Dell Inc. is getting closer to clinching a leveraged buyout with Silver Lake Management LLC, and Microsoft Corp. is planning to provide part of the funding, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Silver Lake and Dell are negotiating a price in the range of $13.50 to $14.25 a share, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. Microsoft is discussing contributing about $2 billion for the deal, which could be announced this week, the person said.

Microsoft stands to benefit from propping up Dell, one of its largest partners in selling personal computers that run Windows software. Both companies are racing to make up for an industrywide slump by working together on tablets, a market led by Apple Inc. and Google Inc. Microsoft could also use Dell's help selling to business customers.