According to a report, Twitter is on the verge of accepting Elon Musk's $43 billion bid to take the social network private.
Reuters reports that Twitter could announce that it has accepted Musk's offer later on Monday, after its board has met to recommend the transaction to Twitter shareholders. The talks are fluid and the deal could still fall apart, the sources added.
Twitter's stock soared more than 5% in premarket trading on Monday as a result of the Reuters report.
The report also says that Twitter was unable to obtain a so-called "go-shop" provision from Musk, which would have allowed it to solicit additional bids from potential buyers after the deal was signed.
Despite this, Twitter would be able to accept an offer from another party if it paid Musk a break-up fee, according to the sources.
Musk reportedly met with several shareholders over the weekend to discuss the details of his $54.20 per share bid for the social media platform. According to the report, Musk's outreach forced the Tesla CEO's $43 billion takeover bid to be seriously considered by the board of directors.
Many Twitter shareholders contacted the company over the weekend after Musk outlined a detailed financing plan for his bid on Thursday, urging it not to let the opportunity for a deal pass them by.
Twitter's board is concerned that defying its investors in the event Musk makes an attractive tender offer will weaken the company's negotiating position. According to the sources, Musk's insistence that his bid for Twitter is his "best and final" has become a stumbling block in the deal negotiations.
Twitter's board of directors is in talks with Musk to learn more about his bid and see if there is room to negotiate more favorable terms for the company.
Musk has mentioned some possible Twitter reforms in recent weeks, including loosening content restrictions (which were used to suspend former President Donald Trump's account) and the need to ban fake or automated accounts.
Musk is the world's wealthiest person, according to Forbes magazine, with a net worth of 279,000 million dollars. However, much of his fortune is invested in Tesla stock, of which he owns 17 percent, according to FactSet, as well as SpaceX, his space travel company. It's impossible to say how much cash Musk has on hand.
