San Francisco - Microsoft's bankers have approached Facebook about a purchase of the social networking site as an alternative for its failed takeover bid for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday in its online edition.

Quoting a person familiar with the situation, the report said that Microsoft's representatives "recently contacted Facebook" but there were no active discussions between the two.

The move would be consistent with numerous comments by Microsoft executives since the collapse of the Yahoo talks that the company was now pursuing alternative strategies. Yahoo is also pressing on continuing talks with Google about a possible advertising deal, and also discussing a merger with between AOL and Yahoo.

Last year Microsoft bought a a 1.6 per cent stake in Facebook for 240 million dollars in a deal that valued the site at 15 billion dollars. (dpa)