CNN
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Twitter
(TWTR) is said to be nearing a deal to sell itself to Elon Musk, according to The New York Times and other outlets, 11 days after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO shocked the industry by offering to buy the company in a deal valuing it at more than $41 billion.
A deal could be finalized as soon as Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal. Twitter declined to comment on the reports.
Reports that a deal is imminent come after Musk revealed last week he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing to acquire the company. Twitter’s board met Sunday to evaluate Musk’s offer to buy all the shares of the company he does not currently own for $54.20 a piece, a source familiar with the deal confirmed to CNN. The source said that discussions about Musk’s bid have turned serious.
The potential sale agreement caps off a whirlwind news cycle that began less than a month ago, when Musk revealed he had taken a 9.1% stake in the company and ramped up calls for changes to the social media platform.
Questions about whether Musk would actually be able to finance his acquisition of Twitter swirled in the days following his takeover bid, especially after he said in an interview the day of his offer that, “I’m not sure I’ll actually be able to acquire [Twitter].”
Shares of Twitter had been trading noticeably below the offer price in a possible signal of investor skepticism about the deal. On Monday morning, however, Twitter stock rose nearly 5% following the reports, topping $51 a share.
If approved, the deal would put the world’s richest man in charge of one of the world’s most influential social media platforms. Musk has repeatedly stressed in recent days that his goal is to bolster free speech on the platform and work to “unlock” Twitter’s “extraordinary potential.”