New York  - Key officials from US software giant Microsoft and internet company Yahoo failed to reach agreement in talks over a multi-billion takeover bid, the Wall Street Journal newspaper said on Friday.

According to the paper, officials were unable to solve their differences of opinion during the meeting, which took place this week at Yahoo's headquarters in Sunnydale, California.

Microsoft launched a takeover bid of originally 45 billon dollars more than two months ago, which was rejected by Yahoo for being too low.

The meeting was the second in recent weeks, the paper said, quoting informed sources.

During the meeting, Microsoft ruled out increasing its offer, a precondition by Yahoo for entering formal negotiations. No bank representatives took part in the talks, the paper said.

Microsoft was seen as playing for time, hoping that the weakening US economy would increase pressure on Yahoo's management by its shareholders to accept the offer.

Microsoft aims to break the global dominance of its rival Google in online searches and internet ads by taking over Yahoo.