Elon Musk‘s sudden bid to buy Twitter in April may have seemed like a publicity stunt at some point, but now it’s getting serious.
According to a report by The New York Times, quoting sources with knowledge of the situation, Twitter‘s board is nearing a deal to sell itself to Musk. The negotiations, which are in an advanced stage, went into the early hours of Monday, the sources said.
The key moment in the negotiations was Musk’s announcement, via a SEC filing last week, that he has secured $46.5 billion in financing to acquire the company.
No final agreement has been made, and the deal may still fall apart, the report claims.
Musk started purchasing Twitter shares in January, having amassed a 9.2 percent stake by early April. A few days before announcing this publicly, he started questioning Twitter’s policies and suggesting improvements to the service, including the addition of an edit button on tweets and changing Twitter’s algorithms to be open source.
At one point it appeared that Musk just plans to influence Twitter by becoming a member of the company’s Board, though that quickly fell through, followed by Musk’s bid to buy the entire company at $54.20 per share.
Reactions to Musk’s bid were mixed. There were, of course, memes. Some Twitter employees expressed concern about the idea, while some Wall Street analysts assessed that Musk’s bid price was too low. Notably, Musk seems to still be on good terms with Twitter co-founder and board member, Jack Dorsey, having recently complimented him for his new title at his other company, Block.
