Novell Shares Surge on Report of Microsoft Agreement

Shares Novell Inc. surged the most in three years after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company, a distributor of the Linux operating system, is entering into an agreement with Microsoft Corp.

The shares rose as much as 17% and advanced 90 cents, or 15%, to $6.77 at 2:29 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They had declined 34% this year before today.

Microsoft plans to provide sales support for Novell's Suse Linux operating system, the Journal reported on its Web site, citing unidentified people familiar with the companies.