International Business Machines is in talks to acquire Sun Microsystems, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
IBM is likely to pay at least $6.5 billion in cash to acquire Sun, the people told the paper.
That would translate into a premium of about 100 percent over Sun’s closing price Tuesday of $4.97 a share on the Nasdaq, the paper said.
In recent months, Sun has approached a number of large tech companies in the hopes of being acquired, the paper said.
Hewlett-Packard declined the offer, the paper said.
Sun is a maker of software and high-end computers.
A spokesman for IBM declined to comment to the paper on questions about any talks with Sun.
IBM and Sun could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.
(Reporting by S John Tilak in Bangalore; editing by David Cowell/ Reuters)