WASHINGTON, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - Microsoft is not planning to raise its 44.6-billion-dollar bid for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The newspaper cited people close to Microsoft's hostile February 1 offer for Yahoo as insisting that no higher bid to its original price of 31 dollars a share is forthcoming.

'Such pronouncements are standard in deal negotiations but people close to Microsoft insist the stance isn't posturing,' the Journal said.

Yahoo has rejected the bid from the outset, despite pressure from some shareholders to accept it, and board members have maintained that Yahoo is worth at least 40 dollars per share.

The two sides have had only one meeting in the two months since Microsoft made its offer, and the Journal said Microsoft officials are content to wait until Yahoo agrees to serious discussions before considering changing the offer.

'There's no reason to bid against ourselves,' a source on the Microsoft side told the Journal.