The possible acquisition of Salesforce.com Inc by Microsoft has surfaced again, with CNBC to report that the two companies disagreed on price. Microsoft was willing to offer about $55 billion for the world's biggest maker of online sales software. Salesforce founder and Chief Executive Marc Benioff had expected as much as $70 billion, CNBC reported on Friday.

It is not clear whether Microsoft is willing to rise its bid, while Oracle and Amazon.com are also among the companies most likely to be suitors, according to an earlier Bloomberg report.

In addition, Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella was somewhat reluctant agree on a deal of such size and consequence for his company, CNBC said.

Microsoft and Salesforce declined to comment on the report.

Salesforce leads the global customer relationship management (CRM) market, which is valued at $23 billion annually, according to tech research firm Gartner. CRM software helps companies organize and track sales calls and leads.