The endless months of failed negotiations between Yahoo and Microsoft have reached an end, as the two companies prepare to seal the deal, sources familiar with the matter said Friday. The solution could lie somewhere in the middle: Microsoft could raise its bid (to $33 per share, compared to the $31 per share in the initial offer) and Yahoo could accept it…if things were that easy.

Sources familiar with Microsoft’s board meeting on Wednesday said Microsoft and Ballmer are lobbying Yahoo shareholders to pressure Yahoo’s board into accepting a deal with Microsoft. However, the situation isn’t that simple, as not all shareholders want the same thing, and some of them appear to want more money as well, which makes Ballmer’s work even harder.

After months of failed negotiations, Microsoft gave Yahoo an ultimatum in an April 5 letter, stating that if the two companies will not begin a negotiation on a definitive agreement within three weeks, they will take the case directly to the shareholders and start a proxy contest to elect a slate of directors for Yahoo board. However, the deadline, which was due this week, expired silently for both sides.

It’s hard to tell what Ballmer is thinking right now, and whether he will accept to raise the bid, as the board meeting this week failed to make a decision, and Ballmer reportedly said he wouldn’t raise the bid. This could go two ways: either Yahoo and Microsoft meet, talk, shake hands and live happily ever after, or Microsoft gives up on the idea.

The initial offer made by Microsoft on February 1 was $31 a share, adding up to a grand total of approximately $44.6 billion, but after a downfall in Microsoft’s shares, it is now worth about $42 billion, still making it, if finalized, the biggest-ever takeover in the high-tech industry.