Elon Musk is closing in on seizing Twitter as talks between the Tesla magnate and the tech giant entered their final stages, reports say.
The billionaire could take over the company as soon as this morning as the board reportedly looked set to accept his offer of $54.20 per share.
The tycoon's representatives were said to be hammering out terms including a timeline and fees if an agreement was signed and then fell apart.
The two sides were reportedly working into the early morning to finalize the 'fluid and fast-moving' negotiations.
Twitter shares soared by four per cent as the markets opened to $50.84 a share amid reports it would be seized by Musk.
It comes a fortnight after the entrepreneur first sought to woo shareholders with his $54.20-per-share bid.
Musk's team and Twitter met to discuss the prospective $43billion sale Sunday, with the Wall Street Journal reporting progress had been made.
It is unclear whether Musk himself attended those talks.
These were two days after he met privately with actively-managed funds which hold shares in Twitter, in a bid to convince them to take-up his offer.
The paper said there were still issues to hash out after Sunday's meeting, and there was no guarantee a final deal would be reached.
Those issues are said to include what penalty Musk will pay should the deal fall apart before it is completed.
Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told the New York Times the deal could be 'the beginning of the end for Twitter as a public company with Musk likely now on a path to acquire the company unless a second bidder comes into the mix'.
Others suggested Twitter would only approve a deal valuing it at over $60 per share, having slumped from $70 last year to around $48 this year.
Bosses rebuffed Musk's initial April 14 offer after he did not offer information on how he would buy the network.
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