Qatalyst Chairman Frank Quattrone has contacted companies including large automakers about acquiring a stake in Lyft, the Journal said, citing the people. (http://on.wsj.com/299KrRF)

The bank acted as LinkedIn Corp's (>> LinkedIn Corp) financial adviser in Microsoft Corp's (>> Microsoft Corporation) deal to buy LinkedIn for $26.2 bln. That proposed deal was announced earlier this month.

Qatalyst was also Qlogic Corp's (>> QLogic Corporation) financial adviser, according to Bloomberg, to explore strategic alternatives.

Lyft declined to comment and Qatalyst could not be reached for comment outside regular business hours.

General Motors Co (>> General Motors Company) invested $500 million in Lyft in January and laid out plans to develop an on-demand network of self-driving cars with the ride service.

Lyft said its latest funding round, which took place in January, valued it at $5.5 billion.

(Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Matthew Lewis)