competes with Jive Software, Chatter, and Asana, has revealed that over $140 million have been raised by the company in venture funding, with contributions from Charles River Ventures Inc. and Emergence Capital Partners.