Microsoft in talks to assist takeover bid for Dell
New York Times News Service The effort to take Dell private has gained a prominent, if unusual, backer: Microsoft. The software giant is in talks to help finance a takeover bid for Dell that would exceed $20 billion, a person briefed on the matter said Tuesday. Microsoft would be expected to contribute up to several billion dollars. An investment by Microsoft could be enough to push aleveraged buyout of the struggling computer maker over the goal line. Silver Lake, the private equity firm spearheading the takeover talks, has been seeking a deep-pocketed investor to join the effort. And Microsoft, which has not yet made a commitment, has more than $66 billion in cash. Microsoft and Silver Lake, a prominent investor in technology companies, are no strangers. The private equity firm was part of a consortiumthat sold Skype, the online video-chatting pioneer, to Microsoft for $8.5 billion nearly two years ago. And the two companies had discussed teaming up to invest in Yahoo in